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LEO  XIII. 


fl^rogreee  of  tbe 

Catholic  Cburcb 


IN   AMERICA 


AND  THE   GREAT 


Columbian  Catholic 
Congress  of  1893-, 


A    MAGNIFICENT    WORK    OF    TWO    VOLUMES    IN    ONE    BOOK 

An  Encyclopedia  of  the  growth  of  the  Church  from  the  Landing 
of  Columbus  to  the  present  time, 


EMBRACING 


Official  Proceedings  of  all  the  Chicago  Catholic  Congresses,  giving  in  full  the  Addressee 
delivered  by  Monsignor  Satolli;  His  Eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons;  Arch- 
bishop Ireland;  Archbishop  Corrigan;  Archbishop  Redwood 
of  New  Zealand;  Eishop  Keane;  Monsignor  Nugent 
of  Liverpool;   Rev.  P.  J.    Muldoon, 
Honorable  C.  C.  Bonney 
of  Chicago. 


EMBELLISHED  WITH    NUMEROUS   ENGRAVINGS. 


Published  with  the  approbation  of  His  Grace  The  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of 
Chicago.     Preface  by  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  LL.D. 


SIXTH   EDITION. 


CHICAGO  : 

J.  S.  Hyland  &  Company. 


IMPRIMATUR : 


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Copyright,  iSgy.by 

J.  S.  HYLAND  &  CO. 


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KEFA6E. 


HE  honest  American  citizen    possesses   two   things  which   he    may 

leave  to  his  children, — and  these  two  things  are  more  precious  than 

gold,  they  are  love  of  God  and  love  of  country.    The  child  that  learns 

from    his  father  or   mother  that  he,    being  a  catholic,   can    be  no 

alien    on  American   soil,  is   rich  —  for  he  has  the   best  of  all   knowledge  in  his 

possession,  and  knowledge  makes  him  the  equal  of  any  other  man. 

Knowledge  is  power.  Knowledge  is  strength.  Knowledge  is  the  key 
opening  all  doors ;  and  in  this  book  lies  that  knowledge  which  causes 
our  children  to  know  and  love  their  freedom,  and  which  will  give  them  the 
weapons  necessary  to  defend  their  right  to  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  a  lana 
iQ  which  their  ancestors  in  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church  discovered,  and  in 
2      which    other   ancestors   of   theirs   in  the  Catholic  faith  proclaimed  freedom   or 

conscience  for  the  first  time. 
5  "  Your  father  was  a  foreigner,"  the  descendant  of  the  Mayflower  pilgrims 

5       may  say,    "therefore    I    am   more   of   an  American  than   you."       "You  are  a 

5  M 

m       foreigner,'    that  living   libel  on  American  institutions,  the  modern  Know-nothinq 

may  sneer,  "You  are  a  Catholic;    this  is  a  Protestant  country." 
z 

Without  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  your  child  may  blush  and  hang  his 
head  and  be  ashamed  of  his  father.  Without  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  you 
may  be  unable  to  meet  the  sneers  of  your  neighbor,  though  your  heart 
may  be  bitter  within   you,   and  you    may  desire  with   all  your  might  to  assert 

!  09 


your  right  to  the  country  in  which  you  live.  But  how  powerless  will  you  and 
your  child  to  be  without  the  knowledge  that  this  book  contains.  In  truth,  it 
holds  your  title-deeds  to  your  land.  Moreover,  it  is  an  education  in  itself; 
and,  though  you  may  not  be  able  to  send  your  son  to  college,  here  he  will 
gain  the  substance  of  the  lectures  of  many  professors.  And,  if  your  children 
are  too  small  to  read,  you  or  their  mother  may  be  their  instructor  in  their 
rights  and  liberties.  No  man  with  a  sensitive  heart  and  high  aspirations  can 
fail  to  find  himself  thrilled  and  elevated  by  the  recital  of  the  deeds  of  his  spir- 
itual ancestors.  And  Columbus,  the  Christ-bearer,  and  Las  Casas,  the  saintly 
priest,  and  Father  Marquette,  and  Father  Jogues,  and  Charles  Carroll,  and 
Roger  Taney,  and  a  hundred  other  illustrious  men  who  helped  to  create  and 
to  preserve  American  liberties  were  nurtured  in  that  faith  which  is  our  most 
precious  treasure. 

The  Catholic  Church  produced  them;  the  Catholic  Church  nourished 
them — for  that  Church  in  all  ages  has  taught  that  the  sweetest  of  all  things 
is  freedom.  Had  the  Catholic  barons  of  England,  with  a  Catholic  bishop  at 
their  head,  never  wrested  the  Magna  Charta  from  their  tyrant  king,  George 
Washington  could  never  have  learned  that  freedom  was  his  right.  Had  the  Fran- 
ciscan and  Dominican  friars  not  thirsted  with  Columbus  for  the  salvation  of 
souls  in  the  Indies,  the  Santa  Maria  and  the  Pinta  would  never  have  sailed 
from  Palos.  And  of  the  discoverers  of  America,  spoken  of  by  tradition 
before  Columbus,  one  was  St.  Brendan,  a  Catnolic  Irishman ;  the  other,  a 
Catnolic  Norseman.  The  first  book  printed  in  all  America  was  the  work  of 
Catholics ;  and  so  was  the  first  college.  The  bravest  of  all  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  Charles  Carroll,  was  a  Catholic.  His  brother, 
the  Archbishop,  helped,  too,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  our  present  freedom. 
The  French  soldiers  who  came  to  the  assistance  of  George  Washington  when 
all  was  darkest,  were  sent  by  a  devoutly  Catholic  king  and  queen,  Louis  XVI 
ana  Marie  Antoinette.  And  the  bravest  among  them  were  of  that  Irish  Brigade 
whose  only  regret  was  that  they  were  debarred  from  fighting  for  the  liberties  of 


their  own  land  ; — still,  there  are  those  who  have  the  effrontery  to  call  us  strangers 
in  a  country  which  owes  everything  to  Columbus,  who,  in  a  manner,  brought  it 
out  of  chaos  and   illumined   its  darkness  by  the  light  of  the  cross. 

"  I  should  have  sunk  back  many  a  time,"  said  the  late  General  Sherman, 
"  if  it  were  not  for  the  encouragement  of  my  wife."  That  noble  wife  was  a 
Catholic.  General  Sheridan  took  every  occasion  to  show  how  grateful  he* 
was  to  that  devout  Catholic  mother  who  gladly  gave  him  to  his  country. 
And  shall  we  forget  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  and  General  Shields  and  Col- 
onel Mulligan,  and  hosts  of  others  ? 

But  how  shall  we  remember  our  claims  to  citizenship  in  this  glorious 
country,  if  we  do  not  realize  them, — if  we  do  not  know  them  ?  It  is  not 
necessary  that  we  should  have  a  great  library  in  order  to  know  them,  and 
to  make  our  children  proud  of  their  birthright.  Here  they  are  in  the  pages  before 
you.  Here  they  are  told  by  some  of  the  most  eloquent  and  wisest  and  most 
earnest  writers  of  our  time.  Here  you  will  find  the  red  in  Columbia's  flag 
is  the  red  of  Catholic  blood,  the  white  the  purity  of  Catholic  zeal,  and  the 
blue  the  color  of  the  Immaculate  Patroness  whom  Columbus  and  Balboa,  De 
Smet  and  Charles  Carroll  and  Cardinal  Cheverus  and  Roger  Taney  and 
Orestes  Brownson  loved  ana  trusted  as  we  do. 

Compared    with    our    part   in    the    history   of   America,  the  coming  of  the 

Mayflower  is  but  an  episode.     And   now  when  the  world   rings  with    the    fame 

of  Columbus,  shall   we  not  learn  to  claim   our  own  ?     Open  this   book,  ana   a 

new    and    splendid  world  of    knowledge  spreads  before  us.     We  find  our  own 

again,  and  we  claim  it.     Insolence  and  bigotry  can    no  longer  make  us  angry 

and    silent.     Mass   was  said    on  this  soil    before   the  spire  of   a  meeting-house 

rose  in  Virginia,  or  among  the   New  England   hills.     After  this,  who  shall  dare 

in  our  presence  to  call  America  a  Protestant  country  ?     We  have  only  to  open 

this  book  to    bepold    splendid   scenes   of  history,    bloody  scenes  of  martyrdom, 

tranquil  scenes  of  peace  in  which  the  actors  are  of  that  faith  which  is  the  breath 

of    our   nostrils,  the    core    of    our   hearts,  and   which  discovered    and   preserved 

America! 

MAURICE   FRANCIS   EGAN,   LLD. 

Washington    University. 


t 


THE  following  is  a  list  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy  who  have 
approved    of    or   in   whose    libraries    "  The   World's 
Columbian  Catholic  Congresses"  can  be  found. 


His  Eminence  Cardinal  James  Gibbons, 

Most  Reverend  John  Joseph  Kain, 

Most  Reverend  P.  A.  Feehan,  . 

Most  Reverend  M.  A.  Corrigan, 

Most  Reverend  P.J.  Ryan,  .     . 

Most  Reverend  John  Ireland, 

Most  Reverend  J.J.  Williams, 

Most  Reverend  P.  W.  Riordan, 

Most  Reverend  W.  H.  Elder,  . 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 

Righ 


Reverend  John  L.  Spalding,  . 
Reverend  Lawrence  McMahon 
Reverend  John  S.  Foley,  .  . 
Reverend  James  E.  Quigley,  . 
Reverend  James  Ryan,  .  .  . 
Reverend  Joseph  Dwenger,  . 
Reverend  F.  S.  Chatard,  .  . 
Reverend  T.  McGovern,  .  . 
Reverend  W.  G.  McCloskey, 
Reverend  Henry  Cosgrove,  . 
Reverend  John  J.  Hennessy, 
Reverend  Bernard  J.  McQuaid, 
Reverend  Francis  McNeirnny, 

Reverend  J.  J.  Kain, 

Reverend  William  O'Hara,  .  . 
Reverend  James  A.  Healy,  .  . 
Reverend  James  A.  McFaul,  .  . 
Reverend  W.  M.  Wigger,  .  .  . 
Reverend  J.J.  Keane,    .     . 


Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 
Archbishop  of  St.  Louis. 
Archbishop  of  Chicago. 
Archbishop  of  New  York. 
Archbishop  of  Philadelphia. 
Archbishop  of  St.  Paul. 
Archbishop  of  Boston. 
Archbishop  of  San  Francisco. 
Archbishop  of  Cincinnati. 
Bishop  of  Peoria,  111. 
Bishop  of  Hartford. 
Bishop  of  Detroit. 
Bishop  of  Buffalo. 
Bishop  of  Alton,  111. 
Bishop  of  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 
Bishop  of  Indianapolis,  Ind» 
Bishop  of  Harrisburg,  Pa. 
Bishop  of  Louisville,  Ky. 
Bishop  of  Davenport,  Iowa. 
Bishop  of  Wichita,  Kansas. 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Bishop  of  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Bishop  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 
Bishop  of  Scranton,  Pa. 
Bishop  of  Portland,  Me. 
Bishop  of  Trenton,  N.J. 
Bishop  of  Newark,  N.J. 
Rome,  Italy. 


CARDINAL'S    RESIDENCE, 
Baltimore,  Md. 


J.  S.  HTLAND  &  CO. 
Dear  Sirs: 

A  second  and  more  careful  perusal  of  what  may  be  called  your 
Memorial  volumes —  "Progress  of  the  Church  '  — has  increased  my  apprecia- 
tion of  the  work.  The  copy  which  you  kindly  sent  me,  and  for  which 
I  return  you  my  sincere  thanks,  is  indeed  handsomely  bound  and  illustrated, 
and  will  prove  an  orna?nent  to  any  library.  But  more  note-worthy  still  is 
the  great  a?nount  of  solid  historical  matter  which  you  have  put  in  the  two 
volumes.  I  find  there  embodied  all  the  most  salient  points  of  American 
Catholic  history  for  the  last  four  hundred  years ;  and  you  have  presented 
them  in  very  readable  form  and  very  entertaining  style.  These  facts  which 
our  people  should  know  intimately  and  perfectly  are  thus  made  very  accessible 
to  all.  The  work  will  be  a  valuable  hand-book  of  ready  reference,  which 
should  be  foimd  on  the  desk  of  every  student  and  on  the  tables  of  every 
family /   so  that  its  contents  may  become  familiar  to  everyone. 

We  have  done  so  much  in  the  discovery,  exploration,  and  development  f 
this  country  •  the  heroic  labors  of  Catholic  missionaries  and  saintly  and 
learned  bishops  and  priests  have  penetrated  into  so  many  corners  of  the  land, 
that  it  were  ungrateful  ?wt  to  make  their  names  household  words  among  all 
who  bear  the  glorious  title  of  Catholic.  I  feel  that  "Progress  of  the 
Churchy*  which  you  so  opportunely  placed  before  the  American  public,  is 
destined  to  bring  them  i?ito  greater  protninence  and  shed  brilliant  lustre  on 
the  Church  of  Christ,  which  begot  the?n  and  sent  them  forth  on  their  mis- 
sion of  love  and  benevolence. 

I  take  special  pleasure  in  referring  to  the  admirable  preface  from  the 
gifted  pen  of  Mr.  Maurice  F.  Egan,  in  which  are  so  beautifully  expressed 
the  keynote,  spirit,  and  scope  of  your  efforts. 

The  "IMPRIMATUR"  of  the  Most  Rev.  Metropolitan  of  Chicago 
is  at  once  an  evidence  of  the   book's  value,  and  an  assurance  of  success. 

I  bespeak  for  it  a  deep  appreciation  and  an  extended  circulation. 

Relieve  me  to  be, 

Faithfully  and  sincerely  yours  in  Xto, 


A  re  hb  is  hop  of  Baltimore. 


FROM    HIS   GRACE 


Francis    Archbishop  Satolli, 


Messrs.  J.  S.  Hyland  &  Co.  k 

DEAR  SIRS: 

Allow  me  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  copy  of  the  "  Progress  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  America"  you  so  kindly  sent  me.  As  you  have 
received  so  many  other  congratulatory  letters  from  so  many  distin- 
guished Prelates,  I  can  do  nothing  better  than  adopt  their  sentiments, 
and,  in  conclusion,  express  my  deep  appreciation  for  your  work,  and 
my  sincere  hope  for  its  deserving  success. 
Believe  me,  Yours  truly, 


"This  volume  will  supply  a  need,  hence  we  most  affectionately  wish 
it  a  godspeed  on  its  apostolate,  for  if  God  blesses  good  books,  how  fruitful 
must  be  the  benediction  bestowed  upon  a  work  avowedly  Catholic." — Chan- 
cellor Muldoon . 


COM T£NT5  •**!»£■ 


VOLUME    I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Voyage  of  an  Apostle. 
Father  Andrew  White,  S.J. — -Sailing  of  the  Ark  and  Dove. — First  Bap- 
tism in  the  Potomac. — Motives  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers l 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Land  of  the  Sanctuary. 
Selecting  Land   for  St.  Mary's. — Conversions    Among   Protestants. — A 

Queen  and  Her  Subjects  Baptized. — Father  White's  Exile  and  Death.      15 

CHAPTER  III. 
On  Liberty's  Altar. 
The    Dawn    of    the    Revolution.— Ireland's     Wrongs    Remembered. — 
Washington    Seeks    Catholic    Allies. — England's    Protestant    Mer- 
cenaries  37 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Our  First  Shepherd. 
Joins  the  Society  of  Jesus. — Created  a  Perfect  Apostolic. — Crossing  the 

Atlantic  for  Consecration. — Passed  Away  at  Four-Score  Years.      .      57 

CHAPTER  V. 
Saintly  Mother  Seton. 
A  Protestant  Physician's  Daughter. — Abroad  Among  Catholic  Strangers. 

— A  Busy  and  Holy  Life. — A  Saint's  Death 79 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Metropolitans  and  Councils. 
Archbishop  Neale   at  Rest. — A  Series  of  Provincial    Councils. —  Arch- 
bishops Kenrick,  Spalding,  and  Bayley. — The  Great  Vatican  Coun- 
cil.— The  Present  Illustrious  Primate "13 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Old  Dominion. 
Reminiscences    of    the    Missions. — Banishment    of    Irish    Emigrants. — 

Exorcism  and  Conversions. — Guarding  the  Sanctity  of  Confession.  .   138 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
In  the  Keystone  State. 
Those  Maryland  Jesuits  Again. — An    Irishwoman's    House    the    First 
Catholic    Chapel. — Days  of  the  Revolution. — Sister   Allen's    Con- 
version       154 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Reign  of  Bigotry. 
Dawn    of     Free    Worship. — Slanders     Against    the    Nuns. — Burning 

Churches  and  Rectories. — The  Mendacious  Knownothings      .     .     .  168 

CHAPTER  X. 
Crossing  the  Alleghenies. 
Fate  of  the  Reform   Franciscans. — Conversion  of  a   Good  Mother. — 

Bishop  Carroll's  Good  Influence. — The  Prince  Becomes  Priest.    .    .185 

CHAPTER  XI. 
On  Manhattan  Island. 
Priests  Who  Called  at  Manhattan. — A  Reign  of  Terror. — New    York 

During  the  Reign  of  Bigotry. — Dawn  of  Catholic  Literature.     .    .201 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Lions  of  the  Fold. 
A  Bright  Pulpit  Orator. — The  Public  School  Question. — Catholics  Act 

on  the  Defensive. — Our  First  Cardinal. 222 

CHAPTER  XTII. 
The  Land  of  the  Puritans. 
Welcome  for  All  but  Catholics. — Burned  for  Praying  in  Irish. — Boston 

Almost   Made   Catholic 252 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Light  of  the  Hierarchy. 
Catholics  Long  Tabooed. — Father  O'Gallagher  the  First  Priest. — Inces- 
sant Preaching,  Teaching,  and  Traveling. — Adventures  on  the  Mis- 
sion  276 

CHAPTER  XV. 
A  Prince  in  a  Republic. 
Rt.  Rev.  James  Gibbons    Made  Vicar  Apostolic. — Sent  to  Ireland  for 
Education. — Called    to   the  Primacy  of  Baltimore. — Raised  to  the 
Cardinalate 298 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Ohio  Valley. 
Catholic  Marylanders  First  to  Enter. — Missionaries  Traveling   Afoot. — 

Archbishop   Elder 309 


CONTENTS.  13 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Cross  in  Indiana. 
Father  Brute  Made  Bishop  of  Vincennes. — Career  of  a  Bright  Scholastic. 

— Notre  Dame  and  St.  Mary's  of  the  Wood 328 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  City  of  Jubilee. 
Chicago's  First  House  and  Church. — Fire  and  Cholera. — A  Zealous  and 

Self-denying  Prelate. — The  Present  Beloved   Archbishop.     .     .     .  34.5 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Great  Northwest. 
Burning  of  the  First  Church. — Murder  of  the   First   Pastor. — A  Great 

Archbishop 376 

CHAPTER  XX. 
On  the  Plains. 

Injustice  to  Catholic  Tribes. — Churches,  Convents,  and   Schools  Follow 

Fast. — Bishop  Marty,  Father  of  the  Indians 397 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Over  the  Border. 
Catholicity  Not  Petted  in   Canada. — Robbery  of  Jesuit  Endowments. — 
Lord  Castle  Reagh's  Singular  Message. — A  Scotch  Catholic  Settle- 
ment  408 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Catholics  in  the  Civil  War. 
Knew   No  North,  No   South. — Sisters    of    Mercy    and    Charity. — Men 
Who  Never  Shrank  from  Duty. — Bravery   of  Catholic   Soldiers. — 
The  Irish  Catholic  Everywhere. — Meagher,  Sheridan,  Shields,  Mul- 
ligan, and   Sherman 422 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 
A  Typical  Foundation. 
Father  Sorin's  Purchase  from  the  Indians. — The    Notre   Dame   of   To- 
day.— A    Museum    of    Catholic    History. — Life    of  the  Venerable 

Founder 44^ 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Catholic  Chaplain  of  the  Maine. 
His   Birthplace  and   Early  Training. — Loved  and  Trusted  by   His 
Shipmates. — Stood  Nobly  by  Them  in  Their  Hour  of  Need. — 
Forty  Per  Cent  of  the  Men  Are  Catholics 468 


VOLUME  II. 


The  World's  Columbian  Catholic  Congresses. 


FIRST    DAY'S    PROCEEDINGS. 

Opening  of  the  Congress. 
Rev.  P.  J.  Muldoon's  Welcome. 
Archbishop  Feehan's  Welcome. 
Hon.  C.  C.  Bonney's  Address. 
Address  by  Cardinal  Gibbons. 
Greeting  from  Pope  Leo. 
Chairman  O'Brien's  Address. 
Archbishop     Redwood's    Address.      (New 

Zealand). 
Message  from  Cardinal  Vaughan. 
Paper  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Clark,  LL.  D. 
Paper  by  Miss  Mary  J  Onahan. 
Paper  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Gans. 
Archbishop  Ryan's  Address.  41 

SECOND    DAY. 

List  of  Delegates. 

Bishop  Watterson's  Address. 

Monsignor  Satolli's  Address. 

Paper  by  E.  O.  Brown,  Chicago. 

Paper  by  John  Gibbons,  LL.  D. 

George  Parson  Lathrop's  Address.  66 

THIRD    DAY. 

Archbishop  Corrigan's  Address. 

Woman's  Good  Work. 

Archbishop  Ireland's  Address. 

Rev.  Patrick  Cronin's  Address. 

Paper  by  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary.  78 

FOURTH    DAY. 

Bishop  Burke's  Address. 

Paper  by  Eliza  Allen  Starr. 

Paper  by  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly. 

Work  of  St.  Vincent  De  Paul. 

Bishop  McGoldrick's  Address. 

C.  Y.  M.  U.  Resolutions.  94 


FIFTH    DAY. 

Bishop  Keane's  Address. 

Paper  by  Brother  Ambrose. 

Paper  by  H.  L.  Spaunhorst. 

Paper  by  Dr.  M.  F.  Egan. 

Paper  by  Katherine  E.  Conway. 

Address  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Murphy,  S.  J. 

Paper  by  W.  E.  Mosher. 

Paper  by  Rev.  F.  J.  Maguire. 

Brother  Azarias'  Paper. 

Future  of  the  Negro  Race  (C.  H.  Butler) 

Paper  by  William  F.  Markoe. 

Paper  by  Richard  R.  Elliott. 

Paper  by  Thomas  Dwight,  M.  D. 

Pope  Leo  on  Labor  (H.  C.  Semple). 

Paper  by  Dr.  A.  Kaiser. 

Rev.  M.  Callaghan's  Address. 

Paper  by  Martin  F.  Morris. 

Trade  Combinations  and  Strikes  (R.  M 
Douglas). 

Paper  by  Rev.  J.  R.  Slattery. 

"  Prayer  for  America  "  (Rev.  F.  G.  Lentz). 

Paper  by  Frank  J.  Sheridan. 

Paper  by  Anna  T.  Sadlier. 

Paper  by  J.  P.  Lauth. 

Paper  by  E.  M.  Sharon. 

Essay  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Andreis. 

"Pauperism,  Cause  and  Remedy'  (M.J. 
Elder). 

Paper  by  Elizabeth  A.  Cronyn. 

Address  by  W.  G.  Smith. 

"  Duties  of  Capital "  (Rev.  Dr.  Barry,  Eng- 
land). 

Paper  by  Dr.  C.  A.  Wingerter. 

Paper  by  Thomas  F.  Ring.  198 

SIXTH   DAY. 

Resolutions  of  the  Congress. 

The  Cardinal's  Closing  Addrese. 

Peace  Memorial  to  All  Nations.  202 


(&UnpUv  I. 
V0yAG6   OF   AN  APOSTkG. 


The  English  Colonies  All  Non-Catholic. — Lord  Baltimore  and  His  Designs. 
— An  Expedition  For  Maryland. — Father  Andrew  White,  S.  J. — Early 
Years  and  Education. — Sailing  of  the  Ark  and  Dove. — Perils  From 
Turks  and  Pirates. — Days  of  Storm  and  Sunshine. — Wonders  of  -khe 
Deep  Sea. — In  the  Isles  of  the  Carribean.— Grief  Over  the  Missing 
Dove. — Strange  Plants  and  Animals. — A  Mountain  of  Sulphur. — The 
Land  of  Liberty.— Hospitality  In  Virginia. — Up  the  Chesapeake  —First 
Baptism  of  the  Potomac. — St.  Clement's  Isle. — Pleasant  Intercourse 
With  Natives. — What  the  King  of  the  Patuxents  Said. — Character  of 
the  Cavalier  Settlers. — Fitness  of  Governor  Calvert.— Motives  of  the 
Jesuit   Fathers. 

HE  English  colonies  in  America  were  all  settled  after  the  unity  of 
the  faith  in  Europe  had  been  broken  by  the  vagaries  of  Luther, 
Calvin,  Henry  VIII,  and  other  innovators.  Protestants,  though 
professing  to  advocate  private  judgment,  never  permitted  it;  and 
many  of  the  settlements  in  this  country  were  founded  by  Protest- 
ants and  others  who  sought  to  escape  from  Protestant  persecution. 
Virginia,  settled  in  1609,  maintained  the  Church  of  England.  English 
separatists,  who  had  first  emigrated  to  Holland,  founded  Plymouth  Colony  in 
1 62 1 ;  and  Puritans  in  1630  began  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Rhode 
Island  was  founded  soon  after  by  the  zealot  Roger  Williams,  who  had  been 
driven  from  Massachusetts;  and  Connecticut  was  an  offshoot  of  Massachu- 
setts, settled  by  men  of  the  strictest  Puritan  ideas.  All  these  colonies  were 
intensely  Protestant,  and  no  Catholics  entered  them  except  when  sent  over  as 
bondsmen.  Dutch  Calvinists  settled  on  the  Hudson,  Swedish  Lutherans  on 
the  Delaware,  each  as  much  opposed  to  Catholics  as  their  English  neighbors. 
From  all  this  part  the  true  Church  seemed  to  be  excluded  forever,  and  in  vain 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


do  we  seek  in  it  for  the  same  spirit  of  faith  and  charity,  the  same  desire  of 
extending  to  the  natives  the  benefits  of  Christianity  which  had  characterized 
the  settlements  made  by  Catholic  powers. 

The  one  glorious  exception  was  to  be  a  settlement  by  members  of  the  true 
Church  of  God.  Sir  George  Calvert,  who  became  the  first  Lord  Baltimore, 
returning  to  the  faith  of  his  ancestors,  resolved  to  found  a  Catholic  colony  in 
America.  The  Catholics  of  the  British  Isles  clung  almost  as  tenaciously  to 
their  native  land  as  they  did  to  their  religion.  Still,  unable  openly  to  profess 
the  faith  of  Bede,  of  Alfred,  of  Edward,  of  Becket,  and  of  Anselm,  of  thirty 
generations  of  their  ancestors,  a  few  resolved  to  emigrate,  and  occupy  the  terri- 
tory of  which  Lord  Baltimore  had  secured  a  grant.     Mindful  of  his  duty  as  a 

Christian,  the  Catholic  peer  resolved  to  send 
clergymen  to  his  colony,  and  applied  to  the 
superior  of  the  Jesuits  in  England  for  fathers 
of  his  society  "  to  attend  the  Catholic  plant- 
ers and  settlers,  and  convert  the  native 
Indians."  The  conversion  of  the  heathen 
could  not  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  least  of  all  that  of  the 
natives  of  a  region  already  watered  with 
their  blood.  They  did  not  refuse  the  call. 
Father  Andrew  White,  a  man  .who  had 
already  suffered  imprisonment  and  exile  for 
the  faith,  was  chosen  to  found  the  new  mis- 
sion. His  associates  were  Father  John  Altham  and  the  lay -brothers  John 
Knowles  and  Thomas  Gervase. 

Meanwhile  Lord  Baltimore  died  while  on  the  point  of  carrying  out  his 
design  of  founding  the  colony.  His  eldest  son,  Cecilius,  the  second  Lord 
Baltimore,  a  good  Catholic,  took  immediate  steps  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  his 
illustrious  fathe'r.  He  appointed  his  brother  Leonard  governor,  with  full 
powers  to  establish  the  new  colony.  The  account  of  the  expedition  which 
ensued  will  prove  more  vivid  and  picturesque  as  associated  with  the  priestly 
labors  of  Father  Andrew  White,  S.  J.,  whose  early  career  no  less  deserves  a 
grateful  mention. 

This  famous  missionary  priest  was  born  at  London  in  1579.  The  gifted 
youth  was  forced  to  seek  the  fount  of  knowledge  in  a  foreign  land.  It  was 
a  shameful  period.    Catholic  schools  were  closed  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 


WWff  :  /  ' 

CECIL,    LORD   BALTIMORE. 


MOST   REV.  SEBASTIANO   MARTINELLI, 

APOSTOLIC  DELEGATE. 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE.  3 

and  all  Catholics  were  forbidden  to  teach.     A  reward  of  fifty  dollars  was 
offered  for  the  discovery  of  each  Catholic  school-master. 

But  by  the  zeal  of  the  learned  Catholic  professors  who  had  been  banished 
from  Oxford — and  especially  of  the  famous  Cardinal  Allen — an  English  col- 
lege was  established  in  1568,  at  Douay,  in  France.  For  nearly  two  centuries 
and  a  half  the  Catholic  students  of  the  British  Isles  directed  their  steps  to  this 
renowned  institution.  There  the  flame  of  faith  was  nourished  and  the  light 
of  knowledge  kept  burning  when  all  was  bigotry  and  religious  darkness  in 
the  once  Catholic  land  of  England.  There  were  trained  those  bands  of 
devoted  priests  who  laid  down  their  lives  in  laboring  to  restore  the  true  faith 
among  their  unhappy  countrymen.  There  our  Catholic  Bible  was  translated 
into  English.  There  the  pious  and  learned  Alban  Butler,  author  of  the 
"  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  received  his  education.  And  there  likewise  the  future 
apostle  of  Maryland  earnestly  labored  and  studied  to  prepare  himself  for  his 
high  and  holy  calling. 

Father  White  was  elevated  to  the  sacred  dignity  of  the  priesthood  about 

the  year  1605,  and  was  at  once  sent  to  labor  on  the  London  mission.     But  as 

the  penal  laws  were  rigidly  enforced,  he   had  to  temper  his  zeal    with  the 

greatest  prudence.     Nor  did  this  suffice.     In  spite  of  all  precautions  he  was 

discovered.     Rewards,  varying  according  to  the   rank  of   the    victim,  were 

offered  for  the  discovery  of  Catholic  ecclesiastics.     At  one  period  the    same 

price  was  offered  for  the  head  of  a  priest  and   that  of  a  wolf.     Even  Jews 

came  from  Portugal  to  hunt  down  Catholic  priests  in  the  British  Isles,  and 

found  it  a  profitable  business.     Bribes  were  offered  to  all  who  would  betray 

Catholics. 

"They  bribed  the  flock,  they  bribed  the  son, 
To  sell  the  priest  and  rob  the  sire; 
Their  dogs  were  taught  alike  to  run 
Upon  the  scent  of  wolf  and  friar." 

In  short,  the  fierce  Mohawk,  ranging  the  ancient  forests  of  New  York, 
was  not  more  eager  and  skillful  on  the  trail  of  an  enemy  than  was  the  fanat- 
ical and  barbarous  government  of  England  in  its  search  after  Catholic  priests. 
And  the  humanity  of  the  American  Indian  compares  quite  favorably  with 
that  of  the  Protestant  Briton.  The  very  year  that  Father  White  returned 
to  England,  the  saintly  poet  and  Jesuit,  Southwell,  was  brutally  tortured  on 
the  rack,  ten  different  times,  and  finally  executed  with  the  most  revolting 
cruelties,  all  because — he  was  a  Catholic  priest! 

We  find  the  name  of  Father  White  in  a  list  of  forty-seven  priests,  who. 


4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

from  different  prisons,  in  1606,  were  sentenced  to  perpetual  banishment.  He 
reached  the  continent;  he  had  hitherto  been  a  secular  priest,  but  now  sought 
admission  into  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  after  passing  his  novitiate  of  two 
years  at  Louvain,he  obtained  permission  to  return  to  his  native  land — although 
he  was  well  aware  that  for  the  banished  Catholic  priest  who  returned  to  Eng- 
land the  punishment  was  death. 

It  was  a  perilous  mission,  and  the  brave  Jesuit  was  soon  recalled  and 
appointed  professor  in  a  college  of  the  society  at  Seville.  Father  White  was 
a  ripe  and  finished  scholar,  and  at  various  periods  filled  the  chairs  of  Holy 
Scripture,  Hebrew,  and  Theology  in  Spain  and  Belgium.  But  he  was  now 
to  pass  from  the  halls  of  science  to  the  wild  woods  of  the  New  World. 

Two  small  vessels  named  the  Ark  and  the  Dove  were  fitted  out  for  the 
Maryland  expedition ;  and  about  two  hundred  emigrants,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  Catholics  and  gentlemen  of  fortune  and  respectability,  prepared  to  cross 
the  Atlantic,  desiring  to  fly  from  the  black  spirit  of  intolerance  which  per- 
vaded England,  and  to  rear  up  their  altars  in  freedom  in  the  wilderness.  To 
Leonard  Calvert,  as  governor,  was  given  command  of  the  expedition.  "It 
was  a  mighty  undertaking,"  says  McSherry,  "  standing  out  in  history  as  an 
era  in  the  progress  of  mankind." 

Fortunately,  the  interesting  narrative  of  the  voyage  was  told  by  Father 
White  himself;  and  the  graphic  picture  has  not  been  lost  to  history  and  liter- 
ature. "On  the  22d  of  November,"  he  writes,  "in  the  year  1633,  being  St. 
Cecilia's  day,  we  set  sail  from  Cowes,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  with  a  gentle 
east  wind  blowing.  After  committing  the  principal  parts  of  the  ship  to  the 
protection  of  God  especially,  and  of  His  Most  Holy  Mother,  and  St.  Ignatius, 
and  all  the  guardian  angels  of  Maryland,  we  sailed  on  a  little  way  between 
the  two  shores,  and  the  wind  failing  us,  we  stopped  opposite  Yarmouth  castle. 
Here  we  were  received  with  a  cheerful  salute  of  artillery. 

"On  the  23d  of  November,"  he  continues,  "we  sailed  past  a  number  of 
rocks  near  the  end  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  which,  from  their  shape,  are  called 
the  Needles.  These  are  a  terror  to  sailors,  on  account  of  the  double  tide  of 
the  sea,  which  whirls  away  the  ships,  dashing  them  against  the  rocks  on  the 
one  side,  or  the  neighboring  shore  on  the  other. 

"Early  the  next  day  (Monday),  about  nine  o'clock,  we  left  behind  us  the 
western  promontory  of  England  and  the  Scilly  Isles,  and  sailing  easily  on, 
we  directed  our  course  more  towards  the  west,  passing  over  the  British 
Channel.     Yet  we  did  not  hasten  as  much  as  we  could  have  done,  fearing  if 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE.  5 

we  left  the  pinnace  too  far  behind  us,  that  it  would  become  the  prey  of  the 
Turks  and  pirates  who  generally  infest  that  sea. 

"  It  came  to  pass,  that  a  fine  merchant  ship  of  six  hundred  tons,  named 
the  Dragon,  while  on  her  way  to  Angola,  from  London,  overtook  us  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  And  as  we  now  had  time  to  enjoy  a  little 
pleasure,  after  getting  out  of  danger,  it  was  delightful  to  see  these  two  ships, 
with  fair  weather  and  a  favorable  wind,  and  a  great  noise  of  trumpets,  trying 
for  a  whole  hour  to  outstrip  each  other.  Our  ship  would  have  beaten  the 
Dragon,  though  we  did  not  use  our  top-sail,  if  we  had  not  been  obliged  to 
stop  ®n  account  of  the  pinnace,  which  was  slower;  and  so  we  yielded  the 
palm  to  the  merchant  ship,  and  she  sailed  by  us  before  evening,  and  passed 
out  of  sight. 

'  On  Sunday,  the  24th,  and  Monday,  the  25th  of  November,  we  had 
fair  sailing  all  the  time  until  evening.  But  presently,  the  wind  getting  round 
to  the  north,  such  a  terrible  storm  arose,  that  the  merchant  ship  I  spoke  of, 
from  London,  being  driven  back  on  her  course,  returned  to  England.  Those 
on  board  our  pinnace,  since  she  was  only  a  vessel  of  forty  tons,  began  to  lose 
confidence  in  her  strength,  and  sailing  near,  they  warned  us,  that  if  they 
apprehended  shipwreck  they  would  notify  us  by  hanging  out  lights  from  the 
mast-head.  We  meanwhile  sailed  on  in  our  strong  ship  of  four  hundred  tons. 
A  better  could  not  be  built  of  wood  and  iron. 

"  We  had  a  very  skillful  captain,  and  so  he  was  given  his  choice,whether 
he  would  return  to  England,  or  keep  on  struggling  with  the  winds.  If  he 
yielded  to  these,  the  Irish  shore  close  by  awaited  us.  It  is  noted  for  its  hid- 
den rocks  and  many  shipwrecks.  But  our  captain's  bold  spirit,  and  his  desire 
to  test  the  strength  of  the  new  ship,  which  he  managed  for  the  first  time, 
triumphed.  He  resolved  to  try  the  sea,  though  he  confessed  that  it  was  the 
more  dangerous  on  account  of  its  being  so  narrow. 

"  The  danger  was  near  at  hand.  The  winds  increased,  the  sea  grew  more 
boisterous,  and  we  could  see  the  pinnace  in  the  distance,  showing  two  lights 
at  her  mast-head.  Then,  indeed,  we  thought  it  was  all  over  with  her, 
and  that  she  was  swallowed  up  in  the  deep  whirlpools.  In  a  moment  she 
passed  out  of  sight.  No  news  of  her  reached  us  for  months  afterwards. 
Accordingly,  we  were  all  of  us  certain  the  pinnace  was  lost;  yet  God  had 
better  things  in  store  for  us,  for  the  fact  was,  that  finding  herself  no  match 
for  the  violence  of  the  sea,  she  had  avoided  the  Virginian  Ocean — with  which 
we  were  already   contending — and   returned   to   England.     Making  a  fresh 


6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

start  thence,  she  overtook  us  at  a  large  harbor  in  the  Antilles.  And  thus 
God,  who  oversees  the  smallest  things,  guided,  protected,  and  took  care  of 
the  little  vessel! 

"  We  being  ignorant,  however,  of  her  safety,  were  distressed  with  grief 
and  anxiety,  which  the  gloomy  night,  filled  with  manifold  terrors,  increased. 
When  day  dawned,  although  the  wind  was  against  us,  being  from  the  south- 
west, yet,  as  it  did  not  blow  very  hard,  we  sailed  on  gradually  by  making 
frequent  tacks;  so  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday  passed  with  variable 
winds,  and  we  made  small  progress.  On  Friday  a  southeast  wind  prevailed, 
and  drove  before  it  thick  and  dark  clouds.  Towards  evening  a  dreadful 
tempest  broke  forth ;  and  it  seemed  every  minute  as  if  we  would  be  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  waves. 

"  Nor  was  the  weather  more  promising  on  the  next  day,  which  was  the 
festival  of  St.  Andrew,  the  apostle.  The  clouds,  accumulating  in  a  frightful 
manner,  were  fearful  to  behold ;  and  excited  the  belief  that  all  the  malicious 
spirits  of  the  storm  and  all  the  evil  genii  of  Maryland  had  come  forth  to 
battle  against  us.  Towards  evening  the  captain  saw  a  sunfish  swimming, 
with  great  efforts,  against  the  course  of  the  sun,  which  is  a  very  sure  sign  of 
a  terrible  storm.     Nor  did  the  omen  prove  false. 

"  About  ten  o'clock  at  night,  a  dark  cloud  poured  forth  a  violent  shower. 
Such  a  furious  hurricane  followed  close  upon  it,  that  it  was  necessary  to  run 
with  all  speed  to  take  in  sail;  and  this  could  not  be  done  quickly  enough  to 
prevent  the  main-sail — the  only  one  we  were  carrying — from  being  torn  in 
the  middle  from  top  to  bottom.  A  part  of  it  was  blown  over  into  the  sea, 
and  was  recovered  with  difficulty. 

"  At  this  critical  moment,  the  minds  of  the  bravest  among  us  were 
struck  with  terror.  The  sailors  acknowledged  that  they  had  seen  other  ships 
wrecked  in  a  less  severe  storm ;  but  this  hurricane  called  forth  the  prayers  and 
vows  of  the  Catholics  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  her 
Immaculate  Conception;  of  St.  Ignatius,  the  patron  saint  of  Maryland;  St. 
Michael,  and  all  the  guardian  angels  of  the  same  country.  Each  one  hastened 
to  purge  his  soul  by  the  sacrament  of  penance.  All  control  over  the  rudder 
being  lost,  the  ship  now  drifted  about  like  a  fish  in  the  water,  at  the  mercy 
of  the  winds  and  waves,  until  God  showed  us  a  way  of  safety. 

"  At  first,  I  confess,  I  had  been  engrossed  with  the  apprehension  of  the 
ship's  being  lost,  and  of  losing  my  own  life;  but  after  I  had  spent  some  time 
in  praying   more  fervently   than  was  my  usual  custom,  and  had  set  forth  to 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE.  7 

Christ  the  Lord,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  St.  Ignatius,  and  the  angels  of  Mary- 
land, that  the  purpose  of  this  journey  was  to  glorify  the  Blood  of  our 
Redeemer  in  the  salvation  of  barbarians,  and  also  to  raise  up  a  kingdom  for 
our  Lord — if  He  would  condescend  to  prosper  our  poor  efforts — to  consecrate 
another  gift  to  the  Immaculate  Virgin,  His  Mother,  and  many  things  to  the 
same  effect,  great  comfort  shone  in  upon  my  soul,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
firm  a  conviction  that  we  should  be  delivered,  not  only  from  this  storm,  but 
from  every  other  during  that  voyage,  that  with  me  there  could  be  no  room 
left  for  doubt.  I  had  betaken  myself  to  prayer  when  the  sea  was  raging  at 
its  worst;  and — may  this  be  to  the  gloryof  God — I  had  scarcely  finished  when 
they  observed  that  the  storm  was  abating.  That,  in  truth,  brought  me  to  a 
new  frame  of  mind,  and  filled  me,  at  the  same  time,  with  great  joy  and 
admiration,  since  I  understood  much  more  clearly  the  greatness  of  God's  love 
towards  the  people  of  Maryland.  Eternal  praises  to  the  most  sweet  gracious- 
ness  of  the  Redeemer! 

"  After  this  sudden  abatement  of  the  storm,  we  had  delightful  weather 
for  three  months.  The  captain  and  his  men  declared  that  they  had  never 
seen  it  calmer  or  more  pleasant,  for  not  even  for  a  single  hour  did  we  suffer 
any  inconvenience.  When  I  speak  of  three  months,  however,  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  we  were  that  long  at  sea;  but  in  this  I  include  the  whole  voyage, 
and  also  the  time  we  stopped  at  the  Antilles.  The  actual  voyage  occupied 
only  seven  weeks  and  two  days;  and  that  is  considered  a  quick  passage." 

Want  of  space  forbids  us  to  follow  the  venerable  writer  in  his  minute 
and  always  interesting  details  of  the  voyage.  We  can  only  quote  a  passage 
here  and  there.  Safe  from  the  wrath  of  the  elements,  the  Catholic  Pilgrim 
fathers  of  Maryland  did  not  feel  entirely  out  of  danger.  The  Turk  at  that 
time  was  a  bold  fellow,  who  did  not  believe  in  being  cooped  up  in  the  south- 
east of  Europe.  "  We  feared,"  writes  Father  White,  "  that  we  might  meet 
with  the  Turks,  yet  we  fell  in  with  none  of  them.  They  had  gone  home, 
perhaps,  to  celebrate  a  solemn  fast  which  took  place  at  that  season  of  the 
year." 

Sailing  past  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  the  Madeiras,  the  Ark  stood 
towards  the  west.  The  appearance  of  three  suspicious-looking  ships,  how- 
ever, caused  some  uneasiness;  for  at  that  time  the  ocean  was  infested  with 
pirates  and  freebooters.  But,  adds  the  narrator,  they  "  either  could  not  over- 
rate us,  or  did  not  wish  to  give  chase."  Such  incidents  kept  the  voyage  free 
from  monotony. 


8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"And  here  I  cannot  pass  on,"  continues  the  apostle  of  Maryland,  "  with- 
out praising  the  Divine  goodness,  which  brings  it  to  pass  that  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God.  For,  if  meeting  with  no  delay,  we 
had  been  allowed  to  sail  at  the  time  we  had  appointed,  namely,  on  the  20th 
of  August,  the  sun  being  on  this  side  of  the  equator,  and  striking  down  ver- 
tically, the  intense  heat  would  not  only  have  ruined  our  provisions,  but  would 
have  brought  disease  and  death  upon  almost  all  of  us.  We  were  saved  by 
delay,  and  escaped  misfortune  by  embarking  in  the  winter  time.  If  you 
except  the  usual  sea-sickness,  no  one  was  attacked  by  any  disease  until  Christ- 
mas. In  order  that  that  festival  might  be  better  kept,  wine  was  given  out; 
and  those  who  drank  it  too  freely  were  seized  the  next  day  with  a  fever. 
About  twelve  died,  among  whom  were  two  Catholics." 

Father  White  was  a  keen  observer,  and,  it  appears,  nothing  escaped  his 
trained  eye.  "While  continuing  our  voyage,"  he  writes,  "we  met  with 
many  curious  things.  I  may  mention  flying  fish,  which  sometimes  swim  in 
the  sea,  and  sometimes  fly  up  in  the  air.  They  are  about  the  size  of  flounders, 
or  the  larger  gilt-heads,  and  very  much  resemble  these  in  their  delicious 
flavor.  A  hundred  of  them  rise  up  into  the  air  at  once,  when  flying  from 
the  dolphins  which  pursue  them.  Some  of  them  fell  into  our  ship,  their 
wings  failing  them.  In  one  flight  they  do  not  fly  over  a  greater  space  than 
two  or  three  acres;  and  then,  because  their  fins  become  dried  in  the  air,  they 
plunge  into  the  water  again  and  venture  a  second  time  into  the  air." 

The  voyagers  touched  the  island  of  Barbadoes,  in  the  West  Indies,  on 
the  3d  of  January,  1634.  Here  they  met  with  a  cold  reception.  "  When  we 
reached  this  island,"  observes  Father  White,  "  we  had  hope  of  securing  many 
articles  of  trade  from  the  English  inhabitants,  and  from  the  governor,  who 
was  our  fellow-countryman;  but,  forming  a  combination,  they  determined 
not  to  sell  us  any  wheat  for  less  than  five  times  the  usual  rates.  They  had  no 
beef  or  mutton  at  any  price." 

The  Almighty,  it  seems,  delivered  them  from  another  and  a  greater 
danger.  "  The  servants  over  all  the  island,"  continued  the  good  Jesuit,  "  had 
conspired  to  kill  their  masters.  On  gaining  liberty  it  was  their  intention  to 
seize  the  first  ship  which  should  touch  there,  and  venture  to  sea.  A  con- 
spirator, frightened  by  the  atrocious  cruelty  of  the  plot,  disclosed  it;  and  the 
punishment  of  one  of  the  leaders  was  sufficient  for  the  security  of  the  island 
and  our  own  safety.  For  our  ship,  as  being  the  first  to  touch  there,  had  been 
marked  for  their  prey;    and   on  the   very  day  we   landed   we  found  eight 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE.  9 

hundred  men  in  arms  to  oppose  this  wicked  design,which  had  just  transpired." 
Of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Barbadoes  and  the  natural  products  of  the 
islands,  Father  White  remarks:  "In  winter  the  inhabitants  wear  linen  clothes 
and  bathe  frequently.  .  .  .  The  coarse  cloth  that  serves  them  for  a  bed, 
is  skillfully  woven  out  of  cotton.  When  it  is  bed-time,  they  hang  this  from 
two  posts — one  at  each  end — and  sleep  in  it;  and  in  the  day-time  they  carry 
it  again  wherever  they  choose. 

"  There  is  a  wonderful  kind  of  cabbage,  which  has  a  stalk  that  grows 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high.  It  is  eaten  either  raw  or  boiled.  The 
stalk  itself,  for  a  cubit's  length  below  the  fruit,  is  considered  a  delicacy. 
When  eaten  raw, with  pepper,  it  excels  the  Spanish  thistle  (artichoke).  And, 
indeed,  it  is  much  like  a  walnut  tree  that  has  been  stripped  of  its  boughs.  The 
immense  stalk  equals  the  size  of  a  very  large  tree.     It  bears  only  one  cabbage. 

"  There  is  also  to  be  seen  there  a  pretty  tall  tree  which  they  call  the 
soap  tree.  The  grains  (or  seeds)  of  soap  are  no  larger  than  hazel  nuts,  and 
they  have  a  thick  membrane.  Though  injurious  to  fine  linen,  they  are  said  to 
purify  and  cleanse  like  soap.  I  carried  some  of  these  seeds  with  me  to  Mary- 
land, and  planted  them,  hoping  for  trees  in  the  future. 

"The  pine-apple  excels  all  the  other  fruits  that  I  have  tasted  anywhere 
else  in  the  world.  It  is  of  a  golden  color,  is  excellent  when  mixed  with  wine, 
and  is  as  large  as  three  or  four  of  the  European  nuts  of  the  same  name.  It 
may,  undoubtedly,  be  called  the  queen  of  fruits.  It  has  a  spicy  taste,  which, 
as  nearly  as  I  can  guess,  is  like  that  of  strawberries  mixed  with  wine  and 
sugar.  It  is  of  great  service  in  preserving  health,  agreeing  so  nicely  with  the 
human  constitution,  that,  although  it  corrodes  iron,  it  strengthens  man  more, 
perhaps,  than  anything  else.  Nor  do  you  find  it  on  a  high  tree.  It  is  a 
single  fruit,  coming  out  in  each  root  like  the  artichoke.  I  wish  I  could  send 
your  paternity  a  specimen  with  this  letter.  For  nothing  but  itself  can  describe 
it  according  to  its  excellence." 

The  cloud  of  sorrow  which  the  supposed  loss  of  the  Dove  and  her  crew 
had  cast  over  the  expedition,  vanished  at  Barbadoes.  Imagine  the  joy  of  those 
on  the  Ark,  as  the  little  vessel  bore  in  sight,  and  joined  company  again  after  a 
separation  of  six  weeks.  On  the  night  of  the  terrific  storm  which  parted  them, 
the  Dove,  after  having  shown  her  signalj  no  longer  able  to  breast  the  storm, 
had  changed  her  course,  and  taken  refuge  in  the  Scilly  Islands,  whence,  the 
ship  Dragon,  bearing  her  company  as  far  as  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  she  sailed  in 
pursuit  of  the  Ark,  and  had  now  overtaken  her. 


IO  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  On  the  24th  of  January,"  continues  the  Relation,  "we  weighed  anchor, 
and  reached  Matalina  towards  evening  on  the  following  day.  At  this 
place  two  canoes  full  of  naked  men  appeared.  They  kept  at  a  distance, 
seeming  to  fear  our  huge  ship,  held  up  pumpkins  and  parrots,  and  offered  to 
exchange  them.  These  people  were  a  race  of  savages,  fat,  shining  with  red 
paint,  who  knew  not  God,  and  devoured  human  beings.  Some  time  before 
they  had  made  away  with  several  English  interpreters.  The  country  they 
inhabit  is  very  fertile,  but  is  entirely  covered  with  woods,  having  no  open 
plains.  .  .  .  Some  one,  I  hope,  will  have  compassion  on  this 
forsaken  people. 

"A  rumor  spread  among  the  sailors — started  by  certain  shipwrecked 
Frenchmen — that  an  animal  is  found  on  this  island,  in  the  forehead  of  which 
is  a  stone  of  extraordinary  luster,  like  a  live  coal  or  burning  candle.  This 
animal  they  name  carbunca.  Let  the  author  of  the  story  answer  for  its 
truth." 

Of  the  island  of  Montserrat,  Father  White  says:  "  The  inhabitants  are 
Irishmen  who  were  banished  by  the  English  of  Virginia,  on  account  of  their 
professing  the  Catholic  Faith." 

St.  Christopher's  was  the  last  of  the  West  India  Islands  at  which  the 
Pilgrim's  touched.  Here  they  remained  ten  days.  "We  stayed  ten  days," 
writes  the  venerable  Jesuit,  "  having  received  a  friendly  invitation  from  the 
English  governor,  and  two  captains  who  were  Catholics.  The  president  of 
the  French  colony  in  the  same  island  received  me  with  marked  courtesy. 

"All  the  rare  things  that  are  to  be  seen  at  Barbadoes,  I  found  in  this 
place,  too;  and,  besides  these,  a  sulphurous  mountain,  not  far  from  the  gov- 
ernor's residence.  And  what  you  would  admire  more,  the  virgin  plant,  so 
called  because,  at  the  least  touch  of  the  finger,  it  immediately  shrinks  and 
falls  in;  though,  if  you  give  it  time,  it  revives  and  rises  up  again.  I  was 
especially  pleased  with  the  locust  tree,  which  is  supposed  to  have  afforded 
sustenance  to  St.  John  the  Baptist.  It  equals  the  elm  in  size,  and  is  such  a 
favorite  with  the  bees,  that  they  very  gladly  build  their  cells  in  it.  The 
honey,  if  you  forget  that  it  is  wild,  does  not  differ  in  color  or  flavor  from  the 
purest  honey  I  have  tasted.  The  fruit — also  known  as  locust — consists  of  six 
beans  in  a  pretty  hard  shell,  like  a  pod,  and  contains  a  meat  which  is  soft  but 
glutinous,  tasting  like  flour  mixed  with  honey.  It  bears  four  or  five  tolerably 
large  seeds  of  a  chestnut  color.     I  carried  some  of  these  with  me  to  plant." 

Father  White   and   his  companions  now   approached  the  termination  of 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE.  1 1 

their  historic  voyage.  On  the  24th  of  February,  the  Ark  and  the  Dove  neared 
Point  Comfort,  Virginia.  The  joyful  sight  of  land,  however,  was  somewhat 
clouded  by  the  fear  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Virginians,  who  were  reso- 
lutely opposed  to  Lord  Baltimore's  undertaking ;  but  the  royal  letters  borne 
by  the  newcomers  secured  them  a  favorable  reception  from  the  governor. 
Yet,  in  this  gentleman's  hospitality,  it  seems,  there  was  a  little  selfishness. 
He  "hoped,"  says  the  Relation,  "that  by  this  kindness  towards  us,  he  would 
the  more  easily  recover  from  the  royal  treasury  a  large  sum  of  money  which 
was  due  him." 

"After  being  kindly  treated  for  eight  or  nine  days,"  continues  the  Rela- 
tion, "we  set  sail  on  the  3d  of  March,  and  entering  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  we 
turned  our  course  to  the  north  to  reach  the  Potomac  River.  The  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  ten  leagues  wide,  flows  gently  between  its  shores.  It  is  four, 
five  and  six  fathoms  deep,  and  abounds  in  fish  when  the  season  is  favorable. 
You  could  scarcely  find  a  more  beautiful  body  of  water.  Yet  it  vields  the 
palm  to  the  Potomac  River,  which  we  named  after  St.  Gregory.  ...  A 
larger  or  more  beautiful  river  I  have  never  beheld.  Tl  Thames  seems  a 
mere  rivulet  in  comparison  with  it.  It  is  disfigured  by  no  swamps,  but  has 
firm  land  on  each  side.  Fine  groves  of  trees  appear,  not  choked  with  briers 
or  bushes,  and  undergrowth,  but  growing  at  regular  distances,  as  if  planted 
by  the  hand  of  man.  You  could  drive  a  four-horse  carriage  wherever  you 
might  choose  through  the  midst  of  the  trees. 

"Just  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  we  observed  the  natives  in  arms.  Dur- 
ing the  night  fires  blazed  through  the  whole  country.  As  they  had  never 
seen  such  a  large  ship,  messengers  were  sent  in  all  directions  to  report  that  a 
canoe  like  an  island  had  come  on,  with  as  many  men  as  there  were  trees  in 
the  woods! 

We  pushed  on,  however,  to  Herons'  Island,  so  called  from  the  immense 
number  of  these  birds.  The  first  island  we  came  to  we  named  St.  Clement's. 
As  it  has  a  sloping  shore,  there  is  no  way  of  getting  to  it  except  by  wading. 
Here  the  women  who  had  left  the  ship  to  do  the  washing,  upset  the  boat  and 
tame  near  being  drowned.  They  also  lost  a  large  portion  of  my  linen — no 
small  loss  in  this  part  of  the  world. 

"  On  the  25th  of  March,  the  day  of  the  Annunciation  of  the  Most  Holy 
Virgin,  in  the  year  1634,  we  offered  in  this  island  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass 
for  the  first  time ;  for  in  this  region  of  the  globe  it  had  never  been  celebrated 
before.     [This  was  an  error;  but   Father  White  was  not  aware  that  nine 


I2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Spanish  Jesuits  had  consecrated  that  territory  with  their  blood,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  chapter  on  "  Early  Spanish  Missions,"  over  half  a  century  before  his 
arrival.] 

"  The  sacrifice  being  ended,  we  took  upon  our  shoulders  the  great  cross 
which  we  had  hewn  from  a  tree,  and  going  to  the  place  that  had  been  desig- 
nated— the  governor,  commissioners,  and  other  Catholics  participating  in  the 
ceremony — we  erected  it  as  a  trophy  to  Christ,  the  Savior,  while  the  Litany 
of  the  Holy  Cross  was  chanted  humbly,  on  our  bended  knees,  with  great  emo- 
tion of  soul." 

Here  was  a  real  "cross  in  the  wilderness!"  Indeed,  there  is  something  so 
touching  and  beautiful  in  this  simple  narrative,  that,  in  our  age  of  unbelief 
and  materialism,  we  pause  and  almost  wonder  if  we  are  reading  a  dream  or  a 
re.dity.  But  it  is  no  dream.  It  is  the  true  history  of  how  the  Catholic  Pil- 
grim fathers  of  Maryland  first  took  possession  of  our  shores.  They  were 
men  proud  of  their  grand  and  ancient  Faith,  and  nobly  preferred  an  altar  in 
the  desert  to  a  coronet  at  the  court  of  apostate  England.  And  yet,  exiles  as 
they  were  for  conscience'  sake,  they  bore  no  revengeful  feeling  to  the  Angli- 
can Church,  which  persecuted  as  it  had  robbed  them;  nonj  to  the  Calvin- 
istic  party,  which  sought  to  exterminate  them.  They  came,  and  as  they 
came  let  the  broad  Atlantic  wash  out  the  memory  of  their  wrongs;  they 
came  to  found  the  first  state  where  men  could  freely  practice  the  religion  of 
their  choice. 

The  colonists  were  delighted  with  their  chosen  home  in  the  wilderness. 
Although  so  early  in  the  season,  the  woods  were  vocal  with  the  songs  of 
many  birds,  the  air  mild  and  balmy  as  June,  and  the  earth  covered  with 
every  variety  of  rich  and  brilliant  wild  flowers.  They  were  grateful  to  God 
for  the  beautiful  land  which  he  had  given  them. 

The  ships  which  brought  these  Catholic  pilgrims  to  Maryland  were  very 
appropriately  named  the  Dove  and  the  Ark — for  they  came  bearing  the  olive- 
branch  rather  than  the  sword — seeking  to  conciliate  the  Indians  by  kindness, 
not  to  exterminate  them  by  war.  Protestant  historians  are  obliged  to  acknowl- 
edge that  the  intercourse  of  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  with  the  natives  was 
far  more  blameless  than  that  of  the  Protestants  of  New  England  and  Vir- 
ginia. Maryland  was  the  only  state  which  was  not  stained  with  the  blood  of 
the  Indian.  These  Catholic  colonists  purchased  the  land  which  they  required; 
they  did  not  obtain  it  by  fraud  and  murder. 

The  Maryland  pilgrims  were  fortunate  in  having  such  a  leader  as  Leonard 


VOYAGE  OF  AN  APOSTLE. 


•3 


Calvert,  a  man  who  united  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  wisdom,  prudence, 
and  discretion  of  age  with  the  enterprise,  courage,  and  daring  of  youth.  The 
friendship  and  confidence  of  the  Indians,  which  he  soon  won  by  his  kindness, 
he  retained  by  a  strict  fidelity  to  his  contracts,  and  a  faithful  adherence  to  his 
promises.  We  have  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  early  confidence  and  friend- 
ship of  the  Indians.  A  few  days  after  the  landing  of  the  colonists,  Governor 
Calvert  gave  an  entertainment  to  several  of  the  native  chiefs.  Governor 
Harvey,  of  Virginia,  was  also  present.  At  the  feast,  the  king  of  the  Pat- 
uxents,  as  a  special  honor,  was  placed  between  the  governor  of  Maryland 
and  the  governor  of  Virginia.  Before  this  chieftain  returned  home,  he 
made  a  speech  to  the  Indians,  in  which  he  urged  them  to  be  faithful  to  their 
engagements  with  the  English;  and,  in  conclusion,  used  this  extraordinary 
language:  "  I  love  the  English  so  well  that,  if  they  should  go  about  to  kill 
me,  if  I  had  so  much  breath  as  to  speak,  I  would  command  the  people  not  to 
revenge  my  death;  for  I  know  they  would  do  no  such  thing,  except  it  were 
through  my  own  fault." 

Of  all  that  brave  band  of  Catholic  gentlemen  and  Catholic  yeomen  who 
abandoned  their  ancient  homes  in  England  to  establish  in  America  the  glori- 
ous principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  none  are  more  worthy  of  our 
admiration  than  the  two  Jesuit  fathers,  White  and  Altham,who  accompanied 
the  expedition  at  the  request  of  Lord  Baltimore,  "to  attend  the  Catholic 
planters  and  settlers,  and  convert  the  native  Indians."  The  colonists  came  to 
rear  for  themselves  and  for  their  children  homes  in  a  new  and  most  delightful 
land.  They  came,  like  the  children  of  promise,  to  a  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey.  Nature  surrounded  their  path  with  fruits  and  flowers.  The 
Indians  received  them  as  beings  of  a  superior  order,  and  invited  them  to 
share  their  homes  and  their  lands.  Their  present  was  bright,  and  the  future 
promising. 

Those  good  fathers  came,  induced  by  no  such  considerations.  They 
neither  sought  nor  desired  an  earthly  reward.  Burning  with  a  divine  enthu- 
siasm, they  left  their  sweet  and  quiet  cloisters,  to  labor,  and  suffer,  and  die, 
it  might  be,  for  the  salvation  of  poor,  ignorant  and  unknown  savages,  living 
in  another  hemisphere,  thousands  of  miles  away.  Chateaubriand,  with  a 
magnificent  burst  of  admiration,  thus  speaks  of  the  Catholic  mission: 

"  Here  is  another  of  those  grand  and  original  ideas  which  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  Christian  religion.  The  ancient  philosophers  never  quitted  the 
enchanting  walks  of  academics  and  the  pleasures  of   Athens  to  go,  under  the 


1 4  THE  COL  UMBIAN  J  UBILEE. 

guidance  of  a  sublime  impulse,  to  civilize  the  savage,  to  instruct  the  ignorant, 
to  cure  the  sick,  to  clothe  the  poor,  to  sow  the  seeds  of  peace  and  harmony 
among  hostile  nations;  but  this  is  what  Christians  have  done  and  are  doing 
every  day.  Neither  oceans  nor  tempests,  neither  the  ices  of  the  pole  nor  the 
heat  of  the  tropics,  can  dampen  their  zeal.  They  live  with  the  Esquimaux 
in  his  seal-skin  cabin ;  they  subsist  on  train-oil  with  the  Greenlander ;  they 
traverse  the  solitude  with  the  Tartar  or  the  Iroquois;  they  mount  the  drome- 
dary of  the  Arab,  or  accompany  the  wandering  Kaffir  in  his  burning  deserts ; 
the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  the  Indians,  have  become  their  converts.  Not  an 
island,  not  a  rock  in  the  ocean,  has  escaped  their  zeal ;  and  as,  of  old,  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth  were  inadequate  to  the  ambition  of  Alexander,  so  the 
globe  itself  is  too  contracted  for  their  charity." 


©Txaptcv  II. 


TH6   fcAND   OF   THE  SANCTUARy. 


Indian  Tribes  of  Maryland. — The  King  of  the  Pascataways—  Selecting  Land 
for  St.  Mary's. — A  Fair  Bargain  With  the  Natives. — Father  White's 
Pen-pictures.  —  The  First  Maryland  Chapel.  —  Hospitality  of  the 
Savages.  —  Strange  Ceremonies  and  Superstitions. — "Yaho!  Yaho!" — 
Natural  Features  and  Resources.  —  Labors  of  the  Missionaries.  — 
Arrival  of  the  Infamous  Claiborne. — Exciting  Native  Passions. — Con- 
versions Among  Protestants. — Strange   Cure  of  a  Snakebite. — Toiling 

AT     KlTTAMAQUINDI.  —  An     APOSTATE     CHIEF. —  TAYAC   AND    HlS     DREAMS. — A 

Zealous  Native  Convert. — Sermon  by  the  Missionary. — A  Queen  and 
Her  Subjects  Baptized. — Famine  in  the  Land. — Seized  by  a  Shark. — 
Father  White's  Sickness. — Voyages  and  Dangers. — An  Indian  War. — 
Days  of  Persecution. — Hospitality  to  Vipers. — Father  White's  Exile 
and  Death. — Desecration  of  Maryland.— Penal  Laws  Replace  Tolera- 
tion. 

HE  conversion  of  the  natives  was  the  first  thought  of  the  devoted 
English  missionaries.  The  Maryland  tribes  consisted  of  several 
branches  of  the  great  Huron-Iroquois  family,  and,  doubtless,  of 
some  Algonquins,  although  it  is  not  easy  in  all  cases  to  decide  to 
which  class  a  tribe  is  to  be  referred.  The  Susquehannas,  or 
Conestogues,  were  the  dominant  tribe ;  the  Algonquins  their  allies, 
the  other  tribes  their  enemies  or  victims.  The  chief  of  the  Pascataway 
Indians  was  the  most  powerful  ruler  near  St.  Clement's,  and  had  many 
sachems  and  tribes  subject  to  him.  Leonard  Calvert,  the  governor,  deter- 
mined to  visit  this  lordly  savage,  and  secure  his  friendship.  Taking  with  him 
the  Dove,  he  set  out  with  a  portion  of  his  men,  accompanied  by  Father  Alt- 
ham,  leaving  the  ship  at  anchor  at  St.  Clement's.  As  they  advanced  up  the 
river,  the  dusky  inhabitants  fled  towards  the  interior.  At  length  the  priest 
and  the  governor  reached  a  village  on  the  Virginia  side,  named  Potomac — 

*5 


I0  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

0 

after  the  river — and  governed  by  Archihu,  uncle  of  the  king,  who  was  yet  a 
youth,  Father  Altham  preached  to  the  people  and  their  chiefs.  They 
listened  with  attention,  and  replied  to  him  through  his  interpreter.  The  good 
father  told  them  that  the  pale  faces  had  neither  come  to  make  war  upon  them 
nor  to  do  them  any  wrong;  but  to  instruct  them  in  Christianity,  to  make  them 
acquainted  with  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  to  live  with  them  like  brothers. 

"  You  are  welcome,"  replied  the  chief.  Father  Altham  then  informed 
him  that,  as  he  had  not  time  to  make  a  longer  discourse,  he  would  return  to 
visit  him  again.  "  It  is  good,"  said  the  dusky  ruler,  "we  will  use  one  table. 
My  people  shall  hunt  for  my  brother,  and  all  things  shall  be  in  common 
between  us." 

From  this  place,  Father  Altham  and  Governor  Calvert  went  to  Pascata- 
way,  "where,"  says  the  Relation,  "all  the  inhabitants  flew  to  arms.  About 
five  hundred,  equipped  with  bows,  had  stationed  themselves  on  the  shore  with 
their  king.  But  after  signals  of  peace  were  made,  the  king,  putting  aside  all 
apprehension,  came  on  board  the  pinnace;  and  when  he  heard  of  our  friendly 
disposition  towards  the  Indians,  he  gave  us  permission  to  dwell  wherever  we 
pleased  in  his  dominions. 

"  In  the  meantime,  while  Governor  Calvert  was  on  this  voyage  with  the 
king,  the  savages  at  St.  Clement's  began  to  grow  bolder,  and  mingled  more 
freely  with  our  sentinels.  For  we  kept  watch  by  day  and  night  to  guard 
from  sudden  attacks  our  men  who  were  cutting  wood,  as  well  as  the  vessel 
which  we  were  building,  having  brought  with  us  the  separate  planks  and  ribs. 
"  It  is  pleasant  to  hear  these  natives  admiring  everything,  especially  wonder- 
ing where  in  the  world  a  tree  had  grown  large  enough  to  be  carved  into  a 
ship  of  such  a  huge  size;  for  they  supposed  it  had  been  cut  from  a  single  trunk 
of  a  tree,  like  an  Indian  canoe.  Our  cannon  filled  them  all  with  astonishment, 
as,  indeed,  they  were  not  a  little  louder  than  their  own  twanging  bows,  and 
sounded  like  thunder." 

The  idea  of  securing  a  fitting  spot  to  begin  the  foundation  of  his  colony 
now  occupied  the  mind  of  Governor  Calvert.  Such  a  place  was  soon  found. 
"  It  is,"  wrote  the  apostle  of  Maryland,  "  a  spot  so  charming  in  its  situation 
that  Europe  itself  can  scarcely  show  one  to  surpass  it.  Going  about  twenty- 
seven  miles  from  St.  Clement's,  we  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  a  river  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Potomac,  which  we  named  after  St.  George.  This  river — 
or  rather  arm  of  the  sea — runs  from  south  to  north  about  twenty  miles  before 
you  come  to  fresh  water.     At  its  mouth  are  two  harbors  capable  of  containing 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY.  ^ 

three  hundred  ships  of  the  largest  size.  One  of  these  we  consecrated 
to  St.  George;  the  other,  which  is  more  inland,  to  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary. 

"  The  left  side  of  the  river  was  the  abode  of  Chief  Yaocomico.  We 
landed  on  the  right-hand  side,  and  going  in  about  a  mile  from  the  shore,  we 
laid  out  the  plan  of  a  city,  naming  it  St.  Mary's.  And,  in  order  to  avoid 
every  appearance  of  injustice,  and  afford  no  opportunity  of  hostility,  we 
bought  from  the  king  thirty  miles  of  that  land,  delivering  in  exchange,  axes, 
hatchets,  rakes,  and  several  yards  of  cloth. 

"  The  natives,"  continues  the  keen  and  over-observant  Father  White, 
"are  very  tall  and  well  proportioned.  Their  skin  is  naturally  rather  dark, 
and  they  make  it  uglier  by  staining  it.  This  they  generally  do  with  red 
paint  mixed  with  oil,  to  keep  off  mosquitoes,  thinking  more  of  their  own  com- 
fort than  of  appearances.  They  also  disfigure  their  countenances  with  colors, 
painting  them  in  many  and  truly  hideous  and  frightful  ways;  either  a  dark 
blue  above  the  nose,  and  red  below,  or  the  reverse.  And  as  they  live  almost  to 
extreme  old  age  without  having  beards,  they  counterfeit  them  with  paint,  by 
drawing  lines  of  various  colors  from  the  extremities  of  the  lips  to  the  ears. 
They  commonly  have  black  hair,  which  they  carry  bound  in  a  knot  to  the 
left  ear,  and  fasten  with  a  band,  adding  some  ornament  which  is  in  estimation 
among  them.  On  their  foreheads  some  of  them  wear  the  figure  of  a  fish 
made  of  copper.  They  adorn  their  necks  with  glass  beads,  strung  on  thread 
like  necklaces;  though  these  beads  are  getting  to  be  less  valued  among  them, 
and  less  useful  for  trade. 

"  For  the  most  part  they  are  clothed  in  deerskins,  or  some  similar  kind  of 
covering,  which  hangs  down  behind  like  a  cloak.  They  wear  aprons  around 
the  middle,  and  leave  the  rest  of  the  body  naked.  The  boys  and  girls  go 
about  with  nothing  on  them.  The  soles  of  their  feet  are  as  hard  as  horn,  and 
they  tread  on  thorns  and  briars  without  being  hurt. 

"  The  weapons  of  the   Indians  are  bows  and  arrows  three  feet   long, 

tipped  with  stag's  horn,  or  a  white   Mint  sharpened  at  the  end.     They  shoot 

these  with  such  skill  that  they  can  stand  off  and   hit  a  sparrow  in  the  middle; 

and,  in  order  to  become  expert  by  practice,  they  throw  a  spear  in  the  air,  and 

then  send  an  arrow  from  the  bow-string  and  drive  it  into  the  spear  before  it 

falls.     But  since  they  do  not   string  the   bow   very  tight,  they   cannot   hit  a 

mark  at  a  great  distance.     By  means  of  these  weapons  they  live,  and  go  out 

everv  day  through  the  fields  and  woods  to  hunt  squirrels,  partridges,  turkeys, 
3 


18  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  wild  animals.  There  is  an  abundance  of  all  these,  though  we  ourselves 
do  not  yet  venture  to  procure  food  by  hunting  for  fear  of  ambushes. 

"  The  Indians  live  in  houses  built  in  an  oblong  oval  shape.  Light  is 
admitted  into  these  through  the  roof,  by  a  window  a  foot  and  a  half  long; 
this  also  serves  to  carry  off  the  smoke,  for  they  kindle  the  fire  in  the  middle 
of  the  floor  and  sleep  around  it.  Their  kings,  however,  and  chief  men  have 
private  apartments,  as  it  were,  of  their  own  and  beds,  made  by  driving  four 
posts  into  the  ground,  and  arranging  poles  above  them  horizontally. 

"  One  of  these  cabins  has  fallen  to  me  and  my  associates,  in  which  we 
are  accommodated  well  enough  for  the  time,  until  larger  dwellings  are  pro- 
vided. You  may  call  this  the  first  chapel  in  Maryland,  though  it  is  fitted  up 
much  more  decently  than  when  the  Indians  lived  in  it. 

"  This  people  are  of  a  frank  and  cheerful  disposition ;  and  understand  any 
matter  correctly  when  it  is  stated  to  them.  They  have  a  keen  sense  of  taste  and 
smell,  and  in  sight,  too,  they  surpass  the  Europeans.  For  the  most  part, 
they  live  on  a  kind  of  paste,  which  they  name  Pone,  and  Ominiy  both  of 
which  are  made  of  Indian  corn.  Sometimes  they  add  fish,  or  what  they  have 
procured  by  hunting  and  fowling.  They  are  especially  careful  to  refrain  from 
wine  and  warm  drinks,  and  are  not  easily  persuaded  to  taste  them,  if  we 
except  some  whom  the  English  have  corrupted  with  their  own  vices. 

"  With  respect  to  purity,  I  confess  that  I  have  not  yet  observed,  in  man 
or  woman,  any  act  which  even  savored  of  levity;  yet  they  are  daily  with  us 
and  among  us,  and  take  pleasure  in  our  society.  They  run  to  us  of  their 
own  accord  with  a  cheerful  expression  on  their  faces,  and  offer  us  what  they 
have  taken  in  hunting  or  fishing.  Sometimes  they  also  bring  us  food,  and 
oysters  boiled  and  roasted;  and  this  they  do  when  invited  in  a  few  words  of 
their  own  language,  which  we  have  contrived  to  learn  by  means  of  signs. 
They  marry  several  wives,  yet  they  keep  inviolate  their  conjugal  faith.  The 
women  present  a  sober,  modest  appearance. 

"  These  Indians  cherish  generous  feelings  towards  all,  and  make  a  return 
for  whatever  kindness  you  may  have  shown  them.  They  resolve  upon  noth- 
ing rashly  or  while  influenced  by  a  sudden  impulse  of  the  mind,  but  act  with 
deliberation.  When,  at  any  time,  anything  of  importance  is  proposed,  they 
think  over  it  awhile  in  silence;  then  they  speak  briefly  for  or  against  it.  Of 
their  purpose  they  are  very  tenacious.  Surely  these  men,  if  once  imbued 
with  Christian  precepts — and  there  seems  to  be  nothing  opposes  this  except 
our  ignorance  of  the  language  spoken  in   these   parts — will  become  eminent 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY.  i9 

observers  of  virtue  and  humanity.  They  are  possessed  with  a  wonderful 
longing  for  civilized  intercourse  with  us,  and  for  European  garments.  And 
they  would  long  ago  have  worn  clothing  if  they  had  not  been  prevented  by 
the  avarice  of  the  merchants,  who  do  not  exchange  their  cloth  for  anything 
except  beavers.  But  everyone  can  not  get  a  beaver  by  hunting.  God  forbid 
that  we  should  imitate  the  avarice  of  these  men! 

"  On  account  of  our  ignorance  of  their  language,  it  does  not  yet  appear 
what  ideas  the  Indians  have  about  religion.  We  do  not  put  much  confidence 
in  the  Protestant  interpreters;  and  have  rather  hastily  learned  the  following: 

"  They  acknowledge  one  God  of  heaven,  yet  they  pay  him  no  outward 
worship.  But  in  every  way  they  strive  to  please  a  certain  imaginary  spirit 
which  they  call  ochre,  that  he  may  not  hurt  them.  Corn  and  fire,  I  learn, 
they  worship  as  gods  that  are  very  bountiful   to  the    human    race. 

"  Some  of  our  party  report  that  they  saw  the  following  ceremony  in  the 
temple  at  Barchuxem:  On  a  day  appointed,  all  the  men  and  women  of  every 
age  from  several  districts  gathered  together  around  a  large  fire.  The  younger 
ones  stood  nearest  the  fire;  and  behind  them  stood  those  who  were  older. 
Then  they  threw  deer's  fat  on  the  fire,  and  lifting  up  their  hands  towards 
heaven,  and  raising  their  voices,  they  cried  out:     '  Yaho! '  '  Yaho! ' 

"  Room  being  made,  some  one  then  brings  forward  quite  a  large  bag. 
In  it  are  a  pipe  and  a  powder  called  'potu.'  The  pipe  is  such  a  one  as  is 
used  among  us  for  smoking  tobacco,  but  much  larger.  Around  the  fire  the 
bag  is  carried,  the  boys  and  girls  following  it,  and  singing  alternately,  with 
quite  pleasant  voices,  'Yaho!'  'Yaho!'  Having  completed  the  circuit,  the 
pipe  is  taken  out  of  the  bag,  and  the  powder  called  '  potu  '  is  distributed  to 
all  as  they  stand  near.  This  is  then  lighted  in  the  pipe  and  each  one  drawing 
smoke  blows  it  over  the  various  members  of  his  or  her  body  and  thus  conse- 
crates them.  My  informants  were  not  allowed  to  learn  anything  more, 
except  that  the  Indians  seem  to  have  some  knowledge  of  the  deluge  by  which 
the  world  was  destroyed  on  account  of  the  wickedness  of  mankind. 

"  We  have  been  here  only  one  month,  and  so  the  remaining  particulars 
must  be  kept  for  the  next  voyage.  But  this  I  may  add:  The  land  seems  to 
be  remarkably  fertile.  In  passing  through  the  very  thick  woods  we  tread  at 
every  step  on  strawberries,  vines,  sassafras,  acorns,  and  walnuts.  The  soil  is 
dark  and  not  hard,  to  the  depth  of  a  foot,  and  overlays  a  rich  red  clay.  Every- 
where there  are  lofty  trees,  except  where  the  land  has  been  cultivated  by  a 
few  persons. 


20  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

u  Numerous  springs  furnish  a  supply  of  water.  No  animals  are  seen 
except  deer,  beavers,  and  squirrels.  The  squirrels  are  as  large  as  the  hares 
of  Europe.  There  is  an  infinite  number  of  birds  of  various  colors,  such  as 
eagles,  cranes,  geese,  ducks,  and  partridges.  From  these  facts  it  is  inferred 
that  the  country  is  not  without  such  things  as  contribute  to  the  prosperity  or 
pleasure  of  those  who  inhabit  it." 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  missions,  and  glance  at  the  holy 
and  heroic  labors  of  the  apostle  of  Maryland  and  his  companions.  Father 
White  was  fifty-five  years  of  age  when  he  began  the  gigantic  task  of  toiling 
for  the  conversion  of  the  red-man.  But  nothing  daunted  that  brave  soul. 
With  all  the  ardor  of  youth  he  at  once  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
Indian  languages,  in  which  he  found  the  difficulties  much  increased  by  the 
number  of  dialects  used  among  the  various  tribes.  Nearly  every  village  and 
its  surrounding  district  had  a  peculiar  dialect.  Of  the  tribes  then  inhabiting 
Maryland,  the  most  powerful  were  the  Susquehannas,  who  were  subdivided 
into  several  smaller  tribes.  Among  the  latter  the  most  prominent  were  the 
Pascataways  and  the  Patuxents. 

The  gentle  dispositions  of  the  Indians  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  St. 
Mary's,  encouraged  the  Jesuit  fathers  to  entertain  hopes  of  the  conversion  of 
many  of  the  natives  to  Christianit)-.  But,  in  the  second  year  of  the  colony, 
obstacles  to  their  pious  design  were  thrown  in  the  way,  which  prevented 
them  from  extending  their  visits  beyond  the  limits  of  the  settlement.  It  was 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1635 — scarcely  twelve  months  after  the  arrival 
of  the  missionaries — that  the  infamous  Captain  Claiborne  succeeded  in 
exciting  the  suspicions  of  the  Indians  against  the  Maryland  colonists  gener- 
ally, and  prejudices  against  their  religion  in  particular.  Apprehensive  of 
hostilities  from  the  natives,  the  colonists,  lay  and  clerical,  prudently  confined 
themselves  to  St.  Mary's  until  the  good-will  of  the  Indians  was  restored.  In 
1635,  a  third  priest  arrived  from  Europe. 

"On  account  of  the  very  many  difficulties,"  wrote  one  of  the  fathers, 
during  this  year,  "  that  present  themselves  in  this  mission,  which  has  been 
lately  started,  there  has  been  thus  far  but  little  fruit  from  it,  especially  among 
the  savages,  whose  language  is  slowly  acquired  by  our  countrymen,  and  can 
hardly  be  written  at  all.  Employed  here  are  five  associates,  three  priests, 
and  two  assistants,  who,  in  hope  of  future  results,  endure  their  present  toils 
with  great  cheerfulness." 

In  1636,  another  priest  was  added  to  the  small  band  of  apostolic  laborers. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY.  21 

Among  the  acts  of  the  general  assembly  held  at  St.  Mary's  in  January, 
1637,  is  the  following,  which  is  given  after  a  long  list  of  names:  "After, 
were  summoned  to  appeare — by  virtue  of  writts  to  them  directed — Mr. 
Thomas  Copley,  Mr.  Andrew  White,  Mr.  John  Altham  of  St.  Mary's 
hundred.  Robert  Clarke,  gent.,  appeared  for  them,  and  excused  their 
absence  by  reason  of  sickness." 

The  reader  will  doubtless  be  surprised  to  see  the  apostle  of  Maryland 
simply  styled  "  Mr.  Andrew  White."  But  he  must  remember  that  the  fore- 
going was  written  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Then,  it  would  have  been 
very  far  from  safe  openly  to  recognize  a  Catholic  priest  by  the  title  of 
"  Reverend " ;  and  in  the  Maryland  state  records  we  find  a  prudent  caution 
in  this  respect,  to  avoid  any  public  or  apparent  disregard  of  the  vile  code 
then  in  force  in  the  mother  country  against  Catholic  priests,  and  particularly 
the  fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

Dividing  his  time  between  the  settlers  and  the  Indians,  Father  White 
continued  his  unceasing  toils.  He  not  only  mastered  the  Indian  language, 
but  composed  a  grammar,  dictionary,  and  catechism  in  it.  God  blessed  his 
labors  and  those  of  his  colleagues.  Of  the  Protestants  in  the  colony,  we  learn 
that  many  returned  to  the  Faith  of  their  fathers. 

"Among  the  Protestants,"  writes  one  of  the  missionaries  in  a  letter, 
"nearly  all  who  have  come  from  England,  in  this  year  163S,  and  many 
others,  have  been  converted  to  the  Faith,  together  with  four  servants,  whom 
we  purchased  in  Virginia,  and  five  mechanics  whom  we  hired  for  a  month, 
and  have  in  the  meantime  won  to  God.  Not  long  afterwards,  one  of  these, 
after  being  duly  prepared  for  death,  by  receiving  the  sacraments,  departed 
this  life. 

"A  certain  man,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "entirely  unknown  to  us, 
but  a  zealous  disciple  of  the  Protestant  religion,  was  staying  with  a  friend  who 
was  still  more  zealous;  and  having  been  bitten  by  one  of  the  snakes  which 
abound  in  these  parts,  was  expecting  immediate  death.  One  of  our  fathers, 
finding  this  out,  took  with  him  a  surgeon  and  hurried  to  the  sick  man — who, 
it  was  reported,  had  already  lost  his  senses — with  the  intention  of  ministering 
to  his  soul  in  any  way  that  he  could.  But  the  host,  divining  his  intention, 
tried  to  thwart  his  pious  efforts.  The  priest,  however,  as  he  could  find  no 
other  opportunity,  determined  to  stay  all  night  with  the  sick  man.  But  this 
the  host  also  prevented,  and  lest  the  father  should  be  admitted  at  night, 
he  appointed  a  guard  to  sleep  on  a  bed  laid  across  the  door  of  the  chamber 


22  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

occupied  by  his  sick  friend.  Nevertheless,  the  priest  kept  on  the  watch  for 
evei-y  opportunity  of  approach.  Going  at  midnight — when  he  supposed  the 
guard  would  be  especially  overcome  by  sleep — he  contrived,  without  disturb- 
ing him,  to  pass  in  to  the  sick  man,  and  at  the  desire  of  the  latter  he  was 
received  into  the  Catholic  Church.  Although,  under  the  circumstances,  it  was 
impossible  that  the  sick  man  should  be  taught  much,  or  be  firmly  established 
in  his  belief,  yet,  when — contrary  to  all  expectation — he  had  been  cured  by 
our  surgeon,  the  grace  of  God  prevailed  with  him.  He  chose  rather  to  be 
put  out  of  his  friend's  house  than  to  retract  what  he  had  done;  indeed, he 
even  came  to  us  of  his  own  accord,  and  happily  completed  the  work  he  had 
begun. 

"Another  man,  who  was  of  noble  birth,  had  been  reduced  to  such  pov- 
erty by  his  own  unrestrained  licentiousness,  that  he  sold  himself  into  this  col- 
ony. Here,  when  he  had  been  recalled  by  one  of  us  to  the  right  faith  and  the 
fruit  of  good  living,  he  always  anxiously  doubted  whether  he  had  entered  on 
the  safe  road.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  had  intrusted  himself  to  the  sea  in 
a  small  skiff,  and  a  frightful  storm  arose,  such  as  he  had  never  seen — though 
he  had  often  met  with  storms  at  sea — and  certain  shipwreek  stared  him  in  the 
face,  he  earnestly  prayed  to  God  that  in  confirmation  of  the  faith  he  had 
lately  received — if  it  were  really  true — He  would  ward  off  the  impending 
danger.  The  Almighty  heard  his  prayer.  The  storm  turned  in  another 
direction,  and  unshaken  conviction  stilled  his  wavering  mind. 

"  Not  long  afterwards  this  man  was  brought  to  the  last  extremity  by  a 
severe  disease.  He  received  all  the  sacraments  about  an  hour  before  his 
death  and  asked  his  Catholic  attendant  to  pray  for  him.  .  .  .  Since  his 
burial  a  very  bright  light  has  often  been  seen  at  night  around  his  tomb,  even 
by  Protestants." 

It  appears  the  spiritual  state  of  the  Maryland  colony  at  this  period  was 
admirable.  "As  for  the  Catholics,"  observes  the  foregoing  writer,  "the  attend- 
ance on  the  sacraments  here  is  so  large,  that  it  is  not  greater  among  the  Euro- 
peans in  proportion  to  the  number  of  Catholics.  The  more  ignorant  have 
been  catechised,  and  catechetical  lectures  have  been  delivered  for  the  more 
advanced  every  Sunday.  On  feast-days  sermons  have  rarely  been  neglected. 
The  sick  and  dying,  who  have  been  very  numerous  this  year,  and  who  dwelt 
far  apart,  we  have  assisted  in  every  way,  so  that  not  even  a  single  one  has 
died  without  the  sacraments.  Very  many  we  have  buried,  and  we  have  bap- 
tized various  persons.     And,  although  there  are  not  wanting  frequent  causes 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY.  23 

of  dissension,  yet  none  of  any  importance  has  arisen  here  in  the  last  nine 
months  which  we  have  not  immediately  allayed.  By  the  blessing  of  God 
we  have  this  consolation — that  no  vices  spring  up  among  the  new  Catholics, 
although  settlements  of  this  kind  are  not  usually  supplied  from  the  best  class 
of  men. 

"  In  Virginia  we  bought  off  two  Catholics,  who  had  sold  themselves  into 
bondage;  nor  was  the  money  ill-spent,  for  both  showed  themselves  good 
Christians.  One,  indeed,  surpasses  the  ordinary  standard.  Some  others  have 
performed  the  same  duty  of  charity,  buying  thence  Catholic  servants,  who 
are  very  numerous  in  that  country.  There,  every  year,  very  many  sell  them- 
selves into  bondage;  and  living  among  men  of  the  worst  example,  and  being 
destitute  of  all  spiritual  aid,  they  commonly  make  shipwreck  of  their  souls." 

In  the  year  1639,  we  find  Father  White  cheerfully  toiling  away  at  Kit- 
tamaquindi,  an  Indian  town  distant  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  St. 
Mary's.  "  There  are,"  wrote  one  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  in  that  year,  "  in  this 
mission  four  priests  and  one  coadjutor.  All  are  in  places  far  distant — thus 
doubtless  as  they  expect  to  obtain  an  earlier  acquaintance  with  the  savage 
language,  and  propagate  more  widely  the  sacred  faith  of  the  gospel.  Father 
John  Brock,  the  superior,  with  a  coadjutor  brother,  remains  on  the  plantation. 
Metepawien — which  was  given  us  by  Maquacomen,  the  chief  of  Patuxent — 
is  a  certain  storehouse  of  this  mission,  whence  most  of  our  bodily  supplies 
are  obtained.  Father  Philip  Fisher  lives  in  the  principal  town  of  the  colony, 
to  which  the  name  of  St.  Mary  is  given.  Father  John  Gravener  lives  on 
Kent  Island,  sixty  miles  distant.  Father  Andrew  White  is  still  further  dis- 
tant— one  hundred  and  twenty  miles — at  Kittamaquindi,  the  capital  of 
Pascatoway.  Since  June,  1639,  he  has  resided  in  the  wigwam  of  the  king 
himself.     He  is  called  Tayac." 

Why  the  venerable  Father  White  went  to  Kittamaquindi  is  thus 
explained,  at  length,  in  the  letter  just  quoted:  "  He  had  bestowed  much  time 
and  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  king  of  Patuxent,  which,  indeed,  was 
expected  by  us  all,  both  on  account  of  the  recollection  of  kindness  received — 
for,  as  we  have  stated,  he  gave  a  farm  to  the  society — and  because  he  was 
said  to  be  very  powerful  among  the  barbarians,  on  account  of  his  reputation 
for  wisdom  and  influence.  Some  of  the  people  of  this  king  had  connected 
themselves  with  the  fold  of  Christ ;  and  he  himself  appeared  abundantly 
instructed  in  the  first  principles  of  the  faith,  when  lo!  unhappy  man,  he  first 
procrastinates,  then  by  degrees  began  to  grow  indifferent,  and  lastly,  in  an 


24 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


open  manner,  to  break  off  altogether  from  the  design  he  had  commenced. 
Nor  was  this  all.  He  gave  indications — too  clear  to  be  misunderstood — that 
his  mind  was  entirely  alienated  from  the  whole  colony.  Then  Governor 
Calvert,  after  prudently  sounding  the  matter,  determined,  by  the  advice  of 
his  friends,  that  the  father  should  be  recalled  from  the  hospitality  of  the  king, 
lest  unexpectedly  the  barbarian  should  give  some  example  of  his  perfidy  and 
cruelty  against  an  innocent  man;  or,  indeed,  lest  this  hostage,  as  it  were,  being 
left  with  the  king,  he  himself  might  be  hindered  from  being  able  to  revenge 
injuries,  if  at  any  time  the  Patuxent  ruler  should  discover  himself  an  enemy. 

"  When  rulers  and  kings  are  spoken  of,  let  no  one  form  in  his  mind  an 
august  idea  of  men,  such  as  of  the  different  princes  in  Europe.  These  Indian 
kings,  though  they  have  the  most  absolute  power  of  life  and  death  over  their 
people,  and  in  certain  prerogatives  of  honor  and  wealth  excel  others,  never- 
theless, in  personal  appearances  they  are  scarcely  anything  removed  from  the 
multitude.  The  only  peculiarity  by  which  you  can  distinguish  a  chief  from 
the  common  people,  is  some  badge.  Sometimes  it  is  a  collar  made  of  a  rude 
jewel,  or  a  belt,  or  oftener  a  cloak  ornamented  with  shells  in  circular  rows. 
The  dominions  of  these  are  commonly  circumscribed  by  the  narrow  confines 
of  a  single  village  and  the  surrounding  country.  Tayac,  however,  rules  over 
a  much  more  extensive  region,  stretching  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles. 
Other  inferior  chieftains  are  also  subject  to  him. 

"  To  Tayac,  Father  White  betook  himself,  and  being  treated  very  kindly 
at  the  first  interview,  so  attached  the  king  to  him,  that  he  was  afterwards 
held  by  him  in  the  greatest  love  and  veneration.  With  the  father  he  shared 
the  hospitality  of  his  own  residence.  Nor  was  the  queen  inferior  to  her 
husband  in  benevolence  to  their  guest.  With  no  less  care  than  labor,  she 
prepared  the  meals  with  her  own  hands. 

"  The  cause  of  this  remarkable  affection  for  the  father,  is  to  be  referred 
to  two  dreams — unless  you  deem  it  proper  to  honor  them  witn  another  name 
— which  he  had  some  time  previously.  One  of  the  dreams  appeared  to  the 
mind  of  Uwanno,  Tayac's  brother,  who  reigned  before  him,  and  whom  he 
slew.  In  his  sleep  he  seemed  to  see  Father  White  and  Father  Gravener 
before  him,  and  moreover  to  hear  a  voice  saying:  '  These  are  the  men  who 
from  their  souls  love  thee  and  all  thy  tribe.  With  them  they  bring  those 
blessings  by  which,  if  thou  desirest,  thou  canst  be  happy!' 

"Hence  so  lively  an  impression  of  these  unknown  men  remained  in  his 
mind  that  even  at  the  first  sight   he  recognized  them  when  coming  to  him, 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY,  25 

and  afterwards  embraced  them  with  remarkable  affection.  He  was  also 
accustomed  to  call  Father  White  his  parent;  and  was  very  desirous  to  com- 
mit the  care  and  instruction  of  his  sons  to  him  for  seven  years.  The  Indians 
are  exceedingly  fond  of  their  children,  and  seldom  let  them  go  from  their 
embraces. 

"The  other  dream,  which  he  is  often  accustomed  to  relate,  occurred  to 
Tayac  in  his  sleep.  He  dreamed  that  his  deceased  father  appeared  before  him, 
accompanied  by  a  god  of  a  black  color,  whom  he  worshiped.  This  god 
besought  Tayac  not  to  desert  him.  At  a  short  distance  there  appeared  a 
very  hideous  demon,  with  a  certain  man  named  Snow,  a  most  obstinate  heretic 
from  England — and,  at  length,  in  another  direction  appeared  Governor  Cal- 
vert and  Father  White,  the  latter  accompanied  by  a  god  of  indescribable 
beauty,  who  excelled  the  unstained  snow  in  whiteness,  and  seemed  gently  to 
beckon  the  king  to  approach  him.  From  that  time  Tayac  treated  both  the 
governor  and  Father  White  with  the  greatest  affection." 

Soon  after  another  event  happened  which  hastened  the  conversion  of  the 
chief.  He  was  seized  with  a  dangerous  illness.  In  vain  did  forty  medicine 
men  exhaust  their  ingenuity,  their  charms,  and  their  incantations  upon  the 
prostrated  Tayac.  Ordering  them  from  his  presence,  he  implored  Father 
White  to  aid  him.  The  venerable  Jesuit's  knowledge  of  medicine  served 
him  well.  He  bled  the  dusky  chieftain,  administered  what  he  considered 
proper,  and  soon  the  patient  arose  from  his  sick  hammock.  He  asked  to  be 
baptized.  The  missionary  kindly  told  him  that  it  was  necessary  to  be  well 
instructed  first.  The  eagerness  of  this  lordly  son  of  the  forest  to  master  the 
truths  of  Christianity  was  indeed  truly  admirable.  Himself,  his  wife,  and 
his  family  daily  listened  to  the  instructions  of  the  aged  minister.  Besides 
he  no  longer  clothed  himself  in  skins,  but  assumed  the  dress  of  the  whites. 

"The  king,"  observes  the  letter  of  1639,  "  nas  exchanged  the  skins  with 
which  he  was  heretofore  clothed  for  garments  made  in  our  fashion.  He  also 
makes  a  little  endeavor  to  learn  our  language.  .  .  .  He  abstains  from  meat 
on  the  days  which  it  is  forbidden  by  the  Christian  laws;  and  men  that  are 
heretics  and  do  otherwise,  he  thinks  ought  to  be  called  bad  Christians.  He 
is  greatly  delighted  with  spiritual  conversation,  and,  indeed,  seems  to  esteem 
earthly  wealth  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  treasures  of  heaven,  as  he 
told  Governor  Calvert.  The  latter  was  explaining  to  him  what  great  advan- 
tages could  be  enjoyed  from  the  English  by  a  mutual  exchange  of  wares, 
when  the  chief  remarked — '  In  truth,  I   consider  these  trifling,  when  com- 


26 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


pared  with  this  one  advantage,  that  through  these  missionaries  I  have  arrived 
at  the  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God.  To  me  there  is  nothing  among  you 
greater  than  this;  nor  ought  there  to  be  anything  greater.'" 

Tayac's  anxiety  for  the  conversion  of  his  whole  tribe  was  only  equaled 
by  his  desire  to  be  received  into  the  Church.  Convinced  himself,  he  wished 
to  make  the  truth  known  to  others.  The  red  ruler  assembled  his  chiefs  and 
people,  and  in  an  eloquent  appeal  told  them  that  childish  superstition  had 
reigned  too  long  in  the  wigwams  of  the  Pascatoways.  There  was  but  one 
God,  and  He  alone  was  worthy  of  the  homage  of  brave  men.  He  was  the 
creator  of  all  things.  He  was  the  Great  Spirit  worshiped  by  the  black 
gowns.  The  stones  and  the  objects  adored  by  the  Indians  were  but  the 
humble  works  of  His  hands.  And  to  show  his  contempt  for  their  former 
idols,  Tayac  took  one  and  tossed  it  with  his  foot.  The  warriors  applauded 
the  language  and  bold  action  of 
their  chief,  and  henceforth  Chris- 
tianity made  a  rapid  conquest  of 
this  tribe.  Thus  did  the  holy 
words  of  Father  White  fall  upon 
good  ground,  and  bring  forth  a 
hundred-fold. 

About  this  time  Tayac  ac- 
cepted Father  White's  invitation 
to  visit  the  town  of  St.  Mary's, 
and  was  delighted  with  the  scenes 
of  peace,  prosperity,  and  happi- 
ness which  there  met  his  eyes. 
This  lord  of  the  forest  now 
eagerly  begged  to  be  baptized, 
and  at  length  a  day  was  fixed. 

The  ceremony  took  place  on 
the  5th  of  July,  1604,  at  his  rude 


THE    PASCATOWAY    CHIEF 


capitol,  Kittamaquindi,  in  a  chapel  built  of  bark  for  the  occasion.  '.'The 
governor,"  says  the  letter  of  1640,  "  was  present  at  the  ceremony,  together 
with  his  secretary  and  many  others;  nor  was  anything  wanting  in  display 
which  our  means  could  supply." 

The  venerable  White,  the  friend  and  instructor  of  the  red  king  officiated. 
Tayac,  his  queen,  their  little  son,  and  several  of  the  chief  men  of  the  tribe, 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY.  27 

were  solemnly  admitted  into  the  Catholic  Church  by  the  regenerating  waters 
of  baptism.  The  converted  chief  assumed  the  name  of  Charles,  in  honor  of 
the  English  sovereign.  His  wife  took  the  name  of  Mary.  The  other  con- 
verts also  received  Christian  names. 

"  In  the  afternoon,"  says  the  letter  just  quoted,  "the  king  and  queen 
were  united  in  matrimony  in  the  Christian  manner;  then  the  great  holy  cross 
was  erected,  in  carrying  which  to  its  destined  place  the  king,  governor,  secre- 
tary, and  others,  lent  their  hands  and  shoulders.  Two  of  us,  walking  before 
them,  at  the  same  time  chanted  the  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin." 

What  beauty  and  virtue  and  religion  mingle  in  this  happy  scene,  described 
by  a  venerable  hand  over  two  hundred  years  ago !  In  which  of  the  other 
English  colonies  of  America  can  we  find  anything  similar?  Among  them 
all,  Catholic  Maryland  alone  can  present  such  a  shining  spectacle,  such  an 
historical  thing  of  beauty  lighting  up  the  gloom  of  the  past! 

Shortly  after  the  foregoing  event,  Father  White  was  prostrated  by  a 
severe  illness.  The  great  old  priest  in  performing  the  ceremonies  of  the 
sacred  rite  of  baptism — which  were  somewhat  long — contracted  a  fever,  and 
again  suffered  a  relapse.  Many  months  passed  away  before  he  was  restored 
to  good  health.  He  was  not  idle,  however,  but  revised  and  compiled  the 
grammar,  dictionary,  and  catechism  in  the  language  of  his  dusky  flock,  in 
order  to  aid  his  successor  in  the  mission. 

In  the  winter  of  1640-41,  the  charity  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  and  the  Catholic 
colonists  was  doubly  taxed.  Gaunt  famine  stalked  the  forests  of  Maryland, 
for  a  great  drought  had  marked  the  past  summer.  The  body  of  the  poor 
Indian  was  now  as  sadly  in  need  of  nourishment  as  his  soul.  Wails  came  from 
the  wigwams,  where  formerly  echoed  naught  save  the  sounds  of  joy  and 
laughter.  "  That  we  might  not  appear  to  neglect  their  (the  Indians')  bodies," 
writes  one  of  the  missionaries,  "  for  the  care  of  whose  souls  we  had  made  so 
great  a  voyage,  though  corn  was  sold  at  a  very  high  price,  nevertheless,  we 
considered  it  necessary  to  relieve  their  want  of  bread  by  assisting  them.  Amid 
these  cares  ....  we  passed  the  greater  part  of  the  winter." 

"  The  Catholics  who  live  in  the  colony,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "are 
not  inferior  in  piety  to  those  who  live  in  other  countries;  but  in  urbanity  of 
manners,  according  to  the  judgment  of  those  who  have  visited  the  other  colo- 
nies, are  considered  far  superior  to  them.  Everywhere  the  hope  of  harvest 
has  dawned ;  and  while  each  one  of  us  is  anxious  even  unto  death  to  help  in 
the  good  work,  various  things  happen  worthv  of  recital.  Two  of  the  most 
2K 


28  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

prominent  shall  be  stated  here,  in  one  of  which  the  Divine  mercy  was  mani- 
fest, in  the  other  the  Divine  justice. 

"On  the  day  upon  which  a  certain  man  was  about  to  abjure  heresy,  and 
to  expiate  the  sins  of  his  past  life  by  confession,  a  fire  arose  in  the  interior  of 
his  house,  and  the  flame,  running  up  the  door-post,  burst  out  at  the  top. 
When  he  perceived  the  danger,  for  he  was  not  far  distant,  he  suddenly  called 
to  a  neighbor,  but  could  get  no  assistance  whatever.  He  then  ran  to  another 
but  could  find  only  two  who  would  go  with  him.  And  all  this  time  the  fire 
was  burning  a  house  of  dry  logs.  It  was  put  out,  however,  before  any  serious 
injury  had  happened.  Some  feared  lest,  by  this  unexpected  occurrence,  the 
man  might  be  deterred  from  conversion.  But  it  happened  far  otherwise* 
From  the  slight  damage  done  to  his  house  he  drew  the  conclusion  that  God 
was  kind  to  him,  and  approved  his  design  by  a  manifest  token.  Wherefore, 
uniting  a  great  reformation  in  morals  with  the  faith  he  professed,  he  now 
sheds  abroad  the  sweet  odor  of  a  good  example  upon  all  who  are  acquainted 
with  him. 

"A  certain  one,  wnen  he  had  felt  some  internal  drawings  of  the  faith  of 
God,  had  desired  prayer-beads  for  himself,  but  afterwards,  having  changed  his 
mind,  he  was  accustomed  to  smoke  them  in  his  pipe  with  tobacco,  after  they„ 
had  been  ground  to  powder,  often  boasting  that  he  had  eaten  up  YnsAve  Marias 
for  so  he  called  the  beads  by  the  telling  of  which  the  angelical  salutation  \% 
recited.  But  the  Divine  vengeance  did  not  let  the  wicked  crime  go  unpun- 
ished, for  scarcely  a  year  having  passed,  on  the  returning  eve  of  the  day  on 
which  he  had  abandoned  his  purpose  of  embracing  the  Catholic  Faith,  a  more 
sacrilegious  playfulness  possessed  him.  This  was  even  noticed  by  his  com. 
panions.  In  the  afternoon,  when  he  had  betaken  himself  to  the  river  for  th& 
purpose  of  swimming,  scarcely  had  he  touched  the  water,  when  a  huge  fish 
having  seized  the  wicked  man,  before  he  could  retreat  to  the  bank,  tore  away 
at  a  bite  a  large  portion  of  his  thigh,  by  the  pain  of  which  most-merited  lacer- 
ation the  unhappy  wretch  was  hurried  away  from  the  living — the  Divine  jus- 
tice bringing  it  about  that  he,  who  a  little  while  before  boasted  that  he  had 
eaten  up  his  Ave  Maria  beads,  should  see  his  own  flesh  devoured  even  while 
he  was  yet  living." 

In  1642,  we  find  Father  White  again  laboring  among  the  Pascatoway 
Indians.  Like  Moses  of  old,  it  appears,  age  had  neither  dimmed  his  sight  nor 
diminished  his  vigor.  But  he  was  not  without  his  troubles;  and,  of  course, 
we  must  be  pardoned  if  we  introduce  a  rather  quaint  and  curious  quotation 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY  29 

from  the  annual  letter  of  1642:  "Father  White,"  says  the  writer,  "suffered 
no  little  inconvenience  from  a  hard-hearted  and  troublesome  captain  of  New 
England,  whom  he  had  engaged  for  the  purpose  of  taking  him  and  his  effects, 
and  from  whom  he  was  in  fear  a  little  while  after,  not  without  cause,  that  he 
would  be  cast  either  into  the  sea,  or  be  carried  with  his  property  to  New 
England,  which  is  full  of  Puritan  Calvinists — that  is,  of  all  Calvinist  heresy. 
But  silently  committing  the  thing  to  God,  at  length  in  safety  he  reached 
Potomac,  in  which  harbor,  when  they  had  cast  anchor,  the  ship  stuck  so  fast, 
bound  by  a  great  quantity  of  ice,  that  for  the  space  of  seventeen  days  it  could 
not  be  moved.  Walking  on  the  ice,  as  if  on  the  land,  the  father  departed 
for  the  town.  When  the  ice  was  broken  up,  the  ship,  driven  and  jammed  by 
the  force  and  violence  of  the  ice,  sunk,  the  cargo  being  in  a  great  measure 
recovered. 

"By  this  misfortune  Father  White  was  detained  longer  on  his  visit, 
namely,  seven  weeks;  for  he  found  it  necessary  to  bring  another  ship  from 
St.  Mary's.  But  the  spiritual  advantage  of  souls  readily  compensated  for 
that  delay;  for  during  that  time  was  added  to  the  church  the  ruler  of  that 
little  village,  with  the  other  principal  men  of  its  inhabitants,  who  received 
the  faith  of  Christ  and  baptism.  Besides  these,  also  another,  together  with 
many  of  his  friends;  a  third  likewise,  with  his  wife,  his  son,  and  a  friend;  a 
fourth,  in  like  manner,  with  another  of  no  ignoble  standing  among  his  tribe. 
By  their  example,  the  people  are  prepared  to  receive  the  Faith,  whenever  we 
will  have  leisure  to  instruct  them  by  catechism." 

"  Not  long  after,"  continues  the  same  letter,  "  the  young  princess — as 
they  call  her  at  Pascatoway — was  baptized  in  the  town  of  St.  Mary's,  and  is 
being  educated  there.     She  is  now  a  proficient  in  the  English  language." 

At  this  time  an  Indian  war  broke  out,  and  the  Susquehannas  and  other 
tribes  poured  down  on  Maryland  and  its  allies.  The  hostile  savages  attacked 
a  settlement,  massacred  the  people,  and  carried  off  the  spoil.  Pascatoway 
was  also  in  peril,  as  it  was  constantly  exposed  to  attacks  from  the  enemy. 
The  mission  was  removed  to  Potopaco,  where  nearly  the  whole  tribe 
embraced  the  Faith.  At  this  time  Father  White  and  the  other  missionaries 
made  several  excursions  up  the  Patuxent  River,  and  in  various  parts,  this 
being  the  safest  and  best  means,  on  account  of  the  war.  Those  missionary 
journeys  are  thus  described  by  one  of  themselves: 

"We  sail  in  an  open  boat — the  father,  an  interpreter,  and  servant.  In  a 
calm   or   adverse  wind,  two  row  and  the  third  steers  the  boat.      We  carry  a 


3° 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


basket  of  bread,  cheese,  butter,  dried  roasted  ears  of  corn,  beans  and  some 
meal,  and  a  chest  containing  the  sacerdotal  vestments,  the  slab  or  altar  for 
Mass,  the  wine  used  in  the  holy  sacrifice,  and  blessed  baptismal  water.  In 
another  chest  we  carry  knives,  hoes,  little  bells,  fishing-hooks,  needles,  thread, 
and  other  trifles,  for  presents  to  the  Indians.  We  take  two  mats — a  small 
one  to  shelter  us  from  the  sun,  and  a  larger  one  to  protect  us  from  the  rain. 
The  servant  carries  implements  for  hunting,  and  cooking  utensils.  We 
endeavor  to  reach  some  Indian  village  or  English  plantation  at  night-fall. 
If  we  do  not  succeed,  then  the  father  secures  our  boat  to  the  bank,  collects 
wood  and  makes  a  fire,  while  the  other  two  go  out  to  hunt;  and  after  cook- 
ing our  game,  we  take  some  refreshments,  and  then  lie  down  to  sleep  around 
the  fire.  When  threatened  with  rain,  we  erect  a  tent,  covering  it  with  our 
large  mat.  And  thanks  be  to  God,  we  enjoy  our  scanty  fare  and  hard  beds, 
as  much  as  if  we  were  accommodated  with  the  luxuries  of  Europe.  The 
consolation  we  find  in  the  promises  of  the  Almighty  to  those  who  labor  faith- 
fully in  His  service,  and  the  watchful  care  He  seems  to  have  of  us,  gives  us 
strength  to  bear  up  against  difficulties,  so  much  so,  that  it  is  surprising  that 
we  are  able  to  accomplish  what  we  do." 

This  kind  of  life  was  not  by  any  means  free  from  danger,  but  to  Fatner 
White  and  his  colleagues  life  was  less  dear  than  duty.  Several  thrilling 
adventures  and  miraculous  cures  also  marked  this  period.  On  one  occasion 
an  Anacostan  Indian,  a  Christian,  in  making  his  way  through  a  wood,, 
dropped  a  little  behind  his  companions,  when  some  hostile  Susquehannas 
suddenly  fell  upon  him.  In  their  fury  the  savages  pierced  him  with  a  light, 
strong  spear  of  locust-wood — from  which  they  made  their  arrows — tipped 
with  a  sharp  iron  point.  The  deadly  weapon  passed  through  the  unhappy 
man  from  side  to  side,  about  the  width  of  a  hand  below  the  arm-pit,  and  quite 
near  the  heart.  The  wound  was  described  as  "  two  fingers  broad  at  each 
side."  Thinking  they  had  killed  the  Anacostan,  the  Susquehannas  fled.  His 
companions,  however,  who  had  gone  on  before,  were  recalled  by  the  sudden 
noise  of  the  brief  struggle.  They  carried  the  wounded  man  from  the  land  to 
the  boat  which  was  near — and  thence  to  his  home  at  Pascatoway.  Here 
they  left  him  speechless  and  out  of  his  senses. 

The  accident  was  reported  to  the  venerable  White,  who  was  always  at 
hand,  or  going  about  doing  good.  He  hastened  to  the  wigwam  the  follow- 
ing morning,  and  found  the  unhappy  Indian  before  the  door,  lying  on  a  mat 
near  the  fire,  and  enclosed  by  a  circle  of  his  tribe.     He   was   not,  as   the   day 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY. 


31 


previously,  speechless  or  out  of  his  senses;  but  he  expected  death  every 
moment. 

The  poor  Anacostan  joined  his  mournful  voice  with  the  song  of  his 
friends,  who  stood  around,  as  was  the  custom  when  the  more  distinguished 
men  of  the  tribe  were  about  to  die.  But  some  of  his  friends  were  Christians, 
and  they  sang  with  musical  sweetness:  "  May  he  live,  O  God!  if  it  so  please 
Thee."  Again  and  again,  they  repeated  the  sweet  and  plaintive  air,  until 
Father  White  began  to  speak  to  the  dying  man,  who  knew  the  aged  Jesuit, 
and  showed  him  his  wounds.  The  man  of  God  saw  the  danger  at  a  glance, 
and  briefly  running  over  the  chief  articles  of  Faith,  heard  the  Indian's  con- 
fession, and  gave  him  absolution.  Then  elevating  his  soul  with  hope  and 
confidence  in  God,  he  recited  the  Gospel  which  is  to  be  read  for  the  sick,  and 
the  Litany  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  and  told  the  dying  warrior  to  commend 
himself  to  her  most  holy  intercession,  and  to  call  unceasingly  on  the  blessed 
name  of  Jesus.  Father  White  then  applied  the  sacred  relic  of  the  Most  Holy 
Cross — which  he  carried  in  a  casket  hung  about  his  neck — to  the  wound  on 
each  side.  The  missionary  was  now  obliged  to  leave.  At  some  distance 
away,  an  aged  Indian  was  near  death,  and  he  wished  to  be  baptized.  As 
Father  White  departed  from  the  wigwam,  he  directed  the  bystanders  to  carry 
the  Anacostan,  when  he  breathed  his  last,  to  the  chapel  for  the  purpose  of  burial. 

It  was  noon  when  the  apostle  of  Maryland  finally  directed  his  steps 
towards  the  point  where  the  aged  Indian  expected  his  ministrations.  The 
*  following  day,  at  the  same  hour,  as  he  sailed  along  in  his  boat,  he  saw  two 
Indians  paddling  towards  him.  When  they  came  alongside  one  of  them  put 
his  foot  into  the  father's  boat.  "While  the  priest,"  says  the  annual  letter  of 
1642,  "gazed  on  the  man  with  fixed  eyes,  being  in  doubt,  for  in  a  measure  he 
recognized  him  by  his  features,  who  he  was,  but  in  part  recollecting  in  what 
state  he  had  left  him  the  day  before,  when  the  Indian  on  a  sudden  threw 
open  his  cloak  and  disclosed  the  cicatrices  of  the  wounds,  or  rather  a  red  spot 
on  each  side,  as  a  trace  of  the  wound,  at  once  removed  all  doubt  from  him. 
Moreover,  in  language  full  of  joy,  he  exclaimed  that  he  was  entirely  well, 
nor  from  the  hour  at  which  the  father  had  left  yesterday  had  he  ceased  to 
invoke  the  most  holy  name  of  Jesus,  to  whom  he  attributed  his  recovered 
health !  All  who  were  in  the  boat  with  Father  White,  after  they  investigated 
the  thing,  both  by  the  senses  of  seeing  and  hearing,  breaking  forth  into  praise 
of  God  and  thanksgiving,  were  greatly  rejoiced  and  confirmed  in  the  Faith 
at  this  miracle." 


32 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


The  gigantic  labors  of  Father  White  in  Maryland  were  now  approach- 
ing their  termination.  By  himself  and  his  companions  in  ten  years  the  Gospel 
had  been  preached  with  success  to  the  Indians  at  St.  Mary's;  at  Kent  Island, 
in  the  Chesapeake  Bay;  at  Pascatoway  and  Port  Tobacco,  on  the  Maryland 
side  of  the  Potomac;  at  Patowmeck  town,  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  same 
river;  at  Mattapany  and  Pawtuxent  town,  on  the  Patuxent  River;  and  at 
many  other  places  which  were  visited  by  the  missionaries  in  their  aquatic 
expeditions. 

But  misfortune  now  frowned  on  Maryland,  its  people,  and  its  beautiful 
scenes  of  missionary  toil.  A  party  of  Puritans  were  expelled  from  Virginia 
in  1642,  and  seeking  refuge  in  Maryland,  were  received  with  open  arms. 
The  new-comers,  however,  soon  began  to  manifest  a  spirit  of  insurrection. 
In  Clayborne,  a  bold  and  lawless  man,  who  was  plotting  to  overthrow  the 
government  of  Lord  Baltimore,  they  found  a  worthy  leader;  and,  with  the 
basest  ingratitude,  those  vile  men  raised  their  hands  against  the  kind  friends 
who  had  sheltered  and  succored  them  in  the  hour  of  need.  Turning  about 
like  vipers,  they  bit  the  very  benefactors  who  had  warmed  them  into  life. 
Clavborne  and  his  Protestant  mob  triumphed  in  1644.  Governor  Calvert  was 
obliged  to  fly,  and  with  him  departed  peace,  justice,  and  religion.  Many  of 
the  Maryland  Catholics  were  banished,  and  robbed  of  their  possessions. 
Lawlessness  and  intolerance  ravaged  the  country.  The  altars  of  religion  were 
overthrown,  and  even  the  venerable  apostle  of  Maryland  and  the  other  Jesuit 
fathers  were  seized,  put  in  irons,  and  like  criminals  shipped  to  England,  and 
there  cast  into  loathsome  dungeons. 

Father  Andrew  White,  despite  his  earnest  desire,  had  not  the  happiness 
of  returning  to  America.  After  many  years'  confinement  he  was  banished 
from  England,  but  by  his  superior's  orders  at  once  returned  again,  braving 
the  rigor  of  the  penal  laws  against  missionaries.  He  devoted  the  closing 
years  of  his  life  to  the  same  ministry  in  which  he  had  spent  his  youth,  and 
the  apostle  of  Maryland  died  at  London,  in  1657,  one  of  the  holiest  members 
of  an  order  which  has  produced  so  many  saints. 

Meanwhile  his  fellow  religious  maintained  their  ground  in  America, 
amid  the  constant  disorders  in  which  the  colony  languished,  and  for  more 
than  a  century  the  English  Jesuits,  in  uninterrupted  succession,  kept  alive  the 
faith  of  the  settlers  amid  the  persecutions  of  which  they  were  the  victims, 
and  of  which  we  cannot  omit  some  account. 

The  Catholics  had  already  been  persecuted,  but  they  did  not  learn  to 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY. 


33 


pei  «cute.  Composing  a  majority  in  the  assembly  of  1649,  tnev  Passed  the 
famous  "act  concerning  religion,"  which  provided  that  "no  person  whatso- 
ever, professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  molested  for  or  in  respect 
of  his  or  her  religion,  or  the  free  exercise  thereof."  This  "  toleration 
act "  was  the  first  ordinance  of  its  kind  known  in  North  America.  The  noble 
founder  of  the  colony  had  even  drafted  oaths,  binding  his  deputies  and  their 
council  not  to  interfere  with  any  man's  conscience.  Thus  the  Episcopalian, 
excluded  from  New  England,  had  a  home  in  Maryland  and  a  seat  in  its 
assembly;  the  Puritan,  driven  from  Virginia,  sat  at  the  same  council  board 
with  the  Episcopalian.  Yet  the  conduct  of  these  Catholic  Marylanders  was 
ungratefully  scorned,  their  example  of  liberality  was  nowhere  followed. 

In  1654  the  provincial  assembly  deprived  Catholics  of  their  civil  rights 
and  decreed  that  liberty  of  conscience  should  not  extend  to  "  popery,  prelacy, 
or  licentiousness  cf  opinion,"  an  act  which  has  drawn  from  the  historian  Ban- 
croft this  reflection:  "The  Puritans  had  neither  the  gratitude  to  respect  the 
rights  of  the  government,  by  which  they  had  been  received  and  fostered,  nor 
magnanimity  to  continue  the  toleration  to  which  alone  they  were  indebted  for 
their  residence  in  the  colony." 

In  1692  the  assemby  established  the  Anglican  Church  throughout  the 
colony  of  Maryland,  dividing  the  counties  into  parishes,  and  imposing  a  tax 
on  citizens  of  every  denomination  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  clergy. 
While  the  Catholics  were  masters  of  the  government,  they  made  no  such 
exaction  for  the  support  of  their  missionaries.  The  Jesuits  received  conces- 
sions of  land  on  the  same  terms  as  other  colonists,  but  all  was  voluntary  in 
the  offerings  of  the  faithful;  and  now  Catholics  were  compelled  to  pay  for 
the  support  of  a  creed  which  persecuted  them  ! 

In  1704  a  new  law,  entitled  "An  act  to  prevent  the  increase  of  popery  in 
the  province,"  prohibited  all  bishops  and  priests  from  saying  Mass,  exercising 
the  spiritual  functions  of  their  ministry,  or  endeavoring  to  gain  converts;  it 
also  forbid  Catholics  to  teach,  and  enabled  a  Catholic  child,  by  becoming  a 
Protestant,  to  exact  from  its  Catholic  parents  its  proportion  of  his  property, 
as  though  they  were  dead.  Catholics  were,  however,  permitted  to  hear  Mass 
in  their  own  families  and  on  their  own  grounds,  and  only  by  this  exception 
could  the  Catholic  worship  be  practiced  in  Maryland  for  seventy  years. 

The  property  of  the  Jesuits  rested  on  the  compact  between  Lord  Balti- 
more and  the  colonists,  entitled  "Conditions  of  Plantations,"  by  which  every 

colonist  settling  with  five  able-bodied  laborers,  was  entitled  to  two  thousand 
4 


oa  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

acres  of  land  at  a  moderate  rate.     Moreover,  the  Indian  kings  whom  they 
had  converted,  had  made  gratuitous  concessions  of  land  to  the  Church. 

According  to  the  law,  the  Jesuits  could  exercise  the  ministry  only  in  their 
own  house  and  for  their  own  servants;  and  the  size  of  the  chapels  corre- 
sponded to  this  ostensible  design,  and  they  were  always  connected  with  the 
house.  Of  course,  however,  the  Catholics  eluded  the  letter  of  the  law,  and 
these  houses  became  the  sole  refuge  of  religion  in  Maryland. 

In  1706  an  act  authorized  the  meetings  of  the  Quakers,  so  that  in  a 
colony  founded  by  Catholics,  Catholics  were  the  only  victims  of  the  intoler- 
ance of  the  dominant  party.  During  the  following  years  successive  laws 
deprived  them  of  the  elective  franchise,  unless  they  took  the  test  oath  and 
renounced  their  faith.  The  executive  power,  too,  often  arbitrarily  issued 
proclamations  by  its  own  authority,  "to  take  children  from  the  pernicious 
influence  of  Catholic  parents,"  and  the  assembly  voted  that  Papists  should 
pay  double  the  tax  levied  on  Protestants.  The  animosity  against  Catholics 
at  last  became  such  that  they  were  forbidden  to  appear  in  certain  parts  of  the 
towns,  and  they  were  in  a  manner  shut  up  in  a  sort  of  Ghetto. 

Many  of  the  Catholics  now  sought  to  escape  this  oppression,  and  Daniel 
Carroll,  father  of  the  future  bishop  of  Baltimore,  sailed  to  France  in  1752  to 
negotiate  for  the  emigration  of  all  the  Maryland  Catholics  to  Louisiana. 
For  this  purpose  he  had  several  interviews  with  the  ministry  of  Louis  XV, 
in  order  to  convince  them  of  the  immense  resources  of  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi; but  the  government  which  abandoned  Canada  to  England,  and  sold 
Louisiana  to  Spain,  was  not  able  to  appreciate  the  forecast  of  Carroll,  and  his 
offers  were  rejected. 

During  all  this  period  of  oppression  the  Catholics  of  Maryland,  with  rare 
exceptions,  remained  faithful  to  the  Church,  and  as  their  missionaries  afforded 
them  means  of  Catholic  education,  many  of  the  younger  members,  to  pursue 
more  extensive  studies,  crossed  the  ocean.  Many  of  both  sexes  in  France 
and  Belgium  entered  religious  orders ;  some  returning  as  Jesuit  fathers  to 
repay  the  care  bestowed  on  themselves;  others,  by  their  prayers  in  silent 
cloisters,  obtaining  graces  and  spiritual  blessings  for  their  distant  Maryland. 
Of  the  Jesuits  who  labored  in  Maryland  prior  to  the  Revolution,  a  great  many 
were  natives  of  the  province,  and  we  find  others  on  the  mission  in  England. 

The  penal  laws  prevented  any  emigration  of  Catholics  to  Maryland,  and, 
indeed,  the  only  accession  to  their  numbers  which  the  faithful  in  Maryland 
received  from  abroad,  was  a  number  of  Acadians,  who,  after  beholding  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  SANCTUARY. 


35 


devastation  of  their  happy  homes  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  were  torn  from 
their  native  shores  in  1755,  and  thrown  destitute  on  the  coast  of  the  various 
colonies.  Those  who  were  set  ashore  in  Maryland  seem  to  have  been  more 
happy  than  most  of  their  suffering  countrymen.  For  a  considerable  period 
they  enjoyed  the  presence  of  a  priest — the  Rev.  Mr.  Leclerc — and  raised  a 
church  on  a  hill  outside  of  Baltimore.  On  the  departure  of  this  excellent 
man,  who  left  them  vestments  and  altar  plate,  these  Acadians  had  to  rely  on 
the  occasional  visits  of  the  Jesuit  fathers. 

Meanwhile  the  Anglican  clergy  in  Maryland,  fattening  on  their  tithes, 
lived  in  plenty  and  disorder  amid  their  slaves,  without  in  the  least  troubling 
their  minds  about  preaching  to  their  flocks.  So  notorious  is  this  disorderly 
conduct  of  the  colonial  clergy,  that  the  Protestant  bishop  of  Maryland  a  few 
years  since  exclaimed:  "Often  as  I  hear  and  read  authentic  evidence  of  the 
character  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  clergy  in  the  province  of  Maryland  two 
generations  since,  I  am  struck  with  wonder  that  God  spared  a  church  so 
universally  corrupt,  and  did  not  utterly  remove  its  candlestick  out  of  its  place." 

As  a  contrast  we  give  the  following  address  of  the  legislature  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Maryland,  on  the  16th  of  March,  1697: 

"  On  the  complaint  of  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  the 
popish  priests  in  Charles  county  do,  of  their  own  accord,  in  this  violent  and 
raging  mortality  in  that  county,  make  it  their  business  to  go  up  and  down  the 
county  to  persons'  houses  when  dying  and  frantic,  and  endeavor  to  seduce  and 
make  proselytes  of  them,  and  in  such  condition  boldly  presume  to  administer 
the  sacraments  to  them ;  we  humbly  entreat  your  excellency  to  issue  your 
proclamation  to  restrain  and  prohibit  such  their  extravagant  and  presumptuous 
behavior." 

Thus  the  wide  difference  between  a  ministry  of  truth  and  a  ministry  of 
error  appeared  in  Maryland  as  elsewhere,  the  former  devoting  life  in  the 
service  of  their  neighbor,  the  latter  only  thinking  of  the  enjoyments  of  life. 

This  degradation  of  the  Anglican  clergy  at  last  sapped  all  their  authority, 
and  the  feelings  of  the  Protestants  towards  their  Catholic  countrymen  began 
gradually  to  change.  When  discontent  with  the  mother  country  awakened 
ideas  of  an  insurrection  throughout  the  colonies,  it  became  important  to  con- 
ciliate the  Catholics;  and  both  parties,  Whigs  and  Tories,  vied  with  each  other 
in  emancipating  them.  The  convention  in  1774  made  the  following  appeal 
to  the  people: 

"  As  our  opposition  to  the  settled  plan  of   the   British   administration   to 


36  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

enslave  America  will  be  strengthened  by  a  union  of  all  ranks  of  men  within 
this  province,  we  do  most  earnestly  recommend  that  all  former  differences 
about  religion  or  politics,  and  all  private  animosities  and  quarrels  of  every 
kind,  from  henceforth  cease,  and  be  forever  buried  in  oblivion;  and  we 
entreat,  we  conjure  every  man  by  his  duty  to  God,  his  country,  and  his  pos- 
terity, cordially  to  unite  in  defense  of  our  common  rights  and  liberties." 

The  act  emancipating  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  followed  close  on  this 
appeal ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  wrested  from  the  party  in  power  by  the 
critical  position  of  affairs,  and  did  not  spring  from  any  noble  motive.  This 
should  never  be  forgotten  when  Protestants  boast  of  the  toleration  which 
they  allow  the  Church  in  the  United  States. 


MlmpUx  III. 


ON  bllJERTy'S  AfcTAR. 


Thk  Dawn  of  the  Revolution. — Position  of  the  Catholic  Minority. — Their 
Nucleus  in  Maryland. — The  Scattered  Acadians.—  Worshipers  in  the 
West. — Sympathy  with  Colonial  Aspirations. — Ireland's  Wrongs  Remem- 
bered.—English  Tyranny  in  Canada. — The  Famous  Quebec  Act. — Cry  of 
"No  Popery." — Bigoted  John  Jay. —  Flight  of  the  Scotch  Catholics. — The 
Retort  Courteous. — Outspoken  Patriots  in  Maryland. — Carroll,  of 
Carrollton. — Catholics  Filling  the  Army. — How  Canada  Was  Lost  to 
the  Cause. — The  Mission  of  Franklin  and  Carroll. — Washington  Seeks 
Catholic  Allies. — The  Brave  Chief  Orono. — Father  Gibault  Serves  the 
Cause. — An  Unredeemed  Debt. — Volunteers  from  Catholic  France. — 
Relics  of  the  Irish  Brigade. — Lafayette,  Pulaski. — Loyal  Governor  Lee. 
— The  French  Alliance. — Washington's  Gratitude. — Spanish  Aid  from 
the  South. — England's  Protestant  Mercenaries. — Washington's  Plea  for 
Good  Feeling. — Some  Hero  Sketches. 

HE  moment  of  England's  triumph  in  the  last  century  was  the 
dawn  of  American  independence.  When  England,  aided  by  her 
colonies,  had  at  last  wrested  Canada  from  France,  and,  forcing  that 
weakened  power  to  relinquish  Louisiana  to  Spain,  had  restored 
Havana  to  the  Catholic  sovereign  only  at  the  price  of  Florida,  her 
swav  seemed  secure  over  all  North  America  from  the  icy  ocean  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi.  But 
her  very  success  had  aroused  questions  and  created  wants  which  were  not  to 
be  answered  and  solved  until  her  mighty  American  power  was  shattered. 

While  Spain  and  France  kept  colonies  in  leading-strings,  England 
allowed  her  American  provinces  to  thrive  by  her  utter  neglect  of  them. 
Monarchs  granted  charters  liberally,  and  with  that  their  interest  seemed  to 
vanish,  until  it  was  discovered  that  offices  could  be  found  there  for  court 
favorites.  But  the  people  had  virtually  constituted  governments  of  their  own ; 

37 


j 


38  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

had  their  own  treasury,  made  their  own  laws,  waged  their  wars  with  the 
Indians,  carried  on  trade,  unaided  and  almost  unrecognized  by  the  mother 
country. 

The  final  struggle  with  France  had  at  last  awakened  England  to  the 
importance,  wealth,  and  strength  of  the  American  colonies.  It  appeared  to 
embarrassed  English  statesmen  that  the  depleted  coffers  of  the  national  treas- 
ury might  be  greatly  aided  by  taxing  these  prosperous  communities.  The 
Americans,  paying  readily  taxes  where  they  could  control  their  disbursement, 
refused  to  accept  new  burdens  and  to  pay  the  mother  country  for  the  honor 
of  being  governed.  The  relation  of  colonies  to  the  mother  country ;  the 
question  of  right  in  the  latter  to  tax  the  former;  the  bounds  and  just  limits 
on  either  side,  involved  new  and  undiscussed  points.  They  now  became  the 
subject  of  debate  in  parliament,  in  colonial  assemblies,  in  every  town  gather- 
ing, and  at  every  fireside  in  the  American  colonies.  The  people  were  all 
British  subjects,  proud  of  England  and  her  past;  a  large  majority  were 
devoted  to  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  house  of  Hanover,  and  sought  to 
remain  in  adherence  to  both  while  retaining  all  the  rights  they  claimed  as 
Englishmen. 

A  small  body  of  Catholics  existed  in  the  country.  What  their  position 
was  on  the  great  questions  at  issue  can  be  briefly  told. 

They  were  of  many  races  and  nationalities.  No  other  church  then  or 
now  could  show  such  varieties,  blended  together  by  a  common  faith.  Mary- 
land, settled  by  a  Catholic  proprietor,  with  colonists  largely  Catholic,  and  for 
a  time  predominantly  so,  contained  some  thousands  of  native-born  Catholics 
of  English,  and  to  some  extent  of  Irish  origin,  proud  of  their  early  Maryland 
record,  of  the  noble  character  of  the  charter,  and  of  the  nobly  tolerant  charac- 
ter of  the  early  laws  and  practice  of  the  land  of  Mary.  *  In  Pennsylvania  a 
smaller  Catholic  body  existed,  more  scattered,  by  no  means  so  compact  or  so 
influential  as  their  Maryland  brethren — settlers  coming  singly  during  the  eight- 
eenth century  mainly,  or  descendants  of  such  emigrants,  some  of  whom  had 
been  sent  across  the  Atlantic  as  bondsmen  by  England,  others  coming  as  redemp- 
tioners,  others  again  as  colonists  of  means  and  position.  They  were  not  only 
of  English,  Irish,  and  Scotch  origin,  but  also  of  the  German  race,  with  a  few 
from  France  and  other  Catholic  states.  New  Jersey  and  New  York  had 
still  fewer  Catholics  than  Pennsylvania.  In  the  other  colonies,  from  New 
Hampshire  to  Georgia,  they  existed  only  as  individuals  lost  in  the  general 
body  of  the  people.     But  all  along  the  coast  were  scattered  by  the  cruel  hand 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  39 

of  English  domination  the  unfortunate  Acadians,  who  had  been  ruthlessly 
torn  from  their  Nova  Scotian  villages  and  farms,  deprived  of  all  they  had  on 
earth — home  and  property  and  kindred.  With  naught  left  them  but  their 
Faith,  these  Acadians  formed  little  groups  of  dejected  Catholics  in  many  a 
part,  not  even  their  noble  courage  amid  unmerited  suffering  exciting  sympathy 
or  kindly  encouragement  from  the  colonists.  Florida  had  a  remnant  of  its  old 
Spanish  population,  with  no  hopes  for  the  future  from  the  Protestant  power 
to  which  the  fortunes  of  war  and  the  vicissitudes  of  affairs  had  made  them 
subjects.  There  were  besides  in  that  old  Catholic  colony  some  Italians  and 
Minorcans,  brought  over  with  Greeks  under  TurnbulPs  project  of  coloniza- 
tion. Maine  had  her  Indians,  of  old  steady  foes  of  New  England,  now  at 
peace,  submitting  to  the  new  order  of  things,  thoroughly  Catholic  from  the 
teaching  of  their  early  missionaries.  New  York  had  Catholic  Indians  on  her 
northern  frontier.  The  Catholic  Wyandots  clustered  around  the  pure  streams 
and  springs  of  Sandusky.  Further  west,  from  Detroit  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio,  from  Vincennes  to  Lake  Superior, were  little  communities  of  Canadian 
French,  all  Catholics,  with  priests  and  churches,  surrounded  by  Indian  tribes 
among  all  which  missionaries  had  labored,  and  not  in  vain.  Some  tribes  were 
completely  Catholic;  others  could  show  some,  and  most  of  them  many,  who 
had  risen  from  the  paganism  of  the  red-men  to  the  Faith  of  Christ. 

Such  was  the  Catholic  body — colonists  who  could  date  back  their  origin 
to  the  foundation  of  Maryland  or  Acadia,  Florida  or  Canada.  Indians  of 
various  tribes,  new-comers  from  England,  Germany,  or  Ireland. 

There  were,  too,  though  few,  converts,  who,  belonging  to  the  Protestant 
emigration,  had  been  led  by  God's  grace  to  see  the  truth,  and  who  resolutely 
shared  the  odium  and  bondage  of  an  oppressed  and  unpopular  Church. 

The  questions  at  issue  between  the  colonists  and  the  mother  country 
were  readily  answered  by  the  Catholics  of  every  class.  Catholic  theologians 
nowhere  but  in  the  Gallican  circles  of  France  had  learned  to  talk  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  The  truest,  plainest  doctrines  of  the  rights  of  the 
people  found  their  exposition  in  the  works  of  Catholic  divines.  By  a  natural 
instinct  they  sided  with  those  who  claimed  for  these  new  communities  in  the 
western  world  the  right  of  self-government.  Catholics,  of  whatever  race  or 
origin,  were  on  this  point  unanimous.  Evidence  meets  us  on  every  side. 
Duche,  an  episcopal  clergyman,  will  mention  Father  Harding,  the  pastor  of 
the  Catholics  in  Philadelphia,  for  "his  known  attachment  to  British  liberty" 
— they  had  not  yet  begun  to  talk  of  American  liberty.     Indian,  French,  and 


.0  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Acadian,  bound  by  no  tie  to  England,  could  brook  no  subjection  to  a  distant 
and  oppressive  power.  t 

The  Irish  and  Scotch  Catholics,  with  old  wrongs  and  a  lingering 
Jacobite  dislike  to  the  house  of  Hanover,  required  no  labored  arguments  to 
draw  them  to  the  side  of  the  popular  movement.  All  these  elements  excited 
distrust  in  England.  Even  a  hundred  years  before  in  the  councils  of  Britain 
fears  had  been  expressed  that  the  Maryland  Catholics,  if  they  gained  strength, 
would  one  day  attempt  to  set  up  their  independence;  and  the  event  justified 
the  fear.     If  they  did  not  originate  the  movement,  they  went  heartily  into  it. 

The  English  government  had  begun  in  Canada  its  usual  course  of  harass- 
ing and  grinding  down  its  Catholic  subjects,  putting  the  thousands  of  Cana- 
dians completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  few  English  adventurers  or  office- 
holders who  entered  the  province,  giving  three  hundred  and  sixty  Protestant 
sutlers  and  camp-followers  the  rights  of  citizenship  and  all  the  offices  in 
Canada,  while  disfranchising  the  real  people  of  the  province,  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  Canadian  Catholics.  How  such  a  system  works  we  have 
seen,  unhappily,  in  our  own  day  and  country.  But  with  the  growing  discon- 
tent in  her  old  colonies,  caused  by  the  attempts  of  parliament  to  tax  the  set- 
tlers indirectly,  where  they  dared  not  openly,  England  saw  that  she  must 
take  some  decisive  steps  to  make  the  Canadians  contented  subjects,  or  be  pre 
pared  to  lose  her  dear-bought  conquest  as  soon  as  any  war  should  break  our 
in  which  she  herself  might  be  involved.  Instead  of  keeping  the  treaty  of 
Paris  as  she  had  kept  that  of  Limerick,  England  for  once  resolved  to  be 
honest  and  fulfill  her  agreement. 

It  was  a  moment  when  the  thinking  men  among  the  American  leaders 
should  have  won  the  Canadians  as  allies  to  their  hopes  and  cause;  but  they 
took  counsel  of  bigotry,  allowed  England  to  retrace  her  false  steps,  and  by 
tardy  justice  secure  the  support  of  the  Canadians. 

The  Quebec  act  of  1774  organized  Canada,  including  in  its  extent  the 
French  communities  in  the  west.  Learning  a  lesson  from  Lord  Baltimore 
and  Catholic  Maryland,  "  the  nation  which  would  not  so  much  as  legally 
recognize  the  existence  of  a  Catholic  in  Ireland  now  from  political  considera- 
tions recognized  on  the  St.  Lawrence  the  free  exercise  of  the  religion  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  confirmed  to  the  clergy  of  that  Church  their  rights 
and  dues." 

Just  and  reasonable  as  the  act  was,  solid  in  policy,  and,  by  introducing 
the  English  criminal  law  and  forms  of  government,  gradually  preparing  tht 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  4: 

people  for  an  assimilation  in  form  to  the  other  British  colonies,  this  Quebec 
act,  from  the  simple  fact  that  it  tolerated  Catholics,  excited  stiong  denunciation 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  city  of  London  addressed  the  king  before 
he  signed  the  bill,  petitioning  that  he  should  refrain  from  doing  so.  "  The 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  which  is  known  to  be  idolatrous  and  bloody,  is 
established  by  this  bill,"  say  these  wiseacres,  imploring  George  III,  as  the 
guardian  of  the  laws,  liberty,  and  religion  of  his  people,  and  as  the  great  bul- 
wark of  the  Protestant  faith,  not  to  give  his  royal  assent. 

In  America,  when  the  news  came  of  its  passage,  the  debates  as  to 
their  wrongs,  as  to  the  right  of  parliament  to  pass  stamp  acts  or  levy 
duties  on  imports,  to  maintain  an  army  or  quarter  soldiers  on  the  colonists, 
seemed  to  be  forgotton  in  their  horror  of  this  act  of  toleration.  In  New 
York  the  flag  with  the  union  and  stripes  was  run  up,  bearing  bold  and  clear 
on  a  white  stripe  the  words,  "  No  Popery."  The  congress  of  1774,  though 
it  numbered  some  of  the  clearest  heads  in  the  colonies,  completely  lost  sighl 
of  the  vital  importance  of  Canada  territorially,  and  of  the  advantage  of  secur- 
ing as  friends  a  community  of  150,000  whose  military  ability  had  been  shown 
on  a  hundred  battle-fields.  Addressing  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  this  con- 
gress says:  "  By  another  act  the  Dominion  of  Canada  is  to  be  so  extended, 
modeled,  and  governed  as  that,  by  being  disunited  from  us,  detached  from 
our  interests  by  civil  as  well  as  religious  prejudices;  that  by  their  numbers 
swelling  with  Catholic  emigrants  from  Europe,  and  by  their  devotion  to 
administration  so  friendly  to  their  religion,  they  might  become  formidable  to 
us,  and  on  occasion  be  fit  instruments  in  the  hands  of  power  to  reduce  the 
ancient  free  Protestant  colonies  to  the  same  slavery  with  themselves."  "Nor 
can  we  suppress  our  astonishment  that  a  British  parliament  should  ever  con- 
sent to  establish  in  that  country  a  religion  that  has  deluged  your  island  in 
blood,  and  dispersed  impiety,  bigotry,  persecution,  murder,  and  rebellion 
through  every  part  of  the  world." 

This  address,  the  work  of  the  intense  bigot  John  Jay,  and  of  the  furious 
storm  of  bigotry  evoked  in  New  England  and  New  York,  was  most  disas- 
trous in  its  results  to  the  American  cause.  Canada  was  not  so  delighted  with 
her  past  experience  of  English  rule  or  so  confident  of  the  future  as  to  accept 
unhesitatingly  the  favors  accorded  by  the  Quebec  act.  She  had  from  the  first 
sought  to  ally  herself  with  the  neighboring  English  colonies,  and  to  avoid 
European  complications.  When  she  proposed  the  alliance,  they  declined. 
She  would  now  have  met  their  proposal  warmly;  but  when  this  address  was 


a 2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

circulated  in  Canada,  it  defeated  the  later  and  wiser  effort  of  congress  to  win 
that  province  through  Franklin,  Chase,  and  the  Carrolls.  It  made  the  expe- 
ditions against  the  British  forces  there,  at  first  so  certain  of  success  by  Can- 
adian aid,  result  in  defeat  and  disgrace.  In  New  York  a  little  colony  of 
Scotch  Catholics  who  would  gladly  have  paid  off  the  score  of  Culloden,  took 
alarm  at  the  hatred  shown  their  faith,  and  fled  with  their  clergymen  to 
Canada  to  give  strength  to  our  foe,  when  they  wished  to  be  of  us  and  with 
us.  In  the  west  it  enabled  British  officers  to  make  Detroit  a  center  from 
which  they  exerted  an  influence  over  the  western  tribes  that  lasted  down  into 
the  present  century,  and  which  Jay's  treaty — a  tardy  endeavor  to  undo  his 
mischief  of  1774 — did  not  succeed  in  checking. 

Pamphlets,  attacking  or  defending  the  Quebec  act,  appeared  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  English  interest  it  was  shown  that  the  treaty  of 
Paris  already  guaranteed  their  religion  to  the  Canadians,  and  that  the  rights 
of  their  clergy  were  included  in  this.  It  was  shown  that  to  insist  on  Eng- 
land's establishing  the  state  church  in  Canada  would  justify  her  in  doing  the 
same  in  New  England.  "An  Englishman's  answer"  to  the  address  of  con- 
gress rather  maliciously  turned  Jay's  bombast  on  men  like  himself  by  saying : 
"  If  the  actions  of  the  different  sects  in  religion  are  inquired  into,  we  shall  find, 

by  turning  over  the   sad  historic  page,  that  it  was  the sect  (I  forget  what 

they  call  them;  I  mean  the  sect  which  is  still  most  numerous  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  not  the  sect  which  they  so  much  despise)  that  in  the  last  century 
deluged  our  island  in  blood;  that  even  shed  the  blood  of  the  sovereign,  and  dis- 
persed impiety,  bigotry,  superstition,  hypocrisy,  persecution,  murder  and 
rebellion  through  every  part  of  the  empire." 

One  who  later  in  life  became  a  Catholic,  speaking  of  the  effect  of  this 
bill  in  New  England,  says:  "  We  were  all  ready  to  swear  that  this  same 
George,  by  granting  the  Quebec  bill,  had  thereby  become  a  traitor,  had 
broken  his  coronation  oath,  was  secretly  a  papist,"  etc.  "  The  real  fears  of 
popery  in  New  England  had  its  influence."  "  The  common  word  then  was: 
*  No  king,  no  popery.'  " 

But  tehough  Canada  was  thus  alienated,  and  some  Catholics  at  the  north 
frightened  away, in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  the  French  west  the  fanati- 
cism was  justly  regarded  as  a  mere  temporary  affair,  the  last  outburst  of  a 
bigotry  that  could  not  live  and  thrive  on  the  soil.  Providence  was  shaping 
all  things  wisely ;  but  we  cannot  be  surprised  at  the  wonder  some  soon  felt. 
Now,  what  must  appear  very  singular,"  says  the  writer  above  quoted,  "  is 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR. 


43 


that  the  two  parties  naturally  so  opposite  to  each  other  should  become,  even 
at  the  outset,  united  in  opposing  the  efforts  of  the  mother  country.  And  now 
we  find  the  New  England  people  and  the  Catholics  of  the  southern  states 
fighting  side  by  side,  though  stimulated  by  extremely  different  motives;  the 
one  acting  through  fear  lest  the  king  of  England  should  succeed  in  establish- 
ing among  us  the  Catholic  religion;  the  other  equally  fearful  lest  his  bitter- 
ness against  the  Catholic  faith  should  increase  till  they  were  either  destroyed 
or  driven  to  the  mountains  and  waste  places  of  the  wilderness." 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  Catholics  as  the  rapid  tide  of  events  was 
bearing  all  on  to  a  crisis.  The  Catholics  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
were  outspoken  in  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  colonies.  In  Mary- 
land, Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  trained  abroad  in  the  schools  of  France 
and  the  law-courts  of  England,  with  all  the  learning  of  the  English  barrister 
widened  and  deepened  by  a  knowledge  of  the  civil  law  of  the  continent, 
grappled  in  controversy  the  veteran  Dulany  of  Maryland.  In  vain  the  Tory 
advocate  attempted,  by  sneers  and  jibes  at  the  prfrscribed  position  of  the 
foreign-trained  Catholic,  to  evade  the  logic  of  his  arguments.  The  eloquence 
and  learning  of  Carroll  triumphed,  and  he  stood  before  his  countrymen  dis- 
enthralled, There,  at  least,  it  was  decided  by  the  public  mind  that  Catholics 
were  to  enjoy  all  the  rights  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  that  citizens  like  Car- 
roll were  worthy  of  their  highest  honors.  "  The  benign  aurora  of  the  com- 
ing Republic,"  says  Bancroft,  "  lighted  the  Catholic  to  the  recovery  of  his 
rightful  political  equality  in  the  land  which  a  Catholic  proprietary  had  set 
apart  for  religious  freedom."  In  1775,  Charles  Carroll  was  a  member  of  the 
first  committee  of  observation  and  a  delegate  to  the  provincial  convention  of 
Maryland,  the  first  Catholic  in  any  public  office  since  the  days  of  James  II. 
"  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  the  great  representative  of  his  fellow- 
believers,  and  already  an  acknowledged  leader  of  the  patriots,  sat  in  the 
Maryland  convention  as  the  delegate  of  a  Protestant  constituency,  and  bore 
an  honorable  share  in  its  proceedings." 

When  the  news  of  Lexington  rang  through  the  land,  borne  from  town  to 
town  by  couriers  on  panting  steeds,  regiments  were  organized  in  all  the 
colonies.  Catholics  stepped  forward  to  shoulder  their  rifles  and  firelocks. 
Few  aspired  to  commissions,  from  which  they  had  hitherto  been  excluded  in 
the  militia  and  troops  raised  for  actual  service,  but  the  rank  and  file  showed 
Catholics,  many  of  them  men  of  intelligence  and  fair  education,  eager  to 
meet  all  perils  and  to  prove  on  the  field  of  battle  that  thev  were  worth v  of 


aa  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

citizenship  in  all  its  privileges.  Ere  long,  however,  Catholics  by  ability  and 
talent  won  rank  in  the  army  and  navy  of  the  young  Republic. 

We  Catholics  have  been  so  neglectful  of  our  history  that  no  steps  were 
ever  taken  to  form  a  complete  roll  of  those  glorious  heroes  of  the  faith  who 
took  part  in  the  revolutionary  struggle.  The  few  great  names  survive — 
Moylan,  Burke,  Barry,  Vigo,  Orono,  Louis,  Landais;  here  and  there  the 
journal  of  a  Catholic  soldier  like  McCurtin  has  been  printed;  but  in  our 
shameful  neglect  of  the  past  we  have  done  nothing  to  compile  a  roll  that  we 
can  point  to  with  pride. 

When  hostilities  began,  it  became  evident  that  Canada  must  be  gained. 
Expeditions  were  fitted  out  to  reduce  the  British  posts.  The  Canadians 
evinced  a  friendly  disposition,  giving  ready  assistance  by  men,  carriages,  and 
provisions  to  an  extent  that  surprised  the  Americans.  Whole  parishes  even 
offered  to  join  in  reducing  Quebec  and  lowering  the  hated  flag  of  England 
from  the  castle  of  St.  Louis,  where  the  lilies  had  floated  for  nearly  two  cen- 
turies. But  the  bigotry  that  inspired  some  of  our  leaders  was  too  strong  in 
many  of  the  subordinates  to  permit  them  to  reason.  They  treated  these 
Catholic  Canadians  as  enemies,  ill-used  and  dragooned  them  so  that  almost  the 
whole  country  was  ready  to  unite  in  repulsing  them.  Then  came  Mont- 
gomery's disaster,  and  the  friends  of  America  in  Canada  dwindled  to  a  few 
priests;  La  Valiniere,  Carpentier,  the  ex-Jesuits  Huguet  and  Floquet,  and  the 
Canadians  who  enlisted  in  Livingston's,  Hazen's,  and  Duggan's  corps,  under 
Guillot,  Loseau,  Aller,  Basad<§,  Menard,  and  other  Catholic  officers. 

Then  congress  awoke  to  its  error.  As  that  strategic  province  was  slip- 
ping from  the  hands  of  the  confederated  colonies,  as  Hazen's  letters  came 
urging  common  sense,  congress  appointed  a  commission  with  an  address  to 
the  Canadian  people  to  endeavor  even  then  to  win  them.  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  selected  with  two  gentlemen  from  Catholic  Maryland — Samuel 
Chase  and  Charles  Carroll.  To  increase  their  influence,  congress  requested 
the  Rev.  John  Carroll  to  accompany  them,  hoping  that  the  presence  of  a 
Catholic  priest  and  a  Catholic  layman,  both  educated  in  France  and  acquainted 
with  the  French  character,  would  effect  more  than  any  argument  that  could 
be  brought  to  bear  on  the  Canadians.  They  hastened  to  do  their  utmost,  but 
eloquence  and  zeal  failed.  The  Canadians  distrusted  the  new  order  of  things 
in  America;  the  hostility  shown  in  the  first  address  of  congress  seemed  too 
well  supported  by  the  acts  of  Americans  in  Canada.  They  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  words  of  the  Carrolls,  and  adhered  to  England. 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  45 

Canada  was  thus  lost  to  us.  Taking  our  stand  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  we  could  not  hope  to  include  that  province,  but  must  ever  have  it  on 
our  flank  in  the  hands  of  England.     This  fault  was  beyond  redemption. 

But  the  recent  war  with  Pontiac  was  now  recalled.  Men  remembered 
how  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  west,  organized  by  the  mastermind  of  that  chief, 
had  swept  away  almost  in  an  instant  every  fort  and  military  post  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Alleghanies,  and  marked  out  the  frontier  by  a  line  of  blaz- 
ing houses  and  villages  from  Lake  Erie  to  Florida.  What  might  these  same 
western  hordes  do  in  the  hands  of  England,  directed,  supplied,  and  organized 
for  their  fell  work  by  British  officers!  The  Mohawks  and  other  Iroquois  of 
New  York  had  retired  to  the  English  lines,  and  people  shuddered  at  what 
was  to  come  upon  them  there.  The  Catholic  Indians  in  Maine  had  been  won 
to  our  side  by  a  wise  policy.  Washington  wrote  to  the  tribe  in  1745,  and 
deputies  from  all  the  tribes  from  the  Penobscot  to  Gaspe  met  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Council  at  Watertown.  Ambrose  Var,  the  chief  of  the  St.  John's 
Indians,  Orono  of  Penobscot,  came  with  words  that  showed  the  reverent 
Christian.  Of  old  they  had  been  enemies;  they  were  glad  to  become  friends: 
they  would  stand  beside  the  colonists.  Eminently  Catholic,  every  tribe  asked 
for  a  priest  ;  and  Massachusetts  promised  to  do  her  best  to  obtain  French 
priests  for  her  Catholic  allies.  Throughout  the  war  these  Catholic  Indians 
served  us  well,  and  Orono,  who  bore  a  continential  commission,  lived  to  see 
priests  restored  to  his  village  and  religion  flourishing.  Brave  and  consistent, 
he  never  entered  the  churches  of  the  Protestant  denominations,  though  often 
urged  to  do  so.  He  practiced  his  duties  faithfully  as  a  Catholic,  and  replied: 
"  We  know  our  religion  and  love  it;  we  know  nothing  of  yours." 

Maine  acknowledges  his  worth  by  naming  a  town  after  this  grand  old 
Catholic. 

But  the  west!  Men  shuddered  to  think  of  it.  The  conquest  of  Canada 
by  a  course  of  toleration  and  eqality  to  Catholics  would  have  made  all  the 
Indian  trihes  ours.  The  Abnakis  had  been  won  by  a  promise  to  them  as 
Catholics;  the  Protestant  and  heathen  Mohawks  were  on  the  side  of  England, 
though  the  Catholics  of  the  same  race  in  Canada  were  friendly.  If  the 
Indians  in  the  west  could  be  won  to  neutrality  even,  no  sacrifice  would  be 
too  great.     \ 

Little  as  American  statesmen  knew  it,  they  had  friends  there.  And  if 
the  United  States  at  the  peace  secured  the  northwest  and  extended  her  bounds 
to  the  Mississippi,  it  was  due  to  the  Very  Rev.  Peter  Gibault,  the  Catholic 


46 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


priest  of  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia,  and  to  his  sturdy  adherent,  the  Italian 
Col.  Vigo.  Entirely  ignorant  of  what  the  feeling  there  might  be,  Col. 
George  Rogers  Clark  submitted  to  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  whose  back- 
woods settlement,  Kentucky,  was  immediately  menaced,  a  plan  for  reducing 
the  English  posts  in  the  northwest.  Jefferson  warmly  encouraged  the  danger- 
ous project,  on  which  so  much  depended.  Clark,  with  his  handful  of  men, 
struck  through  the  wilderness  for  the  old  French  post  of  Kaskaskia.  He 
appeared  before  it  on  the  4th  of  July,  1778.  But  the  people  were  not  enemies. 
Their  pastor  had  studied  the  questions  at  issue,  and,  as  Clark  tells  us,  "  was 

rather  prejudiced  in  favor  of  us." 
]  The  people  told  the  American  com- 
mander they  were  convinced  that 
the  cause  was  one  which  they  ought 
!  to  espouse,  and  that  they  should  be 
J  happy  to  convince  him  of  their  zeal. 
When  Father  Gibault  asked  whether 
I  he  was  at  liberty  to  perform  his 
I  duty  in  his  church,  Clark  told  him 
that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
I  churches,  except  to  defend  them 
from  insult;  that,  by  the  laws  of  the 
I  state,  his  religion  had  as  great  privi- 
leges as  any  other.  The  first  Fourth 
of  July  celebration  at  Kaskaskia 
was  a  hearty  one.  The  streets 
were  strewn  with  flowers  and  hung 
with  flags,  and  all  gave  themselves  up  to  joy.  But  Clark's  work  was  not  done. 
The  English  lay  in  force  at  Vincennes.  Father  Gibault  and  Col. 
Vigo,  who  had  been  in  the  Spanish  service,  but  came  over  to  throw  in  his 
fortunes  with  us,  urged  Clark  to  move  at  once  on  Vincennes.  It  seemed  to 
him  rash,  but  Father  Gibault  showed  how  it  could  be  taken.  He  went  on 
himself  with  Dr.  Lefont,  won  every  French  hamlet  to  the  cause,  and  concili- 
ated the  Indians  wherever  he  could  reach  them.  Vigo,  on  a  similar  excursion, 
was  captured  by  British  Indians  and  carried  a  prisoner  to  Hamilton,  the 
English  commander  at  Vincennes,  but  that  officer  felt  that  he  could  not  detain 
a  Spanish  subject,  and  was  compelled  by  the  French  to  release  him.  When 
Clark,  in   February,  appeared   with   his  half-starved   men,  including   Capt. 


FATHER    GIBAULT    TREATING    WITH    THE 
INDIANS. 


0AT  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  47 

Charlevoix's  company  of  Kaskaskia  Catholics,  before  Vincennes,  and 
demanded  its  surrender  with  as  bold  a  front  as  though  he  had  ten  thousand 
men  at  his  back,  the  English  wavered,  and  one  resolute  attack  compelled 
them  to  surrender  at  discretion.  What  is  now  Indiana  and  Illinois,  Wiscon- 
sin and  Upper  Michigan,  was  won  to  the  United  States.  To  hold  it  and  sup- 
ply the  Indians  required  means.  Clark  issued  paper  money  in  the  name  of 
Virginia,  and  the  patriotic  Col.  Vigo  and  Father  Gibault  exhausted  all 
their  resources  to  redeem  this  paper  and  maintain  its  credit,  although  the  hope 
of  their  ever  being  repaid  for  their  sacrifice  was  slight,  and,  slight  as  it  might 
have  been,  was  never  realized.  Their  generous  sacrifice  enabled  Clark  to 
retain  his  conquest,  as  the  spontaneous  adhesion  of  his  allies  to  the  cause  had 
enabled  him  to  effect  it.  The  securing  of  the  old  French  posts,  Vincennes, 
Fort  Chartres,  and  others  in  the  west  which  the  English  had  occupied, 
together  with  the  friendship  of  the  French  population,  secured  all  the  Indians 
in  that  part,  and  relieved  the  frontiers  of  half  their  danger. 

Well  does  Judge  Law  remark :  «  Next  to  Clark  and  Vigo,  the  United 
States  are  more  indebted  to  Father  Gibault  for  the  accession  of  the  States 
comprised  in  what  was  the  original  Northwestern  Territory  than  to  any 
other  man." 

Those  Western  Catholics  did  good  service  in  many  an  expedition,  and  in 
1780  La  Balm,  with  a  force  raised  in  the  Illinois  settlements  and  Vincennes 
undertook  to  capture  Detroit,  the  headquarters  of  the  English  atrocities.  He 
perished  with  nearly  all  his  little  Catholic  force  where  Fort  Wayne  stands, 
leaving  many  a  family  in  mourning. 

The  first  bugle-blast  of  America  for  battle  in  the  name  of  freedom 
seemed  to  wake  a  response  in  many  Catholic  hearts  in  Europe.  Officers 
came  over  from  France  to  offer  their  swords,  the  experience  they  had  acquired 
and  the  training  they  had  developed  in  the  campaigns  of  the  great  com- 
manders of  the  time.  Among  the  names  are  several  that  have  the  ring  of 
the  old  Irish  brigade.  Dugan,  Arundel,  De  Saint  Aulaire,  Vibert,  Col. 
Dubois,  De  Kermorvan,  Lieut.. Col.  De  Franchessen,  St.  Martin,  Vermonet, 
Dorre,  Pelissier,  Malmady,  Mauduit,  Rochefermoy,  De  la  Neuville,  Armand, 
Fleury,  Conway,  Lafayette,  Du  Portail,  Gouvion,  Du  Coudray,  Pulaski, 
Roger,  Dorset,  Gimat,  Brice,  and  others,  rendered  signal  service,  especially 
as  engineers  and  chiefs  of  staff,  where  skill  and  military  knowledge  were  most 
required.  Around  Lafayette  popular  enthusiasm  gathered,  but  he  was  not 
alone.     Numbers  of  these  Catholic  officers  served  gallantly  at  various  points 


48  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

during  the  war,  aiding  materially  in  laying  out  works  and  planning  opera- 
tions, as  well  as  by  gallantly  doing  their  duty  in  the  field,  sharing  gayly  the 
sufferings  and  privations  of  the  men  of  '76. 

Some  who  came  to  serve  in  the  ranks  or  as  officers  rendered  other  service 
to  the  country.  yEdanus  Burke,  of  Galway,  a  pupil  of  St.  Omer's,  like  the 
Carrolls,  came  out  to  serve  as  a  soldier,  represented  South  Carolina  in  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  was  for  some  time  chief-justice  of  his  adopted 
State.  P.  S.  Duponceau,  who  came  over  as  aide  to  Baron  Steuben  in  1777, 
became  the  founder  of  American  ethnology  and  linguistics.  His  labors  in 
law,  science,  and  American  history  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

Meanwhile,  Catholics  were  swelling  the  ranks,  and,  like  Moylan,  rising 
to  fame  and  position.  The  American  navy  had  her  first  commodore  in  the 
Catholic  Barry,  who  had  kept  the  flag  waving  undimmed  on  the  seas 
from  1776,  and  in  1781  engaged  and  took  the  two  English  vessels,  Atlanta 
and  Trepassay,  and  on  other  occasions  handled  his  majesty's  vessels  so  roughly 
that  General  Howe  endeavored  to  win  him  by  offers  of  money  and  high 
naval  rank  to  desert  the  cause.  Besides  Catholics  born,  who  served  in  army 
or  navy,  in  legislative  or  executive,  there  were  also  men  who  took  in  the 
great  struggle  whose  closing  years  found  them  humble  and  devoted  adherents 
of  the  Catholic  church.  Prominent  among  these  was  Thomas  Sims  Lee, 
governor  of  Maryland  from  1779  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  did  much  to 
contribute  to  the  glorious  result,  represented  his  state  in  the  latter  continental 
congress  and  in  the  constitutional  convention,  as  Daniel  Carroll,  brother  of 
the  archbishop,  also  did.  Governor  Lee,  after  becoming  a  Catholic,  was 
re-elected  governor,  and  lived  to  an  honored  old  age.  Daniel  Barber,  who 
bore  his  musket  in  the  Connecticut  line,  became  a  Catholic,  and  his  son, 
daughter-in-law,  and  their  children  all  devoted  themselves  to  a  religious  life, 
a  family  of  predilection. 

In  Europe  the  Catholic  states,  France  and  Spain,  watched  the  progress 
of  American  affairs  with  deepest  interest.  At  the  very  outset  Vergennes,  the 
able  minister  of  France,  sent  an  agent  to  study  the  people  and  report  the  state 
of  affairs.  The  clear-headed  statesman  saw  that  America  would  become 
independent.  In  May,  1776,  Louis  XVI  announced  to  the  Catholic  monarch 
that  he  intended  to  send  indirectly  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  king 
of  Spain  sent  a  similar  sum  to  Paris.  This  solid  aid,  the  first  sinews  of  war 
from  these  two  Catholic  sovereigns,  was  but  an  earnest  of  good-will.  In 
France  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  American  cause  overbore  the   cautious 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR. 


49 


policy  of  the  king,  the  amiable  Louis  XVI.  He  granted  the  aid  already 
mentioned,  and  induced  the  king  of  Spain  to  join  in  the  act ;  he  permitted 
officers  to  leave  France  in  order  to  join  the  American  armies;  he  encouraged 
commerce  with  the  revolting  colonies  by  exempting  from  duties  the  ships 
which  bore  across  the  ocean  the  various  goods  needed  by  the  army  and  the 
people.  The  enthusiasm  excited  by  Lafayette,  who  first  heard  of  the  Ameri- 
can cause  from  the  lips  of  an  Eng- 
lish prince,  soon  broke  down  all  the 
walls  of  caution.  An  arrangement 
was  made  by  which  material  of  war 
from  the  government  armories  and 
arsenals  was  sent  out,  nominally 
from  a  mercantile  house. 

A  year  after  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  France,  which  had 
opened  her  ports  to  American  priva- 
teers and  courteously  avoided  all 
English  complaints,  resolved  to  take 
a  decisive  step — not  only  to  acknowl- 
edge the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  but  to  support  it.  Marie 
Antoinette  sympathized  deeply  with 
this  country,  and  won  the  king  to 
give  his  full  support  to  our  cause.  On  the  6th  of  February,  1778,  Catholic 
France  signed  the  treaty  with  the  United  States,  and  thus  a  great  power  in 
Europe  set  the  example  to  others  in  recognizing  us  as  one  of  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  America  had  a  Catholic  godmother.  Amid  the  miseries  of  Vallev 
Forge,  Washington  issued  a  general  order:  "  It  having  pleased  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  the  universe  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  United  American  States,  and 
finally  to  raise  us  up  a  powerful  friend  among  the  princes  of  the  earth,  to 
establish  our  liberty  and  independence  upon  a  lasting  foundation,  it  becomes 
us  to  set  apart  a  day  for  gratefully  acknowledging  the  divine  goodness  and 
celebrating  the  important  event,  which  we  owe  to  His  divine  interposition." 
France  now  openly  took  part  in  the  war,  and  in  July,  1778,8  French  fleet 
under  d'Estaing  appeared  on  our  coasts,  neutralizing  the  advantage  which 
England  had  over  us  by  her   naval   superiority.      The   ocean  was  no  longer 

hers  to  send  her  army  from  point  to  point  on  the  coast.     This  fleet  engaged 
5 


LAFAYETTE. 


5° 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Lord  Howe  near  Newport,  and  co-operated  with  Sullivan  in  operations 
against  the  English  in  Rhode  Island.  After  cruising  in  the  West  Indies  it 
again  reappeared   on   our  coast  to  join   Lincoln  in  a  brave  but  unsuccessful 

attack  on  Savannah,  in  which 
fell  the  gallant  Pulaski,  who 
some  years  before  had  asked 
the  blessing  of  the  pope's  nun- 
cio on  himself  and  his  gallant 
force  in  the  sanctuary  of  Our 
Lady  of  Czenstochowa,  before 
his  long  defense  of  that  convent 
fortress  against  overwhelming 
Russian  forces. 

In  July,  1780,  another  fleet, 
commanded  by  the  Chevaliei 
de  Ternay,  entered  the  harboi 
of  Newport,  bringing  a  French 
army  commanded  by  an  exper- 
ienced general,  John  Baptiste 
de  Vimeur,  Count  de  Rocham- 

PULASKI. 

beau.  An  army  of  Catholics, 
with  Catholic  chaplains,  observing  the  glorious  ritual  of  the  Church  with  all 
solemnity,  was  hailed  with  joy  in  New  England.  The  discipline  of  that 
army,  the  courteous  manners  of  officers  and  privates,  won  all  hearts.  What 
that  army  effected  is  too  well  known  to  be  chronicled  here  in  detail.  When 
Lafayette  had  cornered  Cornwallis  in  Yorktown,  Washington  and  Rocham- 
beau  marched  down,  the  fleet  of  the  Count  de  Grasse  defeated  Admiral  Graves 
off  the  capes  of  Virginia,  and,  transporting  the  allied  armies  down,  joined 
with  them  in  compelling  Cornwallis  to  surrender  his  whole  force;  and  old  St. 
Joseph's  church,  in  Philadelphia,  soon  rang  with  the  grand  Te  Deum  chanted 
in  thanksgiving  at  a  Mass  offered  up  in  presence  of  the  victorious  generals. 

None  question  the  aid  given  us  by  Catholic  France.  Several  who  came 
as  volunteers,  or  in  the  army  or  fleet,  remained  in  the  United  States.  One 
officer  who  had  served  nobly  in  the  field,  laid  aside  his  sword  and  returned  to 
labor  during  the  rest  of  his  life  for  the  well-being  of  America  as  a  devoted 
Catholic  priest. 

But  France  was  not  the  only  Catholic  friend  of  our  cause.     Spain    had, 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  5 1 

as  we  have  seen,  at  an  early  period  in  the  war  sent  a  liberal  gift  of  money. 
She  opened  her  ports  to  our  privateers,  and  refused  to  give  up  Captain  Lee, 
of  Marblehead,  whom  England  demanded.  She  went  further;  for  when 
intelligence  came  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  she  gave  him  supplies 
and  repaired  his  ship.  She  subsequently  sent  cargoes  of  supplies  to  us  from 
Bilbao,  and  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  United  States  ammunition  and  supplies 
at  New  Orleans.  When  an  American  envoy  reached  Madrid,  she  sent 
blankets  for  ten  regiments  and  made  a  gift  of  $150,000  through  our  repre- 
sentative. When  the  gallant  young  Count  Bernardo  de  Galvez,  whose  name 
is  commemorated  in  Galveston,  was  made  governor  of  Louisiana,  he  at  once 
tendered  his  services  to  us;  he  forwarded  promptly  the  clothing  and  military 
stores  in  New  Orleans;  and  when  the  English  seized  an  American  schooner 
on  the  Louisiana  lakes,  he  confiscated  all  English  vessels  in  reprisal. 

Spain  had  not  formally  recognized  the  United  States.  She  offered  her 
mediation  to  George  III,  and  on  its  refusal  by  that  monarch,  for  that  and 
other  causes  she  declared  war  against  England.  Galvez  moved  at  once.  He 
besieged  the  English  at  Baton  Rouge,  and,  after  a  long  and  stubborn  resist- 
ance, compelled  it  to  surrender  in  September,  1780;  he  swept  the  waters  of 
English  vessels,  and  then,  with  the  co-operation  of  a  Spanish  fleet  under 
Admiral  Solano  and  De  Monteil,  laid  siege  to  the  ancient  town  of  Pensacola. 
The  forts  were  held  by  garrisons  of  English  troops,  Hessians,  and  northern 
tories,  well  supplied  and  ready  to  meet  the  arms  of  the  Catholic  king.  The 
resistance  of  the  British  governor,  Campbell,  was  stout  and  brave;  but  Pen- 
sacola fell,  and  British  power  on  our  southern  frontier  was  crushed  and  neu- 
tralized. Spain  gave  one  of  the  greatest  blows  to  England  in  the  war,  next 
in  importance  to  the  overthrow  of  Burgoyne  and  Corwallis. 

On  the  northwest,  too,  where  English  influence  over  the  Indians  was  so 
detrimental,  Spain  checked  it  by  the  reduction  of  English  posts  that  had  been 
the  center  of  the  operations  of  the  savage  foe.  America  was  not  slow  in 
showing  her  sense  of  gratitude  to  Catholic  Spain.  Robert  Morris  wrote  to 
Galvez:  "  I  am  directed  by  the  United  States  to  express  to  your  excellency 
the  grateful  sense  they  entertain  of  your  early  efforts  in  their  favor.  Those 
generous  efforts  gave  them  so  favorable  an  impression  of  your  character  and 
that  of  your  nation  that  they  have  not  ceased  to  wish  for  a  more  intimate  con- 
nection with  your  country."  Galvez  made  the  connection  more  intimate  by 
marrying  a  lady  of  New  Orleans,  who  in  time  presided  in  Mexico  as  wife  of 
the  viceroy  of  New  Spain. 


c2  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE 

But  it  was  not  only  by  the  operations  on  land,  that  tht  eountij  A 
Isabella  the  Catholic  aided  our  cause  Before  she  declared  war  against 
England,  her  navy  had  been  increased  and  equipped,  so  that  her  fleets  co-op- 
erated ably  with  those  of  France  in  checking  English  power  and  lowering 
English  supremacy  on  the  ocean. 

Yet  a  greater  service  than  that  of  brave  men  on  land  or  sea  was  rendered 
by  her  diplomacy.  Russia  had  been  almost  won  by  England ;  her  fleet  was 
expected  to  give  its  aid  to  the  British  navy  in  reasserting  her  old  position; 
but  Spain,  while  still  neutral,  proposed  an  armed  neutrality,  and  urged  it  with 
such  skill  and  address,  that  she  detached  Russia  from  England,  and  arrayed 
her  virtually  as  an  opponent  where  she  had  been  counted  upon  with  all 
certainly  as  an  ally.  Spain  really  thus  banded  all  Continental  Europe 
against  England,  and  then,  by  declaring  war  herself,  led  Holland  to  join 
us  openly. 

Nor  were  France  and  Spain  our  only  Catholic  friends.  The  Abb£ 
Niccoli,  minister  of  Tuscany  at  the  court  of  France,  was  a  zealous  abettor  of 
the  cause  of  America.  In  Germany  the  Hessians,  sent  over  here  to  do  the 
work  of  English  oppression,  were  all  raised  in  Protestant  states,  while  history 
records  the  fact  that  the  Catholic  princes  of  the  empire  discouraged  the  dis- 
graceful raising  of  German  troops  to  be  used  in  crushing  a  free  people;  and 
this  remonstrance  and  opposition  of  the  Catholic  princes  put  a  stop  to  the 
German  aid  which  had  been  rendered  to  our  opponent. 

Never  was  there  such  harmonious  Catholic  action  as  that  in  favor  of 
American  independence.  The  Catholics  in  the  country  were  all  Whigs;  the 
Catholics  of  Canada  were  favorable,  ready  to  become  our  fellow-citizens; 
France  and  Spain  aided  our  cause  with  money  and  supplies,  by  taking  part 
in  the  war,  and  by  making  a  continental  combination  against  England  ;  Catholic 
Italy  and  Catholic  Germany  exerted  themselves  in  our  favor.  Catholics  did 
their  duty  in  the  legislature  and  in  the  council-hall,  in  the  army  and  in  the 
navy;  Catholics  held  for  us  our  northeastern  frontier,  and  gave  us  the  north- 
west; Catholic  officers  helped  to  raise  our  armies  to  the  grade  of  European 
science;  a  Catholic  commander  made  our  navy  triumph  on  the  sea.  Catholic 
France  helped  to  weaken  the  English  at  Newport,  Savannah, and  Charleston; 
crippled  England's  naval  power  in  the  West  Indies,  and  off  the  capes  of 
Virginia  utterly  defeated  them;  then  with  her  army  aided  Washington  to 
strike  the  crowning  blow  at  Cornwallis  in  Yorktown.  Catholic  Spain  aided 
us  on   the  western   frontier  by  capturing  British  posts,  and   under  Galvez 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR.  53 

reduced  the  British  and  Tories  at  Baton  Rouge  and  Pensacola.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  no  Catholic's  name  in  all  the  lists  of  Tories. 

Washington  uttered  no  words  of  flattery,  no  mere  commonplaces  of 
courtesy,  but  what  he  felt  and  knew  to  be  the  truth,  when,  in  reply  to  the 
Catholic  address,  he  said:  "I  presume  that  your  fellow-citizens  will  not  forget 
the  patriotic  part  which  you  took  in  the  accomplishment  of  their  Revolution 
and  the  establishment  of  their  government,  or  the  important  assistance 
which  they  received  from  a  nation  in  which  the  Roman  Catholic  Faith  is 
professed." 

A  couple  of  brief  sketches  are  added  as  illustrating  the  quality  of  fighters 
that  Catholicity  gave  to  the  cause  of  American  freedom.  John  Barry  was  a 
sturdy  Irishman,  born  in  the  County  Wexford  in  1745.  The  boy  was  brought 
up  in  virtue  and  simplicity,  and  the  purest  principles  of  the  Catholic  religion 
were  impressed  on  his  mind  and  heart.  As  his  keen  eye  daily  swept  the 
boundless  waters,  the  foaming  billows  came  to  have  the  charm  of  an  attrac- 
tion, and  he  conceived  a  great  fondness  for  the  ocean.  His  father,  a  man  of 
good  sense,  noticing  the  direction  of  his  son's  inclinations,  placed  him  on 
board  of  a  merchantman;  and,  at  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  John  Barry 
begin  to  sail  regularly  between  Philadelphia  and  the  British  ports. 

By  self-culture  and  fidelity  to  duty,  he  rose  rapidly  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession. At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was  captain  of  the  Black  Prince,  one 
of  the  best  packet  vessels  of  that  day.  The  owner  of  this  ship  was  Meredith, 
of  Philadelphia,  at  whose  house  Washington  was  an  occasional  visitor.  Here 
he  first  met  the  young  sailor,  "  and  marked  the  future  commodore." 

Captain  Barry  was  already  an  American  citizen.  When  the  Revolutionary 
war  began,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  colonies  with  great  enthu- 
siasm, and  embarked  his  all  in  the  struggles  of  his  adopted  country.  He  gave 
up,  to  use  his  own  language,  "the  finest  ship  and  the  first  employ  in  America, 
and  entered  into  the  service  of  his  country." 

Congress,  towards  the  close  of  1776,  purchased  several  merchant  vessels 
with  the  view  of  having  them  hastily  fitted  out  as  ships  of  war.  To  Captain 
Barry  was  committed  the  superintendence  of  the  equipment  of  this  first 
American  fleet.  When  all  was  finished,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  Lexington.  This  was  the  first  ship  to  hoist  the  stars  and  stripes.  Captain 
Barry  without  delay  proceeded  to  sea  in  search  of  the  enemy's  cruisers.  In 
the  midst  of  a  superior  hostile  force,  he  had  a  wide  and  dangerous  field  for 
the  display  of  his  genius  and  patriotism.     Under  the  very  eyes  of  an  English 


54 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


squadron,  he  made  short  work  of  several  of  the  enemy's  small  cruisers,  and 
on  the  17th  of  April,  1776,  fell  in  with  the  armed  tender,  Edwards,  which, 
after  a  spirited  contest,  he  captured.  This  affair  is  worthy  of  note  as  the  first 
capture  of  any  vessel  of  war  by  a  regular  American  cruiser  in  battle. 

Captain  Barry  was  next  appointed  to  the  Effingham,  but  as  the  rigorous 
winter  prevented  the  ship  from  proceeding  to  sea,  he  joined  the  army,  and  by 

his  dashing  bravery  and  cool  judg- 
ment, won  the  admiration  of  all. 
I   After    the    British   army    under 
1   Lord  Howe  had  obtained  posses- 
I    sion     of    Philadelphia,  Captain 
J    Barry  continued   in   command. of 
the    Effingham,   which  was  still 
ice-bound  in  the  Delaware,  a  few 
miles  from  the  city,  and  in  a  posi- 
tion which  the   English  general 
saw   could  be  rendered    of  great 
service  to  the  British,  if  the  vessel 
and    her    commander    could    be 
gained  over  to  the  royalist  cause. 
Lord  Howe  accordingly  made  an 
offer  of  fifteen   thousand   guineas 
—  equal     to    about    one    hundred 
commodore  john  barry.  thousand  dollars— and   the    com- 

mand of  a  British  ship  of  the  line  to  Captain  Barry,  if  he  would  deliver  up 
his  vessel  to  the  English.  With  a  noble  indignation,  this  heroic  Catholic 
replied  that  "  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of  his  country,  and  not  the 
value  or  command  of  the  whole  British  fleet  could  seduce  him  from  it." 

While  the  English  held  the  Delaware,  he  gave  them  constant  annoyance 
by  boat  expeditions,  cutting  off  their  supplies  and  smaller  craft.  On  one 
occasion,  with  only  twenty-eight  men  in  four  small  boats,  Captain  Barry 
captured  two  British  ships  and  a  schooner.  "  The  courage  that  inspired  this 
small  and  heroic  band,"  says  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  "is  not  alone  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  his  wonderful  success,  but  it  must  be  ascribed  to  a  combi- 
nation of  daring  bravery  and  consummate  skill  by  which  the  diminutive 
power  under  his  command  was  directed  with  unerring  rapidity  and  irresisti- 
ble force." 


ON  LIBERTY'S  ALTAR, 


55 


"  I  congratulate  you,"  wrote  Washington  to  Barry,  "  on  the  success  which 
has  crowned  your  gallantry  and  address  in  the  late  attack  upon  the  enemy's 
ships.  Although  circumstances  have  prevented  you  from  reaping  the  full 
benefits  of  your  conquest,  yet  there  is  ample  consolation  in  the  degree  of 
glory  which  you  have  acquired.  You  will  be  pleased  to  accept  of  my  thanks 
for  the  good  things  which  you  were  so  polite  as  to  send  me,  with  my  own 
wishes  that  a  suitable  recompense  may  always  attend  your  bravery." 

Getting  at  last  to  sea,  in  command  of  the  Raleigh  of  thirty-two  guns, 
Captain  Barry  kept  three  British  ships  at  bay,  and  after  disabling  one  he  suc- 
ceeded in  running  his  ship  ashore,  and  saving  most  of  his  men.  He  received 
the  title  of  Commodore,  being  the  second  American  officer  upon  whom  it 
was  conferred.  In  the  famous  frigate  Alliance  he  made  many  captures,  and 
after  a  terrible  engagement,  in  which  he  was  severely  wounded,  took  the 
English  sloop  of  war  Atlanta  and  her  consort,  the  brig  Trepassy. 

In  the  spring  of  1782  he  performed  a  most  brilliant  action.  Returning 
from  Havana  with  a  large  amount  of  specie  and  supplies,  he  encountered  a 
British  squadron,  in  the  very  sight  of  which  he  attacked  and  disabled  the 
sloop  Sibyl.  When  hailed  by  the  squadron  as  to  the  name  of  the  ship,  the 
captain,  etc.,  the  commodore  gave  this  spirited  reply:  "The  United  States 
ship  Alliance,  saucy  Jack  Barry,  half-Irishman,  half-Yankee — who  are  you?" 

After  the  Revolution,  Commodore  Barry,  as  the  senior  officer,  continued 
at  the  head  of  the  navy  till  the  day  of  his  death.  During  the  misunderstand- 
ing with  the  French  government  in  179S,  which  occasioned  a  brief  naval  war, 
he  rendered  eminent  service  in  protecting  our  commerce,  and  inflicting  severe 
punishment  on  the  French.  He  died  at  Philadelphia  on  the  13th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1803,  and  was  interred  in  St.  Mary's  burying-ground,  where  his  monu- 
ment may  be  seen.  The  commodore  died  without  children,  and  left  as  his 
chief  legatee  the  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  of  Philadelphia. 

In  person  Commodore  Barry  was  tall,  graceful,  and  commanding.  His 
manners  were  simple  and  courteous,  but  very  dignified.  His  fine,  manly 
countenance  showed  the  kindness  of  his  heart  no  less  than  the  firmness  of 
his  character.  Through  life  he  was  a  sincere,  practical  Catholic,  remarkable 
for  his  strict  and  noble  observance  of  the  duties  of  religion.  He  was  unsur- 
passed in  all  qualities  which  constitute  a  great  naval  commander. 

"There  are  gallant  hearts  whose  glory 
Columbia  loves  to  name, 
Whose  deeds  shall  live  in  story 
And  everlasting  fame. 


56  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

But  never  yet  one  braver, 

Our  starry  banner  bore, 
Than  saucy  old  Jack  Barry, 

The  Irish  Commodore." 

Stephen  Moylan  was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  at  Cork, 
Ireland.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Moylan,  Catholic  bishop 
of  his  native  city.  Coming  to  America,  he  threw  himself,  heart  and  soul, 
into  the  struggle  for  independence.  His  bravery  and  excellent  judgment 
soon  secured  the  confidence  of  Washington,  by  whom  he  was  made  aide- 
de-camp  and  commissary -general.  He  was  finally  transferred  to  the 
command  of  a  division  of  cavalry;  and  in  many  a  hard-contested  action  of 
the  war,  we  meet  with  the  dashing  Moylan's  dragoons. 

"  Moylan,  the  Murat  of  the  revolutionary  army,"  says  a  recent  writer, 
"  served  in  every  battle  in  which  Washington  was  engaged,  from  Boston  to 
Virginia.  He  was  colonel  of  a  troop  of  horse  in  the  Irish  brigade,  or  'Penn- 
sylvania liners,'  and  on  many  an  occasion,  by  a  dashing  and  desperate  charge, 
plucked  victory  from  the  flag  of  the  Briton,  and  hurled  upon  his  ranks 
disaster  and  defeat.  He  was  never  captured,  though  leader  of  a  hundred 
raids  and  forays,  and  participator  in  a  score  of  pitched  battles.  He  lived  to 
see  the  flag  of  his  adopted  country  wave  in  triumph  over  the  enemies  of  h>° 
race." 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  ranked  a  full  brigadier-general,  and  in  sub- 
sequent years  of  his  life  he  was  always  called  General  Moylan.  One  of  the 
founders  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  he  was  also  the  first  and  last  pres- 
ident of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  Philadelphia.  Besides  the  bishop 
of  Cork,  General  Moylan  had  three  other  brothers,  all  of  whom  took  an  active 
part  in  establishing  the  independence  of  this  Republic.  The  general  died  at 
Philadelphia,  on  the  nth  of  April,  1811,  and  was  interred  in  the  burial- 
ground  of  St.  Mary's  church. 

As  a  man,  a  patriot,  a  soldier,  and  a   Catholic,  General   Moylan   was 

equally  worthy  of  our  admiration.     To  Poland  and  to  Ireland  the  American 

revolution  was  indebted  for  its  two  most  brilliant  cavalry  commanders.     The 

memories  of  the  gallant  Pulaski  and  the  brave  Moylan  will  be  kept  green  as 

long  as  the  thrilling  story  of   the  Revolution  forms  a  chapter  in  the  world's 

history. 

"In  the  land  they  loved  they  have  sunk  to  rest, 
And  their  fame  burns  bright  in  each  freeman's  breast." 


®Uupt£V   XWi. 


OUR  FIRST  SH6PHER0. 


Scion  of  a  Good  Stock. — Came  Over  With  the  Cavaliers. — Under  Mary- 
land Penal  Laws. — Education  and  Ordination  Abroad. — Joins  the 
Society  of  Jesus. — Chaplain  to  a  British  Nobleman. — Return  to  Mary- 
land.— A  Friend  of  the  Revolution. — Mission  to  the  Canadians. — Nurs- 
ing Old  Ben.  Franklin. — Father  Carroll  as  a  Controversialist. — Cre- 
ated a  Prefect  Apostolic. — A  Te  Deum  for  Independence. — Appointed 
Bishop  of  Baltimore. — Crossing  the  Atlantic  for  Consecration. — The 
Infant  American  Church. — Contending  With  Bigotry. — Foundation  of 
Georgetown  College. — Exiled  French  Priests. — Bringing  Over  the 
Carmelites. — Poor  Clares  and  Visitation  Nuns. — Miss  Alice  Lalor. — 
The  Sisters  of  Charity. — Jerome  Bonaparte's  Marriage. — Baltimore 
Erected  an  Archbishopric. — Sorrows  of  Pius  VII. — Growth  of  the 
Church. — Passed  Away  at  Four  Score  Years.— A  Patriarch's  Character. 


HE  name  of  Archbishop  Carroll  sparkles  like  a  gem  of  purest  ray 
on  the  most  brilliant  pages  of  American  biography.  He  was  iden- 
tified with  the  stirring  events  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  the  friend 
of  Washington,  Franklin  and  other  illustrious  men  whose  services 
gave  the  rich  inheritance  of  freedom  to  our  country,  and  the 
brightest  examples  of  patriotism  to  the  world.  Selected  by  God 
to  be  the  first  bishop  of  His  Holy  Church  in  this  republic,  he  proved  how 
good  and  happy  was  the  choice  by  the  wisdom  of  his  acts,  the  purity  of  his 
life,  and  the  unsullied  splendor  of  his  reputation. 

John  Carroll,  the  third  son  of  Daniel  Carroll  and  Eleanor  Darnall,  was 
born  at  Upper  Marlboro,  Maryland,  on  January  8,  1735.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  and  belonged  to  a  Catholic  family  that  nobly  preferred  the 
loss  of  their  property  to  the  abandonment  of  their  faith.  In  company  with 
his  parents  he  came  to  Maryland  while  yet  a  youth. 

57 


58  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

It  happened  thus.  The  archbishop's  grandfather  was  secretary  to  Lord 
Powis,  a  leading  minister  in  the  cabinet  of  the  unfortunate  James  II.  It  is 
related  that  Mr.  Carroll  remarked  one  day  to  his  lordship  that  he  was  happy 
to  find  that  public  affairs  and  his  majesty's  service  were  progressing  so 
prosperously. 

"You  are  quite  wrong,"  replied  Lord  Powis;  "affairs  are  going  on  very 
badly;  the  king  is  very  ill-advised."  And  after  pausing  a  few  moments,  he 
thus  addressed  his  secretary :  "  Young  man,  I  have  a  regard  for  you,  and 
would  be  glad  to  do  you  a  service.  Take  my  advice — great  changes  are 
at  hand — go  out  to  Maryland.  I  will  speak  to  Lord  Baltimore  in  youv 
favor." 

Mr.  Carroll  followed  the  advice  of  his  noble  friend.  He  obtained  gov- 
ernment employment  in  Maryland,  with  liberal  grants  of  land.  He  also 
engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  at  Upper  Marlboro,  and  died  in  1765,  leaving 
his  family  quite  independent. 

Eleanor  Darnall,  the  mother  of  the  archbishop,  was  a  native  of  Maryland, 
and  daughter  of  a  wealthy  Catholic  gentleman.  She  was  educated  with 
much  care  in  a  select  school  at  Paris,  and  was  greatly  admired  for  her  piety, 
amiability,  mental  culture,  and  varied  accomplishments.  The  graces  and 
virtues  of  the  mother  did  not  fail  to  impress  the  character  of  her  son. 

The  penal  laws  were  then  in  full  force.  Catholics  were  prohibited  from 
teaching,  and  Catholic  youth  were  deprived  not  only  of  that  wise  education 
which  unites  religious  with  literary  and  scientific  knowledge,  but  were  also 
exposed  to  the  danger  and  mortification  of  seeking  learning  in  schools  where 
their  faith  was  misrepresented,  the  very  name  of  their  religion  scorned,  and 
they  themselves  treated  as  a  degraded  portion  of  the  community. 

The  zeal,  however,  of  the  Maryland  Jesuits  had  managed  to  counteract, 
to  some  small  extent,  the  brutal  intolerance  of  the  English  code,  by  estab- 
lishing a  boarding-school  in  a  secluded  spot  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland, 
upon  an  estate  belonging  to  themselves.  It  was  known  as  Bohemia  Manor. 
Here  the  good  fathers  conducted  an  institution  which  was  intended  to  pre- 
pare Catholic  youth  for  the  colleges  of  Europe.  It  was  about  the  year  1747 
that  John  Carroll  was  placed  at  Bohemia.  One  of  his  companions  was  his 
cousin,  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton.  Here  the  young  Carrolls  spent  a  year 
in  assiduous  study. 

John  Carroll,  in  company  with  his  cousin  Charles,  was  sent  to  the  Jesuit 
College  at  St.  Omers,  in   French   Flanders.     During  the  six  years  that  he 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


59 


passed  in  this  institution  he  was  distinguished  for  his  piety,  good  example, 
close  application  to  study,  ready  and  brilliant  talents,  and  for  his  gentle  and 
amiable  deportment. 

The  happy  influences  of  the  home  of  his  childhood,  the  exalted  examples 
of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  and  the  pure  and  peaceful  aspirations  of  his  own  soul, 
led  him  at  an  early  date 
to  dedicate  his  life  to  God. 
It  was  this  inspiring 
thought  which  cast  a  glow 
of  holiness  around  young 
John  Carroll  during  these 
years  of  hard,  earnest 
study. 

In  1753  he  entered  the 
novitiate  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  and  two  years 
later  he  was  removed  to 
Liege,  to  make  his  course  HOME  OF  OUR  FIRST  archbishop. 

of  philosophy  and  theology.  He  exhibited  more  than  his  usual  zeal  and 
application  in  preparing  for  the  sacred  ministry.  In  1759,  being  then  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year,  after  having  spent  eleven  years  in  storing  his  mind  with 
learning,  he  was  raised  to  the  holy  dignity  of  the  priesthood. 

Following  the  suggestions  of  the  gospel,  Father  Carroll  cheerfully  gave 
up  his  patrimony  and  all  his  worldly  possessions  to  his  brother  and  sisters  in 
America,  and  took  poverty  and  the  cross  as  his  companions  on  the  way  of  life. 

After  serving  as  professor  at  St.  Omers  and  at  Li£ge,  where  he  filled 
the  chair  of  philosophy,  he  was  received  in  177 1  as  a  professed  father  in  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

Father  Carroll  was  fulfilling  the  duties  of  prefect  at  Bruges,  when  the 
great  Society  of  Jesus,  of  which  he  was  so  devoted  a  member,  was  sup- 
pressed by  the  brief  of  Pope  Clement  XIV,  dated  July  21,  1773.  It  was 
a  severe  blow.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Daniel,  Father  Carroll  terms  the 
society  "  the  first  of  all  ecclesiastical  bodies,"  but  exclaims,  with  pious  and 
generous  heroism:  "God's  holy  will  be  done,  and  may  His  holy  name  be 
blessed  forever  and  ever!" 

The  institutions  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  were  given  up  by  the  most  of  the 
governments  of  Europe  to  plunder,  desecration,  and  every  kind  of  vandalism. 


60  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Bruges  was  pillaged  by  the  Austrian  government.  Liege  was  deprived  of 
its  income,  and  its  inmates  were  expelled  from  the  home  which  they  had 
made  the  seat  of  learning  and  religion. 

The  English-speaking  Jesuits  of  Flanders  returned  to  England,  whither 
Father  Carroll  accompanied  them,  acted  as  the  secretary  in  their  meetings, 
and,  in  fact,  conducted  the  important  correspondence  of  the  French  govern- 
ment in  relation  to  the  property  of  the  suppressed  society  in  France. 

While  thus  engaged  in  England,  he  received  the  appointment  of  chaplain 
to  Lord  Arundel,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Wardour  Castle.  But  the 
charms  of  this  splendid  abode  did  not  withdraw  the  attention  of  the  devoted 
priest  from  the  grand  and  self-sacrificing  duties  of  his  sacred  calling,  which 
he  continued  zealously  to  perform,  whenever  an  opportunity  for  doing  good 
was  within  his  reach.  He  had,  however,  for  some  time  cherished  the  inten- 
tion of  returning  to  Maryland  ;  and  circumstances  of  an  exciting  and 
important  nature  now  hastened  its  execution. 

The  warm  controversy  between  England  and  her  American  colonies  was 
daily  hastening  to  a  crisis.  Father  Carroll,  though  surrounded  by  English 
society  and  its  influences,  at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  his  own  country ;  and 
bidding  adieu  to  his  beloved  companions  of  the  late  Society  of  Jesus,  and  to 
his  noble  and  generous  friends  at  Wardour  Castle,  he  sailed  from  England,, 
and  reached  his  native  land  in  the  summer  of   1774. 

The  patriotic  priest   soon  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  again  beholding  his 

venerable  mother,  his  dear   sisters,  and   many  of  the  friends  of  his  youthful 

days — 

"The  shining  days  when  life  was  new, 
And  all  was  bright  as  morning  dew." 

He  had  left  home  a  bright  boy  of  fourteen,  and  returned  a  care-worn, 
man  of  forty,  destitute  of  fortune,  and  disappointed  in  the  hopes  he  had 
formed  for  the  triumphs  of  religion,  to  be  achieved  by  the  illustrious  society 
to  which  he  had  pledged  his  faith  forever.  Its  banner  had,  indeed,  been 
struck  down;  but  the  glorious  motto,  Ad  majorem  Dei gloriam,  was  inscribed 
upon  his  heart. 

He  had  left  Maryland  in  a  state  of  vassalage  to  Great  Britain;  but  he 
returned  to  find  her  preparing  to  assert  her  independence  of  tyranny  and 
royal  authority.  In  the  days  of  his  youth  Catholics  were  a  proscribed  class,, 
ground  down  by  penal  laws  in  the  very  land  which  they  had  colonized;  but 
he  now  found  his  countrymen  engaged  in  discussing  great  questions  of  civil 
liberty,  and  he  looked  forward,  with  a  clear  vision,  to  emancipation  from  all 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


61 


the  bondage  of  liberty,  as  a  consequence  of  their  successful  battles  for  free- 
dom. The  future  archbishop  took  up  his  residence  with  his  mother  at  Rock 
Creek.  Here,  at  first,  a  room  in  the  family  dwelling,  and  subsequently,  a 
wooden  chapel,  were  the  scenes  of  the  holy  priest's  ministerial  offices.  The 
wooden  chapel  has  since  been  superseded  by  a  neat  brick  church,  which  is 
now  well  known  under  the  revered  name  of  "  Carroll's  Chapel." 

At  the  time  of  Father  Carroll's  arrival  in  America  there  was  not  one 
Catholic  Church  open  in  Maryland.  Under  the  family  roof  only  could  the 
holy  sacrifice  be  offered  up  to  the  Almighty.  This  explains  why  the  old 
Catholic  chapels  of  Maryland  contain  large  hearths  and  fire-places  within 
them,  and  massive  brick  chimneys  projecting  through  the  roofs.  In  the  once 
beautifully-named  "Land  of  the  Sanctuary," 
there  were  then  only  ninete^r  Catholic 
clergymen — all  ex-Jesuits. 

Father  Carroll  continued  to  reside  at 
Rock  Creek.  He  did  not  wish  to  leave  his 
aged  mother,  to  whose  declining  years  he 
was  anxious  to  minister.  His  missionary 
labors  were  chiefly  performed  in  the  neigh- 
boring country.  He  always  traveled  on 
horseback,  making  long  and  frequent  jour- 
neys to  distant  Catholic  families  and  settle-  J^ 
ments,  riding  frequently  thirty  miles  or  more 
to  sick  calls,  and  paying  monthly  visits  to  a 

„_ji  „~„~-.-~.n4.:~*,     „(    /-->  4-U^T  •        Ct  £C       J  CHARLES  CARROLL  OF  CARROLLTON. 

small  congregation  or  Catholics  in  Stafford 

County,  Virginia,  which  was  distant  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  his  home. 
After  about  eighteen  months  thus  spent  in  the  active  duties  of  the  holy 
ministry,  the  call  of  his  country  summoned  Father  Carroll  to  her  service. 
Open  war  raged  between  England  and  the  thirteen  colonies.  The  hopes  of 
a  settlement  had  vanished,  and  for  the  first  time  was  heard  the  magic  sound 
of  the  word  Independence.  To  gain  the  active  assistance  of  the  Canadians, 
or  at  least  to  secure  their  neutrality,  was  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance. 
Congress  appointed  three  commissioners  to  repair  to  Canada.  They  were 
Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin,  Samuel  Chase,  and  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton, 
and  by  a  special  resolution  the  last-named  gentleman  was  desired  "  to  prevail 
on  Mr.  John  Carroll  to  accompany  the  committee  to  Canada  to  assist  them  in 
such  matters  as  they  shall  think  useful." 


62  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Father  Carroll  acceded  to  the  request  of  congress.  After  four  weeks  of 
toil,  exposure,  and  unusual  difficulties,  which,  however,  did  not  dampen  the 
cheerful  spirits  of  the  patriotic  travelers,  nor  check  the  ever-ready  and  enter- 
taining wit  of  Dr.  Franklin,  they  reached  Montreal  on  the  night  of  the  29th 
of  April,  1776. 

While  the  commissioners  were  negotiating  with  the  authorities,  regulat- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  American  forces  then  in  Canada,  and  carrying  out  the 
instructions  of  congress,  Father  Carroll  was  visiting  the  Canadian  clergy, 
explaining  the  nature  and  principles  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  pointing 
out  the  identity  of  destiny  and  interest  which  ought  to  unite  Canada  to  the 
English  colonies,  and  in  answering  objections,  removing  prejudices  of  race, 
and  appealing  to  their  love  of  liberty.  He  was  treated  with  respect  and 
listened  to  with  polite  attention. 

But  both  the  commissioners  and  Father  Carroll  received  the  same  answer 
from  the  Canadians — that  for  themselves  they  had  no  cause  of  complaint 
against  the  home  government  of  Great  Britain,  which  had  guaranteed  to 
them  the  free  and  full  exercise  of  their  religion,  liberty,  and  property,  and 
that  in  return  the  duty  of  allegiance  and  fidelity  was  due  from  the  Canadians 
to  the  government. 

The  mission  was  fruitless.  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton  and  Samuel 
Chase  remained  in  Canada  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  army.  But  Dr. 
Franklin's  health  became  so  poor  that  he  was  forced  to  leave  the  country 
without  delay,  and  Father* Carroll  became  his  companion  on  the  homeward 
journey.  The  priest  and  the  philosopher  contracted  a  sincere  friendship,  as 
we  learn  from  the  grateful  letters  of  Franklin.  On  reaching  New  York  he 
wrote:  "As  to  myself,  I  grow  daily  more  feeble,  and  I  should  hardly  have 
got  along  so  far  but  for  Mr.  Carroll's  friendly  assistance  and  tender  care 
of  me." 

On  his  return  home  to  Rock  Creek,  Father  Carroll  resumed  the  duties  of 
the  sacred  ministry,  which  he  continued  to  perform  without  interruption  during 
the  whole  Revolutionary  War.  Throughout  the  long  and  great  struggle  he 
ardently  sympathized  in  the  cause  of  Independence.  In  his  correspondence 
with  his  late  brethren  in  England  he  explained  and  defended  its  principles, 
and  offered  up  constant  and  fervent  prayers  for  its  success.  And  no  citizen 
of  the  Republic  saw  with  greater  joy  the  consummation  of  the  glorious  result 
of  the  contest,  enhanced  as  this  patriotic  joy  was  by  the  cessation  of  strife  and 
carnage,  and  the  blessed  return  of  peace  and  happiness. 


OUR  FIEST  SHEPHERD.  63 

Father  Carroll's  powers  as  a  controversialist  were  summoned  into  service 
in  1784.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Wharton,  his  former  friend  and  fellow-member  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  had  apostatized  from  the  Catholic  faith,  and  written  a 
public  letter  attacking  its  principles.  The  reply  is  worthy  of  our  first  arch- 
bishop, and  is  noted  for  its  strength,  elegance,  and  triumphant  logic. 

Wharton,  among  other  charges,  had  asserted  that  "  neither  transubstan. 
tiation  nor  the  infallibility  of  the  Roman  Church  are  taught  more  explicitly 
as  articles  of  faith  than  the  impossibility  of  being  saved  out  of  the  communion 
of  this  Church." 

Father  Carroll  replies  thus  to  this  point:  "  I  begin  by  observing  that  to 
be  in  the  communion  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church  are  two  very  distinct  things.  They  are  in  the  coimnunion 
of  the  Church,  who  are  united  in  the  profession  of  her  faith,  and  participa- 
tion of  her  sacraments,  through  the  ministry  and  government  of  her  lawful 
pastors.  But  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  all  those  who,  with  a 
sincere  heart,  seek  true  religion,  and  are  in  an  unfeigned  disposition  to 
embrace  the  truth  whenever  they  find  it. 

"  Now,  it  never  was  our  doctrine  that  salvation  can  be  obtained  only  by 
the  former,  and  this  would  have  manifestly  appeared,  if  the  chaplain,  instead 
of  citing  Pope  Pius'  creed  from  his  memory  or  some  unfair  copy,  had  taken 
the  pains  to  examine  a  faithful  transcript  of  it.  These  are  the  words  of  the 
obnoxious  creed,  and  not  those  wrongfully  quoted  by  him,  which  are  not  to 
be  found  in  it.  After  enumerating  the  several  articles  of  our  belief,  it  goes 
on  thus:  '  This  true  Catholic  Faith,  without  which  no  one  can  be  saved,  I  do 
at  this  present  firmly  profess  and  sincerely  hold.' 

"Here  is  nothing  of  the  necessity  of  communion  with  our  Church  for 
salvation;  and  nothing,  I  presume,  but  what  is  taught  in  every  Christian 
society  on  earth,  viz. :  that  Catholic  faith  is  necessary  to  salvation.  The  dis- 
tinction between  being  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  of  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church,  is  no  modern  distinction,  but  a  doctrine  uniformly 
taught  by  ancient  as  well  as  later  divines.  'What  is  said,'  says  Bellarmiue, 
'of  none  being  saved  out  of  the  Church,  must  be  understood  of  those  who 
belong  not  to  it  either  in  fact  or  desire.'  " 

Father  Carroll,  after  dwelling  at  considerable  length  on  the  charity  and 
kindness  of  the  Catholic  Church,  refers  again  to  the  question  of  exclusive 
salvation,  deeming  it,  as  he  says,  "of  the  utmost  importance  to  charity  and  mutual 
forbearance  to  render  our  doctrine  on  this  head  as  perspicuous  as  I  am  able." 


64  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"First,  then,"  he  continues,  "it  has  been  always  and  uniformly  asserted 
by  our  divines,  that  baptism,  actual  baptism,  is  essentially  requisite  to  initiate 
us  into  the  communion  of  the  Church;  this  notwithstanding,  their  doctrine  is 
not  less  uniform,  and  the  Council  of  Trent  (Sess.  6,  chap.  4)  has  expressly 
established  it,  that  salvation  may  be  obtained  without  actual  baptism.  Thus, 
then,  it  appears  that  we  not  only  may,  but  are  obliged  to  believe  that  out  of 
our  co?nmunion  salvation  may  be  obtained. 

"  Secondly,  with  the  same  unanimity,  our  divines  define  heresy  to  be, 
not  merely  a  mistaken  opinion  in  matters  of  faith,  but  an  obstinate  adherence 
to  that  opinion;  not  barely  an  error  of  judgment,  but  an  error  arising  from  a 
perverse  affection  of  the  will.  Hence  they  infer  that  he  is  no  heretic  who, 
though  he  hold  false  opinions  in  matters  of  faith,  yet  remains  in  a  habitual 
disposition  to  renounce  those  opinions  whenever  he  discovers  them  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Before  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania  were  subject  to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  vicar-apos- 
tohc  or  bishop  of  London,  England,  who  was  represented  in  these  provinces 
by  his  vicar-general,  the  Rev.  Father  Lewis,  superior  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
here,  at  the  date  of  its  suppression. 

Soon  after  the  termination  of  the  war,  however,  the  clergy  of  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania, being  sensible  that,  to  derive  all  advantage  from  the  new  state 
of  things  in  America,  it  would  be  proper  to  have  an  ecclesiastical  superior  in 
the  country  itself;  and  knowing  the  jealousy  prevailing  in  the  American 
governments  against  the  right  of  jurisdiction  being  vested  in  a  person  residing 
in  Great  Britain,  addressed  themselves  to  the  Holy  See,  praying  that  a  superior 
might  be  allowed,  and  that  he  might  be  chosen  by  the  clergy,  subject  to  the 
approbation  and  confirmation  of  his  holiness. 

The  American  clergy  believed  the  time  and  the  circumstances  of  the  new 
nation  as  premature  for  the  presence  of  a  bishop.  They  simply  desired  a 
superior  with  some  of  the  episcopal  powers.  The  Holy  See,  in  its  wisdom, 
came  to  the  same  conclusion,  and  resolved  to  give  Maryland  a  provisional 
ecclesiastical  organization.  The  learned  and  patriotic  Rev.  Li .  Cr.*"roll  received 
the  appointment.  He  was  empowered,  among  other  things,  to  bless  the  holy 
oils,  and  to  administer  the  sacrament  of  confirmation.  This  holy  sacrament, 
which  strengthens  faith  in  man,  had  never  yet  been  conferred  in  the  United 
States. 

But  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  a  fact  as  interesting  as  it  is  singular. 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD.  65 

The  venerable  statesman  and  philosopher,  Dr.  Franklin — then  the  American 
minister  at  Paris — had  an  honorable  share  in  the  nomination  of  the  future 
patriarch  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  "When  the  nuncio 
at  Paris,"  writes  Father  Thorpe,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  from  Rome, 
dated  June  9,  1784,  "applied  to  Mr.  Franklin,  the  old  gentleman  remem- 
bered you;  he  had  his  memory  refreshed  before,  though  you  had  modestly 
put  your  own  name  in  the  last  place  in  the  list."  Franklin's  diary  records 
this  memorable  event  thus: 

^"1774,  July  1st. — The  pope's  nuncio  called  and  acquainted  me  that  the 
pope  had,  on  my  recommendation,  appointed  Mr.  John  Carroll  superior  of 
the  Catholic  clergy  in  America,  with  many  of  the  powers  of  a  bishop,  and 
that,  probably,  he  would  be  made  a  bishop  in  -partibus  before  the  end  of  the 
year." 

In  consulting  Dr.  Franklin,  the  Holy  See  simply  wished  to  pay  an  act 
of  courtesy  to  the  young  Republic.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
which  places  religion  beyond  the  sphere  of  the  civil  power,  was  not  yet 
drafted.  And  it  need  excite  no  astonishment  that  even  educated  Europe  was 
not  familiar  with  the  principles  which  underlie  the  American  government. 

The  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  as  prefect-apostolic,  at  once  began  his 
visits.  His  long  journeys  were  chiefly  through  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  York.  The  first,  as  the  seat  of  the  old  Catholic  colony,  had  still  a 
respectable  number  of  Catholics;  and  in  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Carroll  found  a 
population  of  about  seven  thousand  faithful. 

Some  time  before  the  arrival  of  the  prefect-apostolic,  Philadelphia  was 
the  scene  of  a  notable  religious  ceremony.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  a  solemn  Te  Dcum  was  chanted  in  St.  Joseph's  church,  at  the  request  of 
the  Marquis  De  la  Luzerne,  the  French  embassador.  He  invited  the  mem- 
bers of  the  United  States  congress,  as  well  as  the  principle  generals  and  distin- 
guished citizens  to  attend.  Washington  and  Lafayette  were  present.  The 
Abbe  Bandale  delivered  a  most  eloquent  discourse.  "Who  but  He,"  ex- 
claimed the  eloquent  priest,  "He  in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  men,  could 
inspire  the  allied  troops  with  the  friendship,  the  confidence,  the  tenderness 
of  brothers?  Ah!  the  combination  of  so  many  fortunate  circumstances  is  an 
emanation  of  the  all-perfect  mind.  That  courage,  that  skill,  that  activity 
bear  the  sacred  impression  of  Him  who  is  divine.  .  .  .  Let  us  with  one 
voice  pour  forth  to  the  Lord  that  hymn  of  praise  by  which  Christians  cele- 
brate their  gratitude  and  His  glory — Te  Deu?n  LaudcunusP 
6 


66  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

For  five  years,  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  as  prefect-apostolic,  toiled  ot» 
with  the  amiability  and  zeal  of  an  apostle,  daily  encountering  obstacles  from 
the  nature  of  his  duties,  from  insubordinate  priests  and  laity,  that  would  have 
discouraged  any  but  the  bravest  spirit. 

"  Every  day,"  he  writes,  "  furnishes  me  with  new  reflections,  and  almost 
every  day  produces  new  events  to  alarm  my  conscience,  and  excite  fresh 
solicitude  at  the  prospect  before  me.  You  cannot  conceive  the  trouble  I  suffer 
already,  and  still  greater  which  I  foresee,  from  the  medley  of  clerical  charac- 
ters coming  from  different  quarters  and  various  educations,  and  seeking 
employment  here.  I  cannot  avoid  employing  some  of  them,  and  they  begin 
soon  to  create  disturbances." 

This  state  of  things  was  almost  to  be  expected,  on  account  of  the 
heterogeneous  character  of  both  people  and  clergy.  As  many  of  the  clergy 
were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  English  language,  and  others  in  no  very  good 
repute  at  home,  it  was  soon  found  that  ampler  powers  than  those  possessed 
by  the  prefect-apostolic  were  needed  to  hold  the  tangled  reins  of  authority 
with  proper  firmness 

The  principal  members  of  the  American  clergy  who  had  the  good  of 
religion  at  heart  assembled,  and  petitioned  Rome  for  a  bishop.  The  request 
was  granted,  with  the  privilege  of  selecting  the  candidate  and  of  locating  the 
new  see.  They  fixed  upon  Baltimore,  "  this  being,"  writes  Dr.  Carroll  to  a 
clerical  friend  in  Europe,  "  the  principal  town  in  Maryland,  and  that  state 
being  the  oldest,  and  still  the  most  numerous  residence  of  true  religion  in 
America.  So  far  all  was  right.  We  then  proceeded  to  the  election,  the 
event  of  which  was  such  as  deprives  me  of  all  expectation  of  rest  or  pleasure 
henceforward,  and  fills  me  with  terror  with  respect  to  eternity.  I  am  so 
stunned  with  the  issue  of  this  business,  that  I  truly  hate  the  hearing  or  the 
mention  of  it;  and,  therefore,  will  say  only,  that  since  my  brethren — whom 
in  this  case  I  consider  as  the  interpreters  of  the  Divine  will — say  I  must 
obey,  I  will  do  it;  but  by  obeying  shall  sacrifice  henceforward  every  moment 
of  peace  and  satisfaction."  One  of  Dr.  Carroll's  conspicuous  qualities,  a 
quality  that  shed  a  luster  over  his  whole  character,  was  his  modest  humility — 
"  Humility,  that  low  sweet  root 
From  which  all  heavenly  virtues  shoot!" 

By  the  Holy  See  he  was  nominated  first  bishop  of  Baltimore.  On  the 
reception  of  official  documents  the  new  prelate  at  once  proceeded  to  England 
for  consecration.     The  solemn  ceremony  took  place  in  Lulworth  Castle,  the 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD.  6>j 

lordly  residence  of  the  pious  Thomas  Weld,  on  Sunday,  August  15,  1790. 
The  consecrator  was  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Walmsley,  senior  Catholic  bishop  of 
Great  Britain. 

Late  in  the  same  year  Bishop  Carroll  reached  the  shores  of  America, 
was  joyfully  welcomed  by  his  people,  and  installed  in  his  episcopal  see.  On 
the  Sunday  of  installation  he  addressed  them  a  discourse  which  shall  ever 
remain  a  masterpiece  of  sacred  eloquence. 

"  This  day,  my  dear  brethren,"  began  the  venerable  man,  "  impresses 
deeply  on  my  mind  a  lively  sense  of  the  new  relation  in  which  I  stand  before 
you.  The  shade  of  retirement  and  solitude  must  no  longer  be  my  hope  and 
prospect  of  consolation.  Often  have  I  flattered  myself  that  my  declining 
years  would  be  indulged  in  such  a  state  of  rest  from  labor  and  solicitude  for 
others,  as  would  leave  me  the  best  opportunity  of  attending  to  the  great  con- 
cern of  my  own  salvation,  and  of  confining  myself  to  remember  my  past 
years  in  the  bitterness  of  compunction.  But  it  has  pleased  God  to  order 
otherwise;  and   though   my  duty  commands  submission,  it  cannot  allay  my 

fears — those  fears  which  I  feel  for  you  and  myself In  God 

alone  can  I  find  any  consolation.  He  knows  by  what  steps  I  have  been  con- 
ducted to  this  important  station,  and  how  much  I  have  always  dreaded  it. 
He  will  not  abandon  me  unless  I  first  draw  down  His  malediction  by  my 
unfaithfulness  to  my  charge.  Pray,  dear  brethren,  pray  incessantly  that  I 
may  not  incur  so  dreadful  a  punishment.  Alas!  the  punishment  would  fall 
on  you  as  well  as  myself — my  unfaithfulness  would  redound  on  you,  and 
deprive  you  of  some  of  the  means  of  salvation."  What  modest  grandeur  and 
simple  sublimity  mark  these  first  utterances  of  the  patriarch  of  the  American 
Church! 

At  this  point  it  may  be  proper  to  examine  into  the  number  of  Bishop 
Carroll's  spiritual  children  in  1790.  Religious  statistics  in  our  country  have 
been  at  all  times  in  a  misty,  unsatisfactory  condition.  This  early  date  was  no 
exception.  All  figures,  therefore,  in  that  connection,  are  to  be  received  as 
approximations — guesses  at  truth.  The  first  national  census  was  taken  in 
1790,  and  gave  us  a  total  white  population  of  nearly  3,200,000.  Of  these 
about  30,000  were  Catholics.  According  to  this  estimate  one  in  every  one 
hundred  and  ten  of  the  white  population  was  a  Catholic.  Bishop  Carroll's 
diocese  was  the  United  States.  His  priests  were  between  thirty  and  forty  in 
number;  while  his  small  but  wide-spread  flocks  were  distributed  somewhat 
as  follows:  16,000  in  Maryland;  7,000  in  Pennsylvania;  3,000  at  Detroit  and 


68  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Vincennes;  2,500  in  Illinois,  and  in  all  the  other  states  together  there  were 
not  perhaps  more  than  1,500 — in  all  about  30,000.  Such  was  the  American 
Church  at  the  date  the  holy  father  firmly  planted  the  corner-stone  by 
erecting  the  first  episcopal  see  of  Baltimore. 

As  an  organized  body  the  Catholic  Church  of  America  now  fairly  began 
its  heavenly  mission.  The  field  was  vast,  the  laborers  few.  If  the  dark 
times  had  passed,  and  the  beautiful  star  of  hope  shone  brightly,  still  obstacles, 
almost  numberless,  appeared  on  every  side.  The  majority  of  the  Catholics 
were  poor.  Most  of  them  were  faithful  Irish  who  had  fled  from  English 
tyranny  and  spoliation;  numbers  of  them  were  exiled  French  and  Germans, 
who  had  gladly  escaped  from  the  ruin  and  desolation  that  threatened 
European  society. 

In  many  States  the  very  name  of  Catholic  was  held  in  contempt.  The 
battle-ground  was  changed.  It  was  no  longer  a  struggle  for  existence  with 
odious  penal  enactments,  but  a  ceaseless  conflict  with  ignorance  and  fanaticism, 
remains  of  an  unhappy  past. 

At  all  hazards,  however,  the  faith  was  to  be  preserved  and  extended. 
To  many  Catholics  the  very  sight  of  a  priest  was  something  dimly 
remembered.  They  had  not  beheld  one  for  years!  The  practice  of  their 
religion  was  like  a  happy  dream  of  youthful  days — almost  forgotten,  yet  the 
sweet  memory  of  which  lingered  in  the  mind.  The  Sunday  of  first  Com- 
munion, with  its  celestial  peace  of  soul — who  can  forget  it?  In  the  life  of 
the  true  Catholic,  it  is  that  bright  day — that  day  of  beauty  which  is  a  joy 
forever! 

Bishop  Carroll,  arming  himself  with  zeal,  courage,  and  patience,  calmly 
surveyed  the  immense  field;  and  like  an  able  commander,  laid  down  his  plans, 
and  at  once  began  operations.  With  Baltimore  as  a  base  and  center  of  action, 
he  soon  made  his  power  felt  and  respected  even  to  the  extremities  of  Georgia, 
Maine,  and  Michigan.  A  spiritual  Hannibal,  the  wise  prelate  skillfully 
maneuvered  his  small  band  of  a  few  dozen  priests.  He  gave  each  pastor  his 
benediction,  cheered  him  on  in  his  difficulties,  reminding  him  of  his  high 
mission  as  a  member  of  the  vanguard  for  the  conquest  of  souls.  Weak  points 
were  strengthened;  enemies  awed  into  neutrals  or  changed  into  fast  friends; 
and  the  outposts  of  the  faith  gradually  extended.  This  is  no  imaginary 
picture.  The  prudence  and  lofty  zeal  of  Dr.  Carroll  challenge  unqualified 
admiration. 

While  yet  prefect-apostolic,  Dr.  Carroll  had  begun  the  foundation   of 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD.  69 

Georgetown  College.  His  plan  embraced  a  theological  seminary  to  conduct 
the  studies  of  candidates  for  the  priesthood,  and  an  academy  for  the  education 
of  youth.  The  site  selected  by  its  venerable  founder  for  this  first  and  oldest 
of  our  colleges  could  not  have  been  more  judiciously  chosen,  either  for  health, 
advantages  of  location,  or  beauty  and  grandeur  of  scenery. 

In  November,  1791,  the  bishop  convened  his  first  synod  in  Baltimore.  It 
numbered  twenty-two  clergymen.  The  salutary  measures  adopted  by  that 
body  remain  to  this  day  a  monument  of  its  wisdom. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Carroll  paid  his  first  episcopal  visit  to  the  capital  of 
New  England.  "It  is  wonderful,"  he  writes,  "to  tell  what  great  civilities 
have  been  done  to  me  in  Boston,  where  a  few  years  ago  a  '  popish  '  priest  was 
thought  to  be  the  greatest  monster  in  creation.  Many  here,  even  of  their 
principal  people,  have  acknowledged  to  me  that  they  would  have  crossed  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street  rather  than  meet  a  Roman  Catholic  some  time 
ago.  The  horror  which  was  associated  with  the  idea  of  a  '  papist '  is  incred- 
ible; and  the  scandalous  misrepresentation  by  their  ministers  increased  the 
horror  every  Sunday." 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  affairs  had  reached  a  terrible  crisis. 
While  Divine  Providence  was  preparing  on  the  Western  Continent  a  new  and 
grateful  field  for  the  seed  of  truth,  it  was  disposing  events  in  Europe  and 
other  countries  for  supplying  that  field  with  zealous  and  active  laborers  who 
would  bring  forth  fruit  in  good  season.  The  French  Revolution,  with  all 
its  irreligious  horrors,  burst  upon  the  world,  deluging  unhappy  France  in  the 
blood  of  her  best  and  bravest  sons.  It  was  a  fearful  upheaval  of  society — a 
social  volcano. 

But  what  was  a  misfortune  for  the  land  of  St.  Louis,  proved  a  blessing  to 
the  United  States.  Between  1791  and  1799,  twenty-three  French  priests 
sought  a  refuge  on  our  shores.  In  learning,  virtue,  and  polished  manners, 
they  were  worthy  representatives  of  their  divine  master.  Each  one  was  a 
valuable  acquisition  for  our  young  and  struggling  church.  Each  was  a  host 
in  himself.  Six  of  them,  Flaget,  Cheverus,  Dubois,  David,  Dubourg,  and 
Marshal,  afterwards  became  bishops.  The  names  of  Matignon,  Badin, 
Richards,  Ciquard,  Nagot,  Nerinckx,  and  others,  will  be  held  in  benediction 
to  the  latest  ages. 

The  arrival  of  these  soldiers  of  the  cross  enabled  Bishop  Carroll  to  extend 
and  partly  consolidate  his  vast  diocese.  "  The  Catholic  Church  of  the  United 
States,"  says  Archbishop  Spalding,  "  is  deeply   indebted   to  the  zeal   of    the 


jo  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

exiled  French  clergy.  No  portion  of  the  American  Church  owes  more  to 
them  than  that  of  Kentucky.  They  supplied  our  infant  missions  with  most 
of  their  earlier  and  most  zealous  laborers,  and  they  likewise  gave  to  us  our 
first  bishops.  There  is  something  in  the  elasticity  and  buoyancy  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  French  which  adapts  them  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  foreign  mis- 
sions. They  have  always  been  the  best  missionaries  among  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians,  they  can  mold  their  character  to  suit  every  circumstance  and 
emergency;  they  can  be  at  home  and  cheerful  everywhere.  The  French 
clergy  who  landed  on  our  shores,  though  many  of  them  had  been  trained  up 
amid  all  the  refinements  of  polished  France,  could  yet  submit  without  a  mur- 
mur to  all  the  hardships  and  privations  of  a  mission  on  the  frontiers  of  civiliza- 
tion, or  in  the  very  heart  of  the  wilderness.  They  could  adapt  themselves  to 
the  climate,  mold  themselves  to  the  feelings  and  habits  of  a  people  opposite 
to  them  in  temperament  and  character." 

Scarcely  had  the  nineteenth'  century  dawned,  when  the  great  tide  of 
immigration  began  to  set  in  for  the  shores  of  the  New  World.  If  the  French 
Revolution  caused  many  distinguished  men,  both  clerical  and  lay,  to  cast  their 
lot  in  our  land,  the  Irish  Rebellion  of  179S,  and  its  fatal  termination,  likewise 
forced  thousands  of  "  Exiles  of  Erin  "  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  some  clime 
more  favored  than  their  own  unhappy  isle.  For  them  the  United  States  had 
a  mysterious  attraction,  and  the  star  of  destiny  guided  their  course  westward. 

After  having  provided,  by  the  foundation  of  a  college  and  seminary,  for 
the  education  of  youth  and  the  recruiting  of  the  priesthood,  the  bishop  of 
Baltimore's  next  care  was  to  introduce  into  Maryland  religious  communities 
of  women,  to  instruct  the  young  of  their  own  sex,  nurse  the  sick,  and  adopt 
the  orphan.  These  good  works  have  ever  been  the  heritage  of  the  Church, 
and  ephemeral  indeed  must  be  the  branch  which  has  not  yet  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  convents  for  prayer  or  charity.  Till  1790  the  United  States  did  not 
know  what  a  female  religious  was.  It  was  only  then  that  Father  Charles 
Neale,  brother  of  the  future  coadjutor  of  Baltimore,  brought  with  him  from 
Belgium  to  America  four  Carmelites  of  St.  Theresa's  reform,  three  of  whom 
were  Americans,  the  fourth  an  English  lady ;  and  thus  one  of  the  most  aus- 
tere orders  in  the  Church  was  the  first  to  naturalize  itself  in  the  United 
►States.  Father  Charles  Neale  had  a  cousin,  Mother  Brent,  superior  of  the 
Carmelite  convent  at  Antwerp,  a  house  founded  only  thirty-seven  years  after 
St.  Theresa's  death.  At  the  request  of  this  lady,  Father  Neale  in  17S0 
assumed  the  spiritual  direction   of  the  convent,  and  he,  by  his  correspondence 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


71 


with  his  friends  in  America,  excited  a  desire  to  have  a  branch  of  the  Carmel- 
ites at  Port  Tobacco,  where  the  Neale  family  resided.  Father  Carroll  wrote 
to  the  bishop  of  Antwerp,  and  on  the  19th  of  April,  1790,  four  Carmelites 
embarked  at  Antwerp  with  Father  Neale  for  Maryland.  On  the  15th  of 
October  the  Carmelites  took  possession  of  their  house,  which  Father  Neale 
had  built  at  his  own  expense;  and  there  they  practised  their  rule  in  all  iis 
severity,  fasting  eight  months  in  the  year,  wearing  woolen,  sleeping  on  straw, 
and  offering  their  prayers  and  mortifications  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  In 
1S00  they  lost  their  superior,  who  was  succeeded  by  Mother  Dickinson.  In 
1S23  Father  Charles  Neale,  their  venerable  founder,  died,  after  having  directed 
them  by  his  counsels  for  thirty-three  years.  In  1840  Mother  Dickinson  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  grave.  Born  in  London  and  educated  in  France,  she  had 
been  a  religious  for  fifty-eight  years,  and  was  revered  as  a  saint  by  her  spir- 
itual daughters.  At  this  epoch  the  Carmelites  suffered  the  greatest  financial 
embarrassments,  so  as  actually  to  experience  all  the  privations  of  want,  in 
consequence  of  the  mismanagement  of  the  farm  from  which  they  derived 
their  support.  Archbishoj  Whitfield,  touched  by  their  painful  position, 
advised  them  to  leave  Port  ^obacco  and  remove  to  Baltimore,  where  they 
might  create  resources  by  opening  a  boarding-school.  The  Holy  See  per- 
mitted this  modification  of  their  rule,  and  on  the  13th  of  September,  1831, 
the  Carmelites,  to  the  number  of  twenty-four,  bade  a  last  farewell  to  the 
convent  where  most  of  them  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  austerities  of  a 
religious  life.  On  the  next  day  they  reached  Baltimore,  and  after  offering  a 
short  prayer  at  the  Cathedral,  hastened  to  inclose  themselves  in  their  new 
cloister. 

The  Carmelites  had  for  several  years,  as  one  of  their  chaplains,  the  Abbe^ 
Herard,  a  French  priest  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  had  left  France  for  Guiana 
in  1784,  and  withdrew  to  the  United  States  during  the  Revolution.  He  was 
long  their  most  active  benefactor,  gave  them  a  considerable  sum  towards 
building  their  chapel,  and  left  them  a  legacy,  the  income  of  which  still  sup- 
ports their  chaplain. 

About  1792  some  Poor  Clares,  driven  from  France  by  the  horrors  of  the 
Revolution,  sought  a  refuge  in  Maryland.  Their  names  were  Marie  de  la 
Marche,  abbess  of  the  Order  of  St.  Clare,  Celeste  de  la  Rochefoucault,  and 
Madame  de  St.  Luc,  and  they  were  assisted  by  a  lay-brother  named  Alexis. 
They  had  a  house  also  at  Frederick,  as  we  learn  from  the  will  of  the  venera- 
ble abbess,  dated  in  1S01,  and  made  in  favor  of  Sister  de  la   Rochefoucault 


y2  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

It  is  preserved  at  the  Visitation  convent,  Georgetown,  and  begins  in  these 
words:  "  I,  Mary  de  la  Marche,  abbess  of  tbe  Order  of  St.  Clare,  formerly 
of  the  village  of  Sours  in  France,  and  now  of  Frederick  in  Maryland." 

In  i Sot  they  purchased  a  lot  on  Lafayette  street,  in  Georgetown.  The 
good  sisters  had  the  consolation  to  be  near  the  college,  which  secured  them 
religious  aid.  They  endeavored  to  support  themselves  at  Georgetown  by 
opening  a  school,  but  they  had  constantly  to  struggle  with  poverty ;  and  on 
the  death  of  the  abbess  in  1805,  Madame  de  la  Rochefoucault,  who  succeeded 
her,  sold  the  convent  to  Bishop  Neale  by  deed  of  June  29,  1805,  and  returned 
to  Europe  with  her  companion.  As  we  saw  in  the  last  chapter,  the  four 
brothers  Neale,  who  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus,  had  a  sister,  a  Poor  Clare, 
in  Artois;  and  it  would  seem  natural  that,  when  the  convents  in  France  were 
suppressed,  she  and  her  companions  should  take  refuge  in  Maryland;  but 
there  is  nothing  to  show  that  she  ever  returned  to  America.  It  doubtless 
did  not  enter  the  designs  of  Providence  that  the  Order  of  St.  Clare  should 
take  root  in  the  United  States,  reserving  all  its  benedictions  for  tl  a  Order  of 
the  Visitation. 

Miss  Alice  Lalor,  who  was  the  foundress  of  the  Visitation  Nuns  in 
America,  was  born  about  1766  in  Queen's  county,  Ireland,  of  pious  and 
worthy  parents.  She  was  brought  up  at  Kilkenny,  whither  her  family 
removed  when  young  Alice  was  still  a  child. 

Alice  thus  lived  some  years  in  the  world,  till  Bishop  Lanigan,  wishing 
to  form  a  religious  community  at  Kilkenny,  invited  her  to  join  it.  She 
accepted  with  joy,  but  was  opposed  in  her  vocation  by  the  will  of  her  parents, 
who  had  then  made  up  their  minds  to  emigrate  to  America,  and  who  would 
not  consent  to  part  with  their  daughter.  She  accordingly  came  out  with 
them  in  1797,  after  having  promised  the  prelate  to  return  to  Ireland  in  two 
years,  to  embrace  the  religious  state.  Such  was  not,  however,  the  design  of 
the  Almighty  on  his  faithful  handmaid.  She  settled  at  Philadelphia  with  her 
family,  and  here  confided  her  project  to  Father  Leonard  Neale,  whom  she 
took  as  her  director.  He  had  long  wished  to  found  a  religious  community  at 
Philadelphia,  although  he  was  yet  undecided  what  order  would  best  suit  the 
country.  He  showed  Miss  Lalor  that  America  needed  her  devotedness  far 
more  than  Ireland  did;  and  being,  as  her  confessor,  invested  with  the  neces- 
sary powers,  he  released  her  from  her  promise.  Obedient  to  his  counsels, 
Alice  joined  two  other  young  women  of  Philadelphia,  animated  by  a  similar 
vocation  to  the  religious  state.     She  left   her  family  to  begin  under  Father 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


73 


Neale's  direction  a  house  for  the  education  of  girls.  But  the  new  institution 
had  scarcely  begun  when  the  yellow-fever  opened  its  fearful  ravages  in  Phila- 
delphia. Many  of  the  people  fled  from  the  scourge,  and  among  them  the 
parents  of  Miss  Lalor.  They  used  the  most  touching  appeals  to  induce  her 
to  accompany  them,  but  she  remained  unshaken  at  her  post,  and  beheld  her 
two  companions  carried  off  by  the  pestilence,  without  being  discouraged  in 
her  resolution  of  devoting  herself  to  God. 

In  1799  Father  Neale  having  been  appointed  president  of  Georgetown 
College,  persuaded  Miss  Lalor  to  retire  to  the  Clarist  convent  in  that  city,  so 
as  not  to  be  exposed  to  the  world  which  she  had  renounced.  She  left  Phila- 
delphia with  a  pious  lady,  and  both  rendered  all  the  service  they  could  to  the 
Poor  Clares  as  teachers.  Their  director  soon  advised  them  to  open  a  school 
by  themselves,  which  they  did;  and  their  rising  institute  received  an  accession 
in  another  Philadelphia  lady,  who  brought  a  small  fortune.  It  was  employed 
partly  in  acquiring  a  wooden  house,  the  site  of  which  is  still  embraced  in 
the  convent  grounds.  Father  Neale,  on  becoming  coadjutor,  continued  to 
reside  at  Georgetown,  where  he  had  bestowed  on  his  spiritual  daughters  the 
most  active  solicitude.  The  holy  prelate  incessantly  offered  his  prayers  to 
God  to  know  to  what  rule  it  was  most  suitable  to  bind  the  new  society. 
He  had  a  great  predilection  for  the  Visitation,  founded  by  St.  Francis  of 
Sales,  and  a  circumstance  convinced  both  him  and  Miss  Lalor  that  in  this  he 
followed  the  designs  of  God.  Among  some  old  books  belonging  to  the 
Poor  Clares,  they  found  the  complete  text  of  the  rules  and  constitution  of 
the  Visitation,  although  the  poor  sisters  were  wholly  unaware  that  they  had 
ever  possessed  the  volume.  Bishop  Neale  failed,  however,  in  his  endeavors 
to  obtain  the  aid  of  some  nuns  from  Europe  in  order  to  form  his  American 
novices  to  the  rule  of  St.  Frances  de  Chantal.  Many  Catholics  blamed  the 
project  of  establishing  a  new  religious  community  in  the  United  States,  fear- 
ing to  excite  the  fanaticism  of  the  Protestants.  Bishop  Carroll  advised  Miss 
Lalor  and  her  companions  to  join  the  Carmelites  at  Port  Tobacco.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  wealthy  lady  offered  to  go  to  Ireland  at  her  own  expense,  and 
bring  out  nuns,  if  Bishop  Neale  would  decide  in  favor  of  the  Ursulines. 
The  zealous  coadjutor,  however,  refused  these  offers,  believing  that  the  insti- 
tute of  the  Visitation  was  best  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  Catholics  in  the 
United  States. 

We  have  stated  that  Bishop  Neale  had  bought  the  Clarist  convent  on 
their  departure  for  Europe  in   1805.     He  immediately  installed  the  "  Pious 


7  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Ladies  "  there  (for  by  that  name  the  future  Visitation  Nuns  were  known  in 
Georgetown),  and  by  deed  of  June  9,  1808,  confirmed  June  9,  18 12,  trans- 
ferred the  property  to  Alice  Lalor,  Maria  McDermott,  and  Mary  Neale. 

In    1 8 14  the  sisters  numbered   thirteen,  and   their  fervor  induced  their 
holy  director  to  permit  them  to  take  simple  vows  to  be  renewed  every  year. 
Up  to  this  time  Bishop  Neale  had  been  the  only  superior  of  the  commu- 
nity, but  he  deemed  it  proper  to  invest  one  of  the  sisters  with  authority  over 
her  companions,  and  Miss  Lalor  was  called  to  the  important  post. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Visitation  Nuns  in  the  United  States;  nor  is 
it  without  striking  points  of  resemblance  to  its  foundation  in  Europe.  The 
energy  and  perseverance  of  Bishop  Neale  recall  the  pious  efforts  of  St. 
Francis  of  Sales,  for  the  same  holy  enterprise.  In  both  cases  a  bishop  gave 
the  first  impulse;  in  both  hemispheres  an  isolated  lady  lays  the  first  founda- 
tion, undeterred  by  any  obstacle;  and  if  in  Europe  the  Visitation  soon  opened 
its  convents  in  twenty  different  spots  in  France,  so  in  America  the  mother 
house  at  Georgetown  has  now  branches  of  the  order  at  Baltimore,  Mobile, 
St.  Louis,  Washington,  Brooklyn,  and  Wheeling;  and,  in  these  various  con- 
vents, now  numbers  over  three  hundred  nuns.  But  it  was  not  without  new 
and  severe  trials  that  Alice  Lalor's  house  acquired  this  remarkable  develop- 
ment, as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel. 

The  many  convents  which  now  exist  in  the  United  States,  all,  or 
nearly  all,  filiations  of  the  Georgetown  convent,  have  boarding-schools  or 
day  schools  for  girls  of  the  higher  as  well  as  of  the  poorer  class.  The 
education  received  in  their  schools  is  remarkably  good,  and  the  work  of  Miss 
Alice  Lalor  is  an  immense  benefit  to  America.  The  same  is  true  of  that  to 
which  Mrs.  Seton,  foundress  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States, 
devoted  herself,  but  of  this  admirable  lady  we  shall  furnish  a  separate 
biography. 

The  bisnop  of  Baltimore  seconded  with  all  his  efforts  the  foundation  of 
these  pious  communities,  and  frequently  visited  Emmitsburg  on  important 
solemnities,  the  taking  of  the  habit,  renewal  of  vows,  or  consecration  of 
chapels. 

In  his  life  we  will  not  omit  one  fact  which  has  long  since  led  to  much 
discussion.  In  1803,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  a  brother  of  Napoleon,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  a  French  frigate,  and  spent  some  time  here.  Meeting  Miss 
Patterson,  a  Protestant  lady,  in  Baltimore,  he  became  greatly  attached  to  her, 
and   asked   her   hand   in   marriage.     A   day  was   fixed,  but  it   was  deemed 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


75 


prudent  to  delay  it  for  two  months,  and  then  Bishop  Carroll  himself  per- 
formed the  ceremony. 

Oil  Jerome's  return  to  France,  the  wrath  of  the  emperor  burst  upon  him 
and  his  wife,  and  the  latter  was  compelled  to  return  to  Maryland.  A  son 
was  the  issue  of  this  marriage,  and  is  really  the  lawful  heir  of  Jerome. 
Napoleon  saw  this  and  sought  to  annul  the  marriage.  He  accordingly 
applied  to  Pope  Pius  VII  on  the  24th  of  May,  1805.  "By  our  laws,"  says 
he,  "the  marriage  is  null.  A  Spanish  priest  so  far  forgot  his  duties  as  to 
pronounce  the  benediction.  I  desire  from  your  holiness  a  bull  annulling  the 
marriage.  It  is  important  for  France  that  there  should  not  be  a  Protestant 
young  woman  so  near  my  person." 

Several  of  these  statements  were  untrue,  but  the  pontiff  was  so  gracious 
as  to  make  a  reply  in  which  he  examines  and  discusses,  each  in  its  turn,  the 
several  causes  for  nullity  put  forward  by  the  emperor.  He  refutes  them  all, 
and  declares  that  none  of  them  can  invalidate  the  marriage,  and  concludes: 
"We  may  not  depart  from  the  laws  of  the  Church  by  pronouncing  the 
invalidity  of  a  marriage  which,  according  to  the  declaration  of  God,  no 
human  power  can  dissolve.  Were  we  to  usurp  an  authority  which  is  not 
ours,  we  should  render  ourselves  guilty  of  a  most  abominable  abuse  of  our 
sacred  ministry  before  the  tribunal  of  God  and  the  whole  Church." 

In  spite  of  this  decided  answer,  Napoleon  returned  to  the  point,  and  plied 
entreaties,  menaces,  and  commands,  but  all  in  vain;  and  if  the  marriage  was 
ever  declared  null,  or  another  performed,  it  was,  by  the  pontiff's  decision,  all 
illegal. 

Bishop  Carroll  had,  moreover,  the  consolation  of  seeing  the  number  of 
Catholics  increased  considerably  by  immigration  from  Europe,  and  also  by 
conversions.  Every  priest  to  whom  he  could  assign  a  post,  immediately 
beheld  a  Catholic  population  spring  up  around  him,  which  would  have  con- 
tinued to  live  aloof  from  the  practice  of  religious  duties  as  long  as  it  had  no 
priest  near  to  bring  them  to  mind.  In  1806  the  prelate  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  three  churches  in  Baltimore  alone.  In  1808  he  counted  in  his  diocese 
sixty-eight  priests  and  eighty  churches,  and  the  progress  of  religion  made 
him  urgently  request  at  Rome  the  division  of  the  United  States  into  several 
bishoprics.  Pope  Pius  VII  yielded  to  the  desires  of  the  venerable  founder  of 
the  American  hierarchy,  and  by  a  brief  of  April  8,  1808,  Baltimore  was 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  Metropolitan  See,  and  four  suffragan  bishoprics  were 
erected  at  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  Bardstown.     On  the  recom- 


76  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

mendation  of  Bishop  Carroll,  the  Abbd  Cheverus  was  named  to  the  see  of 
Boston,  and  the  Abbe"  Flaget  to  that  of  Bardstown.  The  Rev.  Michael 
Egan,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  was  appointed  to  the  see  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Father  Luke  Concanen,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  to  that  of  New 
York.  The  latter  resided  at  Rome,  and  held  the  posts  of  Prior  of  St. 
Clement's  and  Librarian  of  the  Minerva.  He  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
American  missions,  and  it  was  at  his  suggestion  that  a  Dominican  convent 
was  founded  in  Kentucky  in  1805.  He  had  already  refused  a  miter  in 
Ireland,  but  he  could  not  resist  the  orders  of  the  sovereign  pontiff,  who 
sent  him  as  a  missionary  to  the  New  World ;  and  he  accordingly  received 
episcopal  consecration  at  Rome  on  the  24th  of  April,  1S0S,  at  the  hands  of 
Cardinal  Antonelli,  prefect  of  the  Propaganda. 

The  new  bishop  traveled  at  once  to  Leghorn,  and  subsequently  to  Naples,, 
where  he  hoped  to  find  a  vessel  bound  to  the  United  States.  He  bore  the 
pallium  for  Archbishop  Carroll,  and  the  bulls  of  institution  for  the  three  new 
bishops.  The  French  authorities,  then  in  possession  of  Naples,  opposed  his 
departure,  and  detained  him  as  a  prisoner,  although  he  had  paid  his  passage. 
The  pretext  of  these  vexations  was  that  Bishop  Concanen  was  a  British  sub- 
ject. The  prelate  could  not  escape  the  rigors  of  the  police,  and  died  suddenly 
in  July,  1 8 10,  poisoned,  it  would  seem,  by  persons  who  wished  to  get  pos- 
session of  his  effects  and  the  sacred  vessels  which  it  was  known  he  had  with 
him. 

This  premature  death  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  Church  in  America,  and 
caused  the  utmost  grief,  as  new  evils  menaced  the  Vicar  of  Christ  himself. 
When  Pius  VII  decreed  the  creation  of  the  archbishopric  of  Baltimore,  a  French 
army  occupied  Rome ;  not,  as  later,  to  befriend  and  protect,  but  to  seize  the 
papal  states  and  extort  from  the  supreme  pontiff  concessions  incompatible  with 
the  existence  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties  of  the  times,  the 
holy  father  was  organizing  the  episcopate  in  America  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  troops  of  General  Miollis  menaced  him  in  his  palace.  But  when 
the  new  bishop  of  New  York  died  at  Naples,  Pius  VII  was  no  longer  at 
Rome  to  provide  for  the  vacancy,  or  see  that  the  bulls  of  the  other  bishops 
reached  their  destination.  He  himself  had  been  dragged  off  from  the  Quirinal 
on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  July,  1809,  by  General  Radet's  gendarmes,  and 
carried  as  a  prisoner  first  to  Grenoble  and  Avignon,  then  to  Savona.  Arch- 
bishop Carroll  and  his  clergy  immediately  consulted  as  to  means  of  com- 
munication with   the   persecuted   pontiff,  and   the  steps  to  be  taken  to  avoid 


OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


77 


being  deceived  by  any  pretended  letters.  Owing  to  these  delays,  the  bulls  of 
April  8,  1808,  reached  Baltimore  only  in  September,  18 10,  and  then  by  the 
way  of  Lisbon.  They  were  immediately  put  in  execution.  Bishop  Egan, 
first  bishop  of  Philadelphia,  was 
consecrated  on  the  28th  of  Octo- 
ber ;  Bishop  Cheverus,  first  bishop 
of  Boston,  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber; and  finally,  Bishop  Flaget 
received  episcopal  consecration  on 
the  4th  of  November,  18 10.  At 
this  last  ceremony  Bishop  Chev- 
erus delivered  the  sermon,  and 
eloquently  addressed  Archbishop 
Carroll  as  the  Elias  of  the  New 
Law,  the  father  of  the  clergy, 
the  guide  of  the  chariot  of  Israel 
in  the  New  World :  "  Pater  »u\ 
Pater  mi,  currus  Israel  et  auriga 
ejus"  He  extolled  the  merits  of 
the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  to 
which  Bishop  Flaget  belonged, 
citing  the  various  testimonies 
given  in  its  honor  at  different 
times  by  the  assemblies  of  the 
clergy  of  France,  and  the  phrase  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  Fenelon  on 
his  death-bed,  "at  that  moment  when  man  no  longer  flatters ;"  "I  know  nothing 
more  venerable  or  more  apostolical  than  the  Congregation  of  St.  Sulpice." 

The  archbishop  of  Baltimore  might  now  repose  in  his  glorious  age,  and 
await  with  security  the  moment  when  God  should  call  him  to  the  reward  of 
his  labors.  He  had  commenced  the  ministry  in  America  when  Catholicity 
'was  persecuted  there,  and  a  few  poor  missionaries  alone  shared  the  toils  and 
perils  of  the  apostleship.  He  now  beheld  the  United  States  an  ecclesiastical 
province,  and  in  his  own  diocese  he  had  established  a  seminary,  colleges,  and 
convents;  had  created  religious  vocation,  and  founded  a  national  clergy. 
Louisiana,  with  its  episcopal  see,  its  convent  and  clergy,  had  also  been  added 
to  the  United  States,  and  was  now  confided  to  one  of  his  clergy  as  its  prelate. 

Yet  the  trials  of  the  Church  in  Europe,  the  prolonged  imprisonment  of 


RT.    REV.  JOHN    CHEVERUS,    FIRST    BISHOP   OF 
BOSTON. 


78  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Pius  VII,  filled  with  bitterness  the  last  years  of  the  holy  and  aged  prelate. 
Archbishop  Carroll  lived  long  enough  to  see  peace  restored  to  the  Church ; 
and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  holy  father,  on  returning  to  Rome  in  1814,  was 
to  name  to  the  see  of  New  York,  vacant  since  the  death  of  Bishop  Concanen, 
Father  John  Connelly,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  prior  of  St.  Clement's. 
His  promotion  completed  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States.  Soon  after,  the 
patriarch  of  that  Church,  humbly  begging  to  be  laid  on  the  ground  to  die, 
expired  on  the  3d  of  December,  1815,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  and  his  death  was 
lamented,  not  only  by  Catholics,  but  also  by  the  Protestants,  who  respected 
and  admired  the  archbishop,  and  mourned  his  death  as  a  public  loss. 

In  person,  Archbishop  Carroll  was  commanding  and  dignified.  His 
voice  was  feeble,  and  he  was  accordingly  less  fitted  for  the  pulpit ;  but  his 
discourses  are  models  of  unction  and  classical  taste.  He  was  a  profound 
theologian  and  scholar,  and  in  conversation  possessed  unusual  charm  and 
elegance.  As  a  prelate  he  was  eminent  for  learning,  mildness,  yet  a  strict 
exactness  in  the  rubrics  and  usages  of  the  Church.  His  style,  terse  and 
elegant,  was  generally  admired ;  but  of  his  works,  we  have  only  his  contro- 
versy with  Wharton,  his  journal,  and  some  sermons  and  pastoral  letters. 

Wrote  the  brilliant  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee  of  this  first  American 
prelate:  "  In  the  character  of  the  first  archbishop  and  the  first  president  we 
find  many  points  of  personal  resemblance,  which  we  cannot  think  either 
trivial  or  fanciful.  Born  about  the  same  period  in  adjoining  States,  of  parents 
who  ranked  among  the  aristocracy  of  the  provinces,  each  endowed  with 
decided  talents  for  governing  himself  and  others,  both  were  called  to  high 
but  dissimilar  authority  at  the  first  commencement  of  a  new  state  of  society. 
In  the  wise  forethought,  the  disinterested  demeanor,  the  grave  courtesy,  and 
the  ardent  patriotism  of  Archbishop  Carroll  and  General  Washington  there 
is  a  striking  similarity.  To  American  Catholics,  the  character  of  their  first 
chief  pastor  can  never  become  old,  nor  tiresome,  nor  unlovely,  any  more  than 
the  character  of  Washington  can  to  citizens  of  all  denominations." 


©taptcv  V. 


SAINTby  /V10TH6R  S6T0N. 


A  Protestant  Physician's  Daughter.— Early  Marriage  and  Widowhood.— Good 
Italian  Friends. — Abroad  Among  Catholic  Strangers. — Advice  to  "  Pray 
and  Inquire." — Those  Charitable  Romans. — Emotions  on  Hearing  Mass. — 
Studying  Doctrines  and  Difficulties. — Beseeching  the  Holy  Virgin. — 
People  who  were  Religious  Every  Day. — Starting  for  Home. — Yearnings 
of  a  Tender  Soul. — Prayers  for  Light. — A  Dying  Sister. — Struggles  of 
the  Preacher-Friend. — Between  Two  Fires. — Help  From  Bishop  Cheverus. 
— "To  the  Catholics  I  Will  Go." — Reception  Into  the  Fold. — Trials  of 
Blood  and  Friendship. — Wrestling  with  Poverty. — Influence  on  Near 
Relatives.  —  Persecution.  —  Providing  for  the  Children. —  Founding  a 
House  of  Charity. — Generous  Catholic  Friends. — Plans  of  an  Institution. 
— The  Sisters  of  Charity. — A  Busy  and  Holy  Life. — The  Growth  of  the 
Mustard  Seed. — A  Saint's  Death. 

/ 

LIZABETH  ANN  BAYLEY,  the  foundress  of  the  Sisterhood 
of  Charity  in  the  United  States,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  on  the  2Sth  of  August,  1774.  Her  father,  Dr.  Richard 
Bayley,  was  a  physician  of  good  family  and  distinguished  position, 
a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a  man  of  many  natural 
virtues;  but  he  cared  very  little  about  religion,  and  wherever  his 
daughter  may  have  got  the  pious  inclinations  which  distinguished  her  in  girl- 
hood, she  certainly  did  not  get  them  from  him.  Her  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Charlton,  died  while  Elizabeth  was  a  child.  Under  the  care  of  her 
father,  however,  Miss  Bayley  was  well  educated  and  trained  in  domestic 
duties.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  she  married  Mr.  William  McGee  Seton,  eldest 
son  of  a  prosperous  New  York  merchant,  and  descendant  of  an  ancient  Scot- 
tish patrician  family,  whose  head  is  the  Earl  of  Winton.  Their  married  life 
was  eminently  happy,  and  for  six  or  seven  years  fortune  smiled  upon  them. 

79 


8o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Commercial  disasters  at  last  swept  away  their  property.  Dr.  Bayley  died 
suddenly  of  a  malignant  fever  contracted  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as 
health  officer  of  the  port;  Mr.  Seton's  health  failed,  and  in  1803  the  husband 
and  wife  determined  to  make  a  voyage  to  Italy.  They  suffered  a  long  and 
painful  quarantine  at  Leghorn,  and  a  week  after  their  release  Mr.  Seton  died, 
leavino-  his  wife  in  a  strange  land  with  her  eldest  child,  a  girl  of  nine  years. 
Mrs.  Seton  was  not,  however,  without  comfort  and  protection.  Two  estimable 
Italian  gentlemen,  Philip  and  Anthony  Filicchi,  personal  friends  and  business 
correspondents  of  the  Setons,  took  her  to  their  home  and  treated  her  with 
most  brotherly  kindness. 

Everything  was  done  by  these  generous  friends  to  divert  and  restore 
Mrs.  Seton's  suffering  spirit,  and  a  visit  was  made  to  Florence,  that  she 
might  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  some  of  the  charms  of  Italy  before 
returning  to  her  family  in  America.  The  churches  and  the  sacred  paintings 
seem  alone  to  have  impressed  her  during  this  visit.  Of  the  picture  of  the 
descent  from  the  cross  in  the  Pitti  Palace,  she  says,  "  It  engaged  my  whole 
soul ;  Mary  at  the  foot  of  it  expressed  well  that  the  iron  had  entered  into  hers ; 
and  the  shades  of  death  over  her  agonized  countenance  so  strongly  contrasted 
with  the  heavenly  peace  of  the  dear  Redeemer,  that  it  seemed  as  if  his  pains 
had  fallen  on  her." 

It  will  be  easily  conceived,  from  the  character  of  Mrs.  Seton's  friends, 
and  from  her  own  lively  and  impressionable  mind,  that  some  pains  were  taken 
during  her  short  stay  amongst  them  to  enlighten  her  on  the  subject  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  Mr.  Filicchi  once  remarking  that  there  was  but  one  true 
religion,  and  without  a  right  faith  no  one  could  be  acceptable  to  God,  Mrs. 
Seton  replied,  "Oh,  sir!  if  there  is  but  one  faith  and  nobody  pleases  God 
without  it,  where  are  all  the  good  people  who  die  out  of  it?"  "  I  don't 
know,"  answered  her  friend ;  "  that  depends  on  what  light  of  faith  they  have 
received ;  but  I  know  where  people  go  who  can  know  the  right  faith  if 
they  pray  and  inquire  for  it,  and  yet  do  neither?"*  "  That  is  to  say,  sir,  you 
want  me  to  pray  and  inquire,  and  be  of  your  faith,"  said  Mrs.  Seton,  laugh- 
ing.    "  Pray  and  inquire,"  he  added,  "that  is  all  I  ask  of  you." 

They  also  put  books  in  her  hands,  and  introduced  to  her  a  learned  priest. 
For  awhile  Mrs.  Seton  had  no  misgivings  respecting  the  soundness  of  the 
Protestant  faith  and  writes  as  follows  to  a  friend  at  home:  "I  am  hard 
pushed  by  these  charitable  Romans,  who  wish  that  so  much  goodness  should 
be  improved  by  a  conversion,  which  to   effect,  they    have   now   taken   the 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  8 1 

trouble  to  bring  me  their  best  informed  priest,  Abbe  Plunkett,  who  is  an 
Irishman;  but  they  find  me  so  willing  to  hear  their  enlightened  conversation, 
that  consequently,  as  learned  people  like  to  hear  themselves  best,  I  have  but 
little  to  say,  and  as  yet  keep  friends  with  all,  as  the  best  comment  on  my 
profession." 

But  it  was  impossible  that,  with  such  edifying  examples  before  her  eyes, 
and  such  able  arguments  addressed  to  her  understanding,  she  should  not  at 
last  begin  to  doubt  her  perfect  security ;  and  with  the  first  misgiving  arose  a 
fervent  prayer  to  God  that,  if  not  yet  in  the  right  way,  she  might  be  gra- 
ciously led  into  it.  This  became  her  daily  petition;  nor  need  it  be  told  how 
surely,  in  answer  to  this  heartfelt  and  humble  prayer,  she  was  gradually 
impressed  by  the  truths  of  Catholicity,  and  yielded  up  her  soul  to  this  divine 
influence  long  before  she  was  conscious  that  she  had  swerved  from  Protestant 
belief. 

Having  once  accompanied  her  friends  to  hear  Mass  in  the  church  of 
Montenero,  a  young  Englishman  who  was  present  observed  to  her  at  the  very 
moment  of  the  elevation,  "This  is  what  they  call  their  Real  Presence!" 
"My  very  heart,"  says  Mrs.  Seton,  "trembled  with  pain  and  sorrow  for  his 
unfeeling  interruption  of  their  sacred  adoration;  for  all  around  was  dead 
silence,  and  many  were  prostrated.  Involuntarily  I  bent  from  him  to  the 
pavement,  and  thought  secretly  on  the  words  of  St.  Paul  with  starting  tears, 
'They  discern  not  the  Lord's  Body;'  and  the  next  thought  was,  how  should 
they  eat  and  drink  their  own  damnation  for  not  discerning  It,  if,  indeed,  It  is 
not  there?" 

Mrs.  Seton,  however,  was  not  yet  convinced  of  the  claims  of  the  Catholic 
Church  upon  her  obedience,  and  on  the  3d  of  February,  1804,  she  re-em- 
barked with  her  daughter  Anna  for  their  native  country;  but  a  storm  driving 
back  the  vessel,  and  the  child  being  suddenly  attacked  by  scarlet  fever,  they 
were  once  more  welcomed  to  the  hospitable  house  of  Mr.  Anthony  Filicchi, 
and  pressed  to  remain  there  until  they  should  again  be  able  to  take  their 
departure.  After  Anna  had  recovered,  her  mother  was  siezed  by  the  same 
illness;  and  during  all  this  time  the  most  affectionate  care  was  lavished  upon 
them  by  their  Italian  friends.  "Oh!  the  patience,"  exclaims  Mrs.  Seton, 
"and  more  than  human  kindness  of  these  dear  Filicchi's  for  us!  You  would 
say  it  was  our  Savior  Himself  they  received  in  His  poor  and  sick  strangers." 

Thus  brought  again  within  the  influence  of  Catholic  piety  and  charity, 
Mrs.  Seton  availed  herself  of  every  opportunity  of  becoming  better  acquainted 


82  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

with  the  doctrines  of  that  faith  which  brought  forth  such  pleasant  fruits;  and 
every  day  felt  herself  more  powerfully  drawn  towards  it.  "  How  happy  we 
should  be,"  she  writes  to  a  friend,  "if  we  believed  what  these  dear  souls 
believe — that  they  possess  God  in  the  sacrament,  and  that  He  remains  in  theit 
churches,  and  is  carried  to  them  when  they  are  sick!  When  they  carry  tne 
Blessed  Sacrament  under  my  window,  while  I  feel  the  full  loneliness  and 
sadness  of  my  case,  I  cannot  stop  my  tears  at  the  thought.  My  God,  how 
happy  I  should  be,  now  so  far  away  from  all  so  dear,  if  I  could  find  You  in 
the  Church  as  they  do  (for  there  is  a  chapel  in  the  very  house  of  Mr. 
Filicchi).  How  many  things  I  would  say  to  You  of  the  sorrows  of  my 
heart  and  the  sins  of  my  life!  The  other  day,  in  a  moment  of  excessive 
distress,  I  fell  on  my  knees,  without  thinking,  when  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
passed  by,  and  cried  in  an  agony  to  God  to  bless  me,  if  He  was  there;  that 
my  whole  soul  desired  only  Him." 

At  another  time,  writing  to  the  same  relation,  she  thus  shows  the  gradual 
advance  of  her  mind  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth:  "This  evening,  standing 
by  the  window,  the  moon  shining  full  on  Filicchi's  countenance,  he  raised 
his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  showed  me  how  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
Dearest  Rebecca,  I  was  cold  with  the  awful  impression  the  first  making  of  it 
gave  me.  The  sign  of  the  cross  of  Christ  on  me!  Deeper  thoughts  came 
with  it  of  I  know  not  what  earnest  desires  to  be  closely  united  with  Him 
who  died  on  it — of  that  last  day  when  He  is  to  bear  it  in  triumph. 

"  All  the  Catholic  religion  is  full  of  these  meanings,  which  interest  me 
so.  Why,  Rebecca,  they  believe  all  we  do  and  suffer,  if  we  offer  it  for  our 
sins,  serves  to  expiate  them.  You  may  remember,  when  I  asked  Mr.  Hobart 
what  was  meant  by  fasting  in  our  prayer-book,  as  I  found  myself  on  Ash- 
Wednesday  morning  saying  so  foolishly  to  God,  '  I  turn  to  you  in  fasting, 
weeping,  and  mourning,'  and  I  had  come  to  church  with  a  hearty  breakfast 
of  buckwheat  cakes  and  coffee,  and  full  of  life  and  spirits,  with  little  thought 
of  my  sins;  you  may  remember  what  he  said  about  its  being  old  customs, 
etc.  Well,  the  dear  Mrs.  Filicchi  I  am  with  never  eats,  this  season  of  Lent, 
till  after  the  clock  strikes  three.  Then  the  family  assemble,  and  she  says  she 
offers  her  weakness  and  pain  of  fasting  for  her  sins,  united  with  her  Savior's 
sufferings.  I  like  that  very  much ;  but  what  I  like  better,  dearest  Rebecca 
— only  think  what  a  comfort — they  go  to  Mass  here  every  morning. 

"Ah!  .how  often  you  and  I  used  to  give  the  sigh,  and  you  would  press 
your  arm  in  mine  of  a  Sunday  morning,  and  say,  'No  more  until  next  Sun- 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  83 

day,'  as  we  turned  from  the  church-door,  which  closed  upon  us  (unless  a 
prayer-day  was  given  out  in  the  week).  Well,  here  they  go  to  church  at 
four  every  morning  if  they  please.  And  you  know  how  we  were  laughed  at 
for  running  from  one  church  to  another  on  Sacrament  Sundays,  that  we 
might  receive  as  often  as  we  could;  well,  here  people  that  love  God,  and 
lead  a  regular  life,  can  go  (though  many  do  not  do  it,  yet  they  can  go)  every 
day.  Oh,  I  don't  know  how  any  one  can  have  any  trouble  in  this  world, 
who  believes  all  these  dear  souls  believe.  If  I  don't  believe  it,  it  shall  not  be 
for  want  of  praying.     Why,  they  must  be  as  happy  as  angels,  almost." 

Such  was  the  lofty  and  just  appreciation  which  Mrs.  Seton  formed  of 
Catholic  truth;  and  would  that  all  Catholics  set  so  high  a  value  upon  these 
blessed  privileges  of  their  inheritance  as  did  this  good  soul,  to  whom  as  yet 
they  had  not  been  given! 

During  the  latter  part  of  her  stay  in  Leghorn,  Mrs.  Seton  frequently 
visited  the  sacred  places,  and,  joining  with  devotion  in  the  services  of  the 
Church,  would  pour  forth  her  soul  in  prayer.  Indeed,  had  not  her  return 
to  America  been  hastened  as  much  as  possible  through  her  anxiety  to  rejoin 
her  bereaved  family  at  home,  she  would  probably  have  renounced  Protest- 
antism before  leaving  Italy.  However,  the  delay,  although  it  entailed  severe 
mental  conflict  and  suffering  for  nearly  a  year  afterwards,  served  only  to 
prove  still  more  triumphantly  the  power  of  the  faith  she  had  received,  and 
her  own  fidelity  to  the  graces  bestowed. 

Leaving  with  tears  the  grave  of  her  beloved  husband,  Mrs.  Seton  set 
forth,  at  length,  on  the  8th  of  April,  with  a  heart  yearning  with  desire  after 
her  children  at  home.  Mr.  Anthony  Filicchi,  who  had  long  been  wishing 
for  matters  of  business  to  visit  America,  was  decided  by  her  lonely  situation 
to  accompany  her  on  the  voyage.  This  was  the  greatest  comfort  to  her;  for 
the  friendship  between  them  was  of  no  common  order. 

"  The  8th  of  April,"  she  writes  in  her  journal,  "at  half-past  four  in  the 
morning,  my  dearest  brother  came  to  my  room  to  awaken  my  soul  to  all  its 
dearest  hopes  and  expectations.  The  heaven  was  bright  with  stars,  the  wind 
fair,  and  the  Pianingo's  signal  expected  to  call  us  on  board;  meanwhile  the 
tolling  of  the  bell  called  us  to  Mass,  and  in  a  few  minutes  we  were  prostrate 
in  the  presence  of  God.  Oh,  my  soul,  how  solemn  was  that  offering — for  a 
blessing  on  our  voyage — for  my  dear  ones,  my  sisters,  and  all  so  dear  to  me — 
and  more  than  all,  for  the  souls  of  my  dear  husband  and  father;  earnestly  our 
desires  ascended  with   the  blessed   sacrifice,  that  they  might  find  acceptance 


84  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE 

through  Him  who  gave  Himself  for  us;  earnestly  we  desired  to  be  united  with 
Him,  and  would  gladly  encounter  all  the  sorrows  before  us  to  be  partakers  of 
that  blessed  body  and  blood!     Oh,  my  God,  pity  and  spare  me!     .     .     . 

"  Filicchi's  last  blessing  to  me  was  as  his  whole  conduct  had  been — that  of 
the  truest  friend.  Oh,  Filicchi,  you  shall  not  witness  against  me.  May  God 
bless  you  forever;  and  may  you  shine  as  the  'stars  in  glory'  for  what  you 
have  done  for  me.  .  .  .  Most  dear  Seton,  where  are  you  now?  I  lose 
sight  of  the  shore  that  contains  your  dear  ashes,  and  your  soul  is  in  that  region 
of  immensity  where  I  cannot  find  you.  My  Father  and  my  God!  And  yet 
I  must  always  love  to  retrospect  Thy  wonderful  dispensations;  to  be  sent  so 
many  thousand  miles  on  so  hopeless  an  errand;  to  be  constantly  supported 
and  accompanied  by  Thy  consoling  mercy  through  scenes  of  trial  which 
nature  alone  must  have  sunk  under;  to  be  brought  to  the  light  of  Thy  truth, 
notwithstanding  every  affection  of  my  heart  and  power  of  my  will  was 
opposed  to  it;  to  be  succored  and  cherished  by  the  tenderest  friendship,  while 
separated  and  far  from  those  that  I  loved.  My  Father  and  my  God,  while  I 
live  let  me  praise,  while  I  have  my  being  let  me  serve  and  adore  Thee." 

During  the  voyage,  which  lasted  fifty  six  days,  Mrs.  Seton  employed  her 
time  in  uniting  as  far  as  possible  with  Mr.  A.  Filicchi  in  the  observances  of 
the  Church,  in  reading  the  lives  of  the  saints,  and  in  acquainting  herself  still 
further  with  Catholic  doctrine  by  frequent  conversation  with  her  friend. 
She  had  need  of  strength  for  the  storm  of  opposition  that  awaited  her;  and 
her  heart  sunk,  even  in  the  midst  of  its  joyful  anticipations  at  returning  home, 
at  the  separation  that  her  religious  convictions  would  bring  about  between 
her  and  her  hitherto  deeply  reverenced  pastor,  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Hobart.  She 
says  in  her  journal,  looking  forward  to  this,  "  Still  if  you  will  not  be  my 
brother,  if  your  dear  friendship  and  esteem  must  be  the  price  of  my  fidelity 
to  what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth,  I  cannot  doubt  the  mercy  of  God,  who,  by 
depriving  me  of  my  dearest  tie  on  earth,  will  certainly  draw  me  nearer  to 
Him;  and  this  I  feel  confidently  from  the  experience  of  the  past,  and  the 
truth  of  His  promise,  which  can  never  fail." 

Mrs.  Seton  had  the  happiness  of  finding  all  her  little  ones  in  perfect 
health;  but  a  severe  trial  awaited  her  in  the  death  of  Miss  Rebecca  Seton, 
her  sister-in-law  and  most  dear  companion  and  friend,  who  only  survived  a 
few  weeks  after  their  reunion. 

Mrs.  Seton  being  thus  fully  engaged  with  her  dying  sister  immediately 
on  her  return  from  Italy,  could  not  help  contrasting  painfully  the  difference 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  85 

between  the  death-bed  of  a  Protestant  and  one  who  is  fortified  by  all  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church.  Yet,  after  the  trial  was  over,  her  mind  became 
unutterably  harassed  by  doubts  and  temptations  respecting  her  future  religious 
profession.  On  leaving  Leghorn  she  had  been  furnished  by  Mr.  Filicchi 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  bishop  of  Balti- 
more; but,  unfortunately,  this  letter  was  not  at  once  delivered;  and,  following 
tbe  well-meant  advice  of  Mr.  Filicchi,  to  acquaint  her  pastor  and  friends  with 
her  change  of  principles,  such  a  storm  of  opposition  came  down  upon  her  that 
for  a  long  time  her  mind  was  divided  and  bewildered,  and  tempted  to  stray 
back  altogether  from  the  newly-found  path  of  truth. 

Mr.  Hobart,  in  particular,  whose  talents  and  religious  zeal  were  very 
great,  and  for  whom  her  own  great  partiality  pleaded  strongly,  left  no  argu- 
ment untried  that  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  subject.  And  though 
constant  personal  communication  with  Mr.  Anthony  Filicchi,  at  New  York, 
and  epistolary  correspondence  with  his  brother  at  Leghorn,  kept  up  the  war- 
fare on  the  other  side,  yet  for  many  months  she  could  not  see  her  way  clearly 
to  renounce  forever  the  creed  in  which  she  had  been  brought  up.  But 
accustomed  as  she  was  almost  incessantly  to  lay  every  trouble  before  God  and 
implore  His  divine  guidance,  the  germ  of  faith  could  not  be  stifled  within  her; 
and  perhaps  it  became  only  more  firmly  rooted  during  this  time  of  suffering. 
The  brothers  Filicchi  were  unwearied  in  teaching,  counseling,  and  confirm- 
ing her  wavering  mind.  The  letters  of  Philip,  in  particular,  are  models  of 
wisdom,  piety,  and  charity;  and  as  the  letters  of  a  layman  engaged  in  active 
mercantile  pursuits,  they  bear  the  marks  of  no  common  attainments.  He 
much  regretted  that  Mrs.  Seton  had  not  entered  the  Catholic  Church  whilst 
in  Italy,  and  under  the  full  force  of  convictions. 

Though  unable  to  act  decidedly,  Mrs.  Seton's  mind  seemed  still  more 
unable  to  let  go  the  truths  it  had  already  embraced.  She  thus  describes  her 
own  singular  state:  "  On  arriving  at  home  (from  Italy)  I  was  assailed  on  the 
subject  of  religion  by  the  clergy,  who  talked  of  Anti-Christ,  idolatry,  and 
urged  objections  in  torrents;  which,  though  not  capable  of  changing  the 
opinions  I  had  adopted,  have  terrified  me  enough  to  keep  me  in  a  state  of 
hesitation;  and  I  am  thus  in  the  hands  of  God,  praying  night  and  day  for  His 
divine  light,  which  can  alone  direct  me  aright.  I  instruct  my  children  in  the 
Catholic  religion,  without  taking  any  decided  step;  my  heart  is  in  that  faith, 
and  it  is  my  greatest  comfort  to  station  myself  in  imagination  in  a  Catholic 
Church.*' 


86  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  coldness  of  many,  indeed  most  of  her  Protestant  friends,  who  were 
scandalized  at  her  venturing  to  entertain  any  doubts  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
was  a  great  trial  to  her  warm  and  still  bleeding  heart;  but  perhaps  a  still 
o-reater  temptation  for  her  lay  in  the  affectionate  appeals  continually  made  to 
her  by  Mr.  Hobart. 

The  very  fact  of  being  in  a  state  of  doubt,  of  course,  made  Mrs.  Seton 
a  sort  of  common  prey  for  proselytizers  of  all  denominations,  which  she  her- 
self describes  in  a  lively  manner.  "  I  had,"  she  says,  "a  most  affectionate 
note  from  Mr.  Hobart  to-day,  asking  me  how  I  could  ever  think  of  leaving 
the  church  in  which  I  was  baptized.  But,  though  whatever  he  says  has  the 
weight  of  my  partiality  for  him,  as  well  as  the  respect  it  seems  to  me  I  could 
scarcely  have  for  any  one  else,  yet  that  question  made  me  smile;  for  it  is  like 
saying  that  wherever  a  child  is  born,  and  wherever  its  parents  place  it,  there 
it  will  find  the  truth ;  and  he  does  not  hear  the  droll  invitations  made  me 
every  day  since  I  am  in  my  little  new  home,  and  old  friends  come  to  see  me; 
for  it  has  already  happened  that  one  of  the  most  excellent  women  I  ever 
knew,  who  is  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  finding  me  unsettled  about  the  great 
object  of  a  true  faith,  said  to  me:  'Oh,  do,  dear  soul,  come  and  hear  our  J. 
Mason,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  join  us.' 

"A  little  after  came  one  whom  I  loved  for  the  purest  and  most  innocent 
manners,  of  the  Society  of  Quakers  (to  which  I  have  always  been  attached); 
she  coaxed  me  too  with  artless  persuasion:  '  Betsy,  I  tell  thee,  thee  had  better 
come  with  us.'     And  my  faithful  old  friend  of  the  Anabaptist  meeting,  Mrs. 

T ,  says,  with   tears   in  her   eyes,  'Oh,  could   you  be   regenerated;  could 

you  know  our  experiences,  and  enjoy  with  us  our  heavenly  banquet.'  And 
my  good  old  Mary,  the  Methodist,  groans  and  contemplates,  as  she  calls  it, 
over  my  soul,  so  misled  because  I  have  got  no  convictions.  But  oh,  my 
Father  and  my  God!  all  that  will  not  do  for  me.  Your  word  is  truth,  and 
without  contradiction,  wherever  it  is;  one  faith,  one  hope,  one  baptism,  I  look 
for  wherever  it  is,  and  I  often  think  my  sins,  my  miseries,  hide  the  light;  yet 
I  will  cling  and  hold  to  my  God  to  the  last  gasp,  begging  for  that  light,  and 
never  change  until  I  find  it." 

Again  she  thus  writes  to  Mrs.  A.  Filicchi,  in  September:  "  Your  Antonio 
would  not  even  have  been  well  pleased  to  see  me  in  St.  Paul's  (Protestant 
Episcopal)  Church  to-day ;  but  peace  and  persuasion  about  proprieties,  etc., 
over  prevailed;  yet  I  got  in  a  side  pew,  which  turned  my  face  towards  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  next  street,  and   found  myself  twenty  times  speaking 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  87 

to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  there,  instead  of  looking  at  the  naked  altar  where 
I  was,  or  minding  the  routine  of  prayers.  Tears  plenty,  and  sighs  as  silent 
and  deep  as  when  I  first  entered  your  blessed  Church  of  the  Annunciation  in 
Florence — all  turning  to  the  one  only  desire,  to  see  the  way  most  pleasing  to 
my  God,  whichever  that  way  is.  .    .    . 

"  I  can  only  say,  I  do  long  and  desire  to  worship  our  God  in  truth ;  and 
if  I  had  never  met  you  Catholics,  and  yet  should  have  read  the  books  Mr. 
Hobart  has  brought  me,  they  would  have  in  themselves  brought  a  thousand 
uncertainties  and  doubts  to  my  mind;  and  these  soften  my  heart  so  much 
before  God,  in  the  certainty  how  much  He  must  pity  me,  knowing  as  He 
does  the  whole  and  sole  bent  of  my  soul  is  to  please  Him  only,  and  get  close 
to  Him  in  this  life  and  in  the  next,  that  in  the  midnight  hour,  believe  me,  I 
often  look  up  at  the  walls  through  the  tears  and  distress  that  overpower  me, 
expecting  rather  to  see  His  finger  writing  on  the  wall  for  my  relief,  than  that 
He  will  forsake  or  abandon  so  poor  a  creature." 

Mrs.  Seton  made  one  final  effort  to  find  comfort  in  that  form  of  worship 
where  she  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  seek  it.  "  Would  you  believe  it, 
Amabilia,  in  a  desperation  of  heart  I  went  last  Sunday  to  St.  George's 
(Protestant  Episcopal)  Church;  the  wants  and  necessities  of  my  soul  were  so 
pressing  that  I  looked  straight  up  to  God,  and  I  told  Him,  since  I  cannot  see 
the  way  to  please  You,  whom  alone  I  wish  to  please,  everything  is  indifferent 
to  me;  and  until  You  do  show  me  the  way  You  mean  me  to  walk  in,  I  will 
trudge  on  in  the  path  You  suffered  me  to  be  born  in,  and  go  even  to  the  very 
sacrament  where  I  once  used  to  find  You. 

"  So  away  I  went,  my  old  Mary  happy  to  take  care  of  the  children  for 
me  once  more  until  I  came  back ;  but  if  I  left  the  house  a  Protestant,  I 
returned  to  it  a  Catholic,  I  think;  since  I  determined  to  go  no  more  to  the 
Protestants,  being  much  more  troubled  than  ever  I  thought  I  could  be  whilst 
I  remembered  God  is  my  God.  But  so  it  was,  that  in  the  bowing  of  my 
heart  before  the  bishop  to  receive  his  absolution,  which  is  given  publicly  and 
universally  to  all  in  the  Church,  I  had  not  the  least  faith  in  his  prayers,  and 
looked  for  an  apostolic  loosing  from  my  sins,  which,  by  the  books  Mr.  Hobart 
had  given  me  to  read,  I  find  they  do  not  claim  or  admit;  thus  trembling  I 
went  to  Communion,  half  dead  with  the  inward  struggle;  when  they  said 
'  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,' — oh,  Amabilia,  no  words  can  express  my 
trial. 

"  I  took  the  Daily  Exercise  of  good  Abbe  Plunkett,  to  read  the  prayers 


88  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

after  Communion;  but  finding  every  word  addressed  to  our  dear  Savior  as 
really  present,  I  became  half  crazy,  and  for  the  first  time  could  not  bear  the 
sweet  caresses  of  the  darlings,  nor  bless  their  little  dinner.  Oh,  my  God,  that 
day!  but  it  finished  calmly  at  last,  abandoning  all  to  God,  and  a  renewed  con- 
fidence in  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  whose  mild  and  peaceful  look  reproached  my 
bold  excesses,  and  reminded  me  to  fix  my  heart  above  with  better  hopes." 

So  tortured  was  the  mind  of  Mrs.  Seton  at  this  time,  that  she  had  even 
thought  in  despair  of  embracing  no  particular  form  of  Christianity  until  the 
hour  of  death ;  but  taking  up  a  sermon  of  Bourdaloue  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Epiphany,  and  meeting  with  the  following  observations,  in  allusion  to  the 
inquiry,  "  Where  is  He  who  is  born  King  of  the  Jews?"  that  when  we  no 
longer  discern  the  star  of  faith,  we  must  seek  it  where  alone  it  is  to  be  found, 
among  the  depositories  of  the  divine  word,  the  pastors  of  the  Church,  she 
was,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  so  deeply  impressed  by  the  suggestion  that  she 
immediately  turned  again  to  the  Catholic  books  which  had  originally  so  forci- 
bly attracted  her;  and  being  unable  to  obtain  an  interview  with  the  priest  in 
her  own  neighborhood,  wrote  at  once  to  solicit  directions  from  the  Rev.  John 
Louis  de  Cheverus,  of  Boston. 

In  vain  did  her  Protestant  friends  use  all  the  common  arguments  to  deter 
her.  Worldly  considerations  were  nothing  to  her  where  her  soul  was  con- 
cerned. "  The  Catholics  of  New  York  were  represented  to  me,"  she  tells  a 
friend  at  this  time,  "  as  the  offscourings  of  the  people,"  and  the  congregation 
as  "  a  public  nuisance ;  but,"  she  adds,  "  that  troubles  not  me.  The  congrega- 
tions of  a  city  may  be  very  shabby,  yet  very  pleasing  to  God ;  or  very  bad 
people  among  them,  yet  that  cannot  hurt  the  faith,  as  I  take  it.  And  should 
the  priest  himself  deserve  no  more  respect  than  is  here  allowed  him,  his  min- 
istry of  the  sacraments  would  be  the  same  to  me,  if  I  ever  shall  receive  them. 
I  seek  but  God  and  His  Church;  and  expect  to  find  my  peace  in  them,  not  in 
the  people." 

Mrs.  Seton  then  put  herself  in  correspondence  with  Father  Cheverus; 
and  this  step  was  of  the  greatest  service  to  her.  His  timely  counsels  and  the 
wise  advice  of  Bishop  Carroll,  at  length,  under  God,  dispelled  the  clouds 
from  her  soul,  and  determined  her  to  delay  no  longer  seeking  admission  to 
the  Catholic  Church.  These  are  her  own  words  on  making  this  important 
decision,  and  are  the  last  extract  we  shall  make  from  her  pen  as  a  Protestant: 
"  Now,  they  tell  me,  take  care,  I  am  a  mother,  and  my  children  I  must 
answer  for  in  judgment,  whatever  faith  I  lead  them  to.     That  being  so,  and 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  89 

I  so  unconscious,  for  I  little  thought,  till  told  by  Mr.  Hobart,  that  their  faith 
could  be  so  full  of  consequence  to  them  and  me,  I  will  go  peacefully  and 
firmly  to  the  Catholic  Church;  for  if  faith  is  so  important  to  our  salvation,  I 
will  seek  it  where  true  faith  first  began ;  seek  it  amongst  those  who  received 
it  from  God  Himself." 

On  Ash- Wednesday  then,  March  14,  1805,  Mrs.  Seton  presented  herself 
for  acceptance  in  old  St.  Peter's  Church,  New  York  City.  "  How  the 
heart,"  she  says,  "  died  away,  as  it  were,  in  silence,  before  the  little  tabernacle 
and  the  large  crucifixion  over  it!  Ah,  my  God,  here  let  me  rest;  and  down 
the  head  on  the  bosom,  and  the  knees  on  the  bench."  After  Mass  she  was 
received  into  the  Church  by  a  venerable  Irish  priest,  the  Rev.  Matthew 
O'Brien,  in  the  presence  of  her  most  true  friend,  Mr.  Anthony  Filicchi. 
What  his  feelings  must  have  been,  at  this  happy  termination  to  all  his  anxie- 
ties on  her  account,  can  be  well  imagined.  Less  easily  hers  as  she  returned 
home,  "  light  at  heart,  and  cool  of  head,  the  first  time  these  many  long  months; 
but  not  without  begging  our  Lord  to  wrap  my  heart  deep  in  that  open  side, 
so  well  described  in  the  beautiful  crucifixion;  or  lock  it  up  in  His  little  taber- 
nacle, where  I  shall  now  rest  forever.  Oh,  the  endearments  of  this  day  with 
the  children,  and  the  play  of  the  heart  with  God,  while  keeping  up  their  little 
farces  with  them."  What  a  contrast  to  the  torturing  anxieties  of  the  last 
twelve  months,  and,  in  particular,  to  the  trouble  and  disappointment  she 
experienced  in  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  the  Protestant  Church, 
when,  "  for  the  first  time  in  her  life,  she  could  not  bear  the  sweet  caresses  of 
her  darling  children,  nor  bless  their  dinner!" 

The  following  extracts  from  her  journal  of  this  time  all  breathe  the  same 
happy  spirit  of  peace  and  contentment:  "  So  delighted  now  to  prepare  for 
this  good  confession,  which,  bad  as  I  am,  I  would  be  ready  to  make  on  the 
house-top,  to  insure  the  good  absolution  I  hope  for  after  it,  and  then  to  set 
out  a  new  life,  a  new  existence  itself;  no  great  difficulty  for  me  to  be  ready 
for  it;  for  truly  my  life  has  been  well  culled  over  in  bitterness  of  soul,  three 
months  of  sorrow  past."  "  It  is  done  easy  enough.  The  kindest  confessor 
is  this  Mr.  O'Brien,  with  the  compassion  and  yet  firmness  in  this  work  of 
mercy  which  I  would  have  expected  from  my  Lord  Himself.  Our  Lord 
Himself  I  saw  alone  in  him,  both  in  his  and  my  part  in  this  venerable  sacra- 
ment; for,  oh!  how  awful  those  words  of  unloosing  after  a  thirty  years'  bond- 
age. I  felt  as  if  my  chains  fell,  as  those  of  St.  Peter,  at  the  touch  of  the: 
Divine  messenger." 


o0  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  My  God!  what  new  scenes  for  my  soul!  Annunciation  Day  I  shall  be 
made  one  with  Him  who  said,  '  Unless  you  eat  My  flesh  and  drink  My  blood, 
you  can  have  no  part  with  Me.'  I  count  the  days  and  hours;  yet  a  few  more 
of  hope  and  expectation,  and  then — how  bright  the  sun,  these  morning  walks 
of  preparation!  Deep  snow  or  smooth  ice,  all  to  me  the  same — I  see  nothing 
but  the  little  bright  cross  on  St.  Peter's  steeple." 

"  25M  March. — At  last,  God  is  mine,  and  I  am  His.  Now  let  all  go  its 
round.  I  have  received  Him.  The  awful  impressions  of  the  evening  before, 
Jesus,  of  not  having  done  all  to  prepare ;  and  yet  even  the  transports  of  con- 
fidence and  hope  in  His  goodness.  My  God!  to  the  last  breath  of  life  will  I 
not  remember  this  night  of  watching  for  morning  dawn,  the  fearful  beating 
heart,  so  pressing  to  be  gone;  the  long  walk  to  town,  but  every  step  counted 
nearer  that  street;  then  nearer  that  tabernacle;  then  nearer  the  moment  He 
would  enter  the  poor,  poor  little  dwelling  so  all  His  own.  And  when  He 
did,  the  first  thought  I  remember  was,  '  Let  God  arise,  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered;'  for  it  seemed  to  me  my  King  had  come  to  take  His  throne;  and 
instead  of  the  humble,  tender  welcome  I  had  expected  to  give  Him,  it  was  but 
a  triumph  of  joy  and  gladness,  that  the  deliverer  was  come,  and  my  defense, 
and  shield,  and  strength,  and  salvation  made  mine  for  this  world  and  the  next. 
Now,  then,  all  the  recesses  of  my  heart  found  their  fling,  and  it  danced 
with  more  fervor — no,  I  must  not  say  that — but  perhaps  almost  with  as  much 
as  the  royal  psalmist  before  his  ark ;  for  I  was  far  richer  than  he,  and  more 
honored  than  he  ever  could  be.  Now  the  point  is  for  the  fruits.  So  far, 
truly,  I  feel  all  the  powers  of  my  soul  held  fast  by  Him,  who  came  with  so 
much  majesty  to  take  possession  of  His  little  poor  kingdom." 

Behold  Mrs.  Seton,  then,  at  length  safely  housed  within  the  ark  towards 
which  her  soul  had  for  so  long  unconsciously  yearned.  After  all  the  diffi- 
culties and  doubts  she  had  been  passing  through,  she  was  well  prepared  to 
rejoice  in  the  possession  of  peace  on  which  she  had  now  entered ;  not  peace 
undisturbed,  but  still  peace  that  could  not  be  removed.  She  was  now,  as  she 
herself  hastened  to  inform  Father  De  Cheverus,  whose  advice  had  so  materi- 
ally aided  her  conversion,  "  a  poor  burdened  creature,  weighed  down  with 
sins  and  sorrows,  receiving  an  immediate  transition   to  life,  liberty,  and  rest." 

At  that  time  it  was  considered  a  degradation  to  embrace  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  the  estrangement  of  her  family  on  this  account  left  Mrs.  Seton  to  meet 
almost  alone  the  exigencies  in  which  the  embarrassed  state  of  her  husband's 
affairs  at  the  time    of  his    death   had    involved   her.     Had    she  remained   a 


SAIN  TL  Y  MO  THER  SE  TON.  9 1 

Protestant,  all  due  assistance  would  have  been  given,  and  a  large  fortune  might 
have  been  hers;  but  now,  except  for  the  munificent  aid  of  Mr.  Filicchi,  she 
was  left  dependent  on  her  own  exertions.  Nothing  that  the  most  generous 
friendship  could  prompt  was  wanting  on  the  part  of  this  noble  man.  He 
would  gladly  have  provided  a  house  for  her  in  Italy;  and  his  agents  in  New 
York  were  constantly  directed  to  supply  her  with  whatever  money  she  might 
call  on  them  for;  and  her  two  sons,  one  nine  and  the  other  seven  years  old, 
were  placed  by  him  for  education  in  Georgetown  College.  "  To  relieve  her 
wants,"  he  told  her,  "was  the  pride  of  his  soul,  and  his  best  passport  for  his 
last  journey." 

Mrs.  Seton,  however,  was  very  properly  anxious  to  exert  herself  for  the 
benefit  of  her  young  family,  and  she  therefore  opened  a  boarding-house  for 
some  of  the  boys  who  attended  a  school  in  the  city.  Even  in  this  change 
she  found  the  highest  consolation,  knowing  that  it  was  brought  about  by  her 
obedience  to  the  will  of  God;  and,  after  attending  Mass,  she  went  through 
her  round  of  daily  duties  with  the  greatest  cheerfulness  and  satisfaction.  She 
still  kept  up  the  practice  of  committing  to  paper  the  secrets  of  her  heart; 
and  it  is  difficult  to  select  from  this  treasury  of  devotion  one  passage  more 
worthy  than  another  of  shadowing  forth  this  pure,  and  humble,  and  loving 
heart.  Her  constant  prayer  at  this  time  is,  that  the  love  of  God  mav  be 
supreme  within  her. 

On  the  26th  of  May,  1806,  Mrs.  Seton  was  confirmed  by  Bishop  Car- 
roll in  St.  Peter's  Church,  New  York;  and  soon  after  this  event  she  was 
called  upon  to  part  from  her  invaluable  friend,  Mr.  A.  Filicchi,  who  was 
returning  to  his  native  country.  No  words  can  express  all  that  Mrs.  Seton 
owed  to  this  gentleman,  who  had  left  his  own  family  to  accompany  her  home 
in  her  bereavement;  who  had  placed  at  her  disposal  his  means,  his  time,  and 
his  unfailing  sympathy;  who  had  labored  unceasingly  to  bring  her  within  the 
fold  of  the  true  Church,  and  under  the  bright  example  of  whose  Christian 
piety  and  charity  she  had  first  learned  to  seek  after  this  saving  refuge.  Mrs. 
Seton  always  calls  him  brotlicr ;  and  no  brother  could  have  been  nearer  and 
dearer  to  a  sister's  heart  than  he  was  to  hers. 

Nok   was   it   without  deep  feeling  that  he,  too,  could  bid  farewell  to  one 

to   whom    he   had   been   so    eminently   useful.     We   read  that  he  considered 

"  the  interest  which  he  had  taken  in  the  welfare  of  her  and  her  family  as 

the  secret  of  the  many  favors  he  had  received  from  Heaven."     When  on  his 

way  home,  being  providentially  rescued  from  very  imminent  danger  "  on  the 
4% 


o2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

dreadful  summit  of  Mount  Cenis,"  ne  thus  writes  to  Mrs.  Seton.  "  It  was  on 
Monday  night,  the  8th  of  December,  the  day  of  the  festival  of  our  Blessed 
Lady's  Conception.  Early  in  that  morning,  they  (the  other  passengers  in 
the  Diligence)  had  all  laughed  at  my  going  to  Mass,  but  fear  drew  afterwards 
from  their  lips,  against  their  will,  the  awful  acknowledgment  of  their  for- 
saken principles  of  religion. 

"I  looked  immediately  to  you  as  my  principal  intercessor;  and  you  must 
have  had  certainly  a  great  share  in  my  deliverance.  What  wonder,  then,  in 
my  readiness  to  be  serviceable  to  you?  Through  your  good  example  they 
find  me  now  a  better  Christian  than  I  was,  and  through  you  my  mercantile 
concerns  are  blessed  by  God  with  an  uninterrupted  success.  I  shall  not, 
therefore,  be  so  foolish  as  to  desert  your  cause.  Pray  only  our  Divine 
Redeemer  to  extend  His  mercy  towards  me  for  the  most  important  welfare 
in  our  next  life.  If  I  have  been  happy  enough  to  be  the  instrument  of  intro- 
ducing you  to  the  gates  of  the  true  Church  of  Christ  here  below,  keep  me 
fast  by  you  when  called  upstairs;  we  must  enter  together  into  heaven.    Amen." 

There  was  one  amongst  Mrs.  Seton's  near  connections  who  by  no  means 
shared  in  the  general  feeling  of  hostility  with  which  she  was  now  regarded. 
This  was  Miss  Cecilia  Seton,  her  youngest  sister-in-law.  Under  fourteen 
years  of  age,  beautiful,  devout,  and  most  warmly  attached  to  her  proscribed 
relative,  Mrs.  Seton  cherished  the  earnest  hope  that  this  sister  might  one  day 
be  partaker  of  the  true  faith,  and  availed  herself  of  the  frequent  opportunities 
afforded  by  a  severe  illness  to  bring  the  subject  before  her  young  patient. 

When  raised  from  her  sick  bed  Cecilia  devoted  herself  unhesitatingly  to 
find  out  the  truth,  and  finally  resolved,  in  spite  of  the  most  furious  opposition, 
on  becoming  a  Catholic.  It  was  in  vain  that  every  means  were  employed 
that  bigotry  and  misguided  zeal  could  suggest.  She  was  threatened  with  all 
sorts  of  possible  and  impossible  evils,  and  even  kept  in  close  confinement  for 
several  days;  but  the  grace  of  God  carried  her  unwavering  through  every 
opposition,  and  she  was  received  into  the  Church,  June  20,  1806. 

The  immediate  consequences  of  this  step  were  the  young  lady's  dismis- 
sal from  home  without  the  least  provision,  and  a  positive  prohibition  to  enter 
the  houses  of  any  of  her  relations,  or  to  associate  with  their  families.  The 
youngest  and  hitherto  the  favorite  at  home,  this  was  a  severe  trial  to  the 
youthful  novice;  but  she  was  welcomed  as  a  gift  from  God  by  Mrs.  Seton, 
who  gladly  offered  her  a  home. 

This,  however,  was  the  occasion  of  renewed  persecutions  towards  Mrs. 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  93 

Seton ;  and  many  who  had  hitherto  kept  up  some  outward  resemblance  of 
courtesy,  now  forbade  their  children  to  hold  the  slightest  intercourse  with 
her.  Even  the  Protestant  Bishop  Moore  and  Mr.  Hobart,  her  former  friends 
and  pastors,  took  the  same  hostile  part,  and  warned  all  who  had  hitherto 
aided  her  in  her  establishment  to  avoid  having  anything  to  do  with  so 
dangerous  a  person.  In  consequence  of  this  state  of  things,  her  circumstances 
in  a  worldly  point  of  view  became  most  seriously  compromised;  yet  still  her 
soul  retained  its  peace,  and  her  mind  dwelt  rather  on  the  consolations  received 
from  Catholic  friends  than  the  injuries  inflicted  by  others. 

Living  under  the  same  roof  with  her  exemplary  sister-in-law,  Miss 
•Cecilia  Seton  followed  closely  in  her  footsteps,  and  became  day  by  day  a 
brighter  and  purer  witness  of  the  beauty  of  that  Faith  she  had  embraced. 
So  remarkably  was  this  the  case,  that  she  soon  won  back  the  affection  of 
some  who  had  turned  from  her  in  such  blind  prejudice.  For,  meeting  with 
some  of  her  relations  at  the  death-bed  of  a  mutual  friend,  they  were  so  deeply 
touched  by  the  sweetness  and  piety  of  the  young  convert,  that  they  invited 
her  to  return  amongst  them. 

Mrs.  Seton,  however — certainly  from  no  deficiency  on  her  own  part,  but 
perhaps  as  being  considered  a  more  dangerous  character — was  not  permitted 
to  regain  the  favor  she  had  lost.  But,  except  so  far  as  worldly  circumstances 
were  concerned — which  in  themselves  affected  her  not — this  was  of  little 
moment  to  her;  for  she  was  now  increasingly  occupied  with  her  children, 
who  had  been, of  course,  received  with  her  into  the  Church;  and  we  are  told, 
"nothing  can  surpass  the  admirable  tact  with  which  Mrs.  Seton  conciliated 
their  warm  affection,  and  directed  her  influence  over  them  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  their  personal  sanctification." 

Besides  placing  her  two  sons  in  Georgetown  College  with  the  hope  of 
their  going  ultimately  to  that  of  Montreal,  Mr.  Anthony  Filicchi  had 
encouraged  Mrs.  Seton  to  hope  that  she  and  her  daughters  might  be  admitted 
to  a  convent  in  the  same  place,  where  her  children  would  be  trained  carefully 
in  the  principles  of  the  faith,  and  she  herself  employ  her  talents  as  a  teacher. 
This  was  a  prospect,  on  the  thoughts  of  which  Mrs.  Seton  loved  to  indulge; 
but  it  was  brought  about  much  sooner  than  she  expected,  by  her  introduction 
to  the  Rev.  William  V.  Dubourg,  president  and  founder  of  St.  Mary's  Col- 
lege in  Baltimore. 

Even  before  he  became  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Seton,  he  was  struck  by 
her  unusual  fervor  of  devotion  during  an  accidental  visit  to  New  York,  where 


g4  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

he  celebrated  Mass;  and  afterwards,  learning  her  wish  to  enter  some  con- 
ventual establishment  with  her  children,  he  endeavored  to  turn  her  thoughts 
from  Canada  and  induce  her  to  remain  in  the  United  States  with  the  same 
intention.  "Come  to  us,  Mrs.  Seton,"  were  his  words;  "  we  will  assist  you 
in  forming  a  plan  of  life  which,  while  it  will  forward  your  views  of  contrib- 
uting to  the  support  of  your  children,  will  shelter  them  from  the  dangers  to 
which  they  are  exposed  among  their  Protestant  connections,  and  also  afford 
you  much  more  consolation  in  the  exercise  of  your  faith  than  you  have  yet 
enjoyed.  We  also  wish  to  form  a  small  school,  for  the  promotion  of  relig- 
ious instruction,  for  those  children  whose  parents  are  interested  in  that  point." 
"  You  may  be  sure,"  says  Mrs.  Seton,  "  I  objected  only  to  want  of  tal- 
ents ;  to  which  he  replied,  '  We  want  example  more  than  talents.' "  Father 
Dubouro-  who  was  a  man  of  singular  enterprise  and  penetration,  had  imme- 
diately seen  that  Mrs.  Seton  was  capable  of  serving  the  cause  of  religion  in 
no  ordinary  degree;  and  though  her  own  humble  estimate  of  herself  made 
her  wonder  at  the  prospect  opening  before  her,  yet  it  was  so  congenial  to  her 
highest  wishes,  and  offered  so  many  advantages  for  her  beloved  children  (for 
Father  Dubourg  had  proposed  receiving  her  two  sons,  free  of  expense 
within  St.  Mary's  College),  that  she  did  not  hesitate  to  lay  the  matter  at 
once  before  Bishop  Carroll,  Dr.  Matignon,  and  Father  Cheverus,  as  friends 
and  counselors,  without  whose  advice  she  dared  not  act.  They  were  unani- 
mously in  favor  of  the  scheme,  and  Dr.  Matignon  said,  almost  in  the  spirit 
of  prophecy,  when  alluding  to  her  former  idea  of  going  to  Canada,  "  Tou 
are  destined,  I  think,  for  some  great  good  in  the  United  States,  and  here 
you  should  remain  in  preference  to  any  other  location." 

Other  circumstances  at  this  time  contributed  to  determine  Mrs.  Seton  to 
enter  upon  this  new  sphere  of  action ;  she  could  not  realize  enough  for  the 
maintenance  of  her  family  from  the  boarding-house  she  had  undertaken,  nor 
was  the  society  of  the  boys  at  all  beneficial  to  her  own  children.  Her 
Protestant  friends  also  highly  approved  of  the  Baltimore  scheme,  observing 
that  it  was  an  excellent  project,  because  "  her  principles  excluded  her  from 
the  confidence  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York."  Mrs.  Seton  therefore 
resolved  on  leaving  her  native  city;  and  her  sister-in-law,  Miss  C.  Seton, 
determined  on  accompanying  her. 

Father  Dubourg's  plan  was  that  they  should  take  a  small  house,  where, 
with  her  own  family  and  a  few  boarders,  she  might  begin  the  work  of  general 
education  "  in  subservience  to  pious  instruction;"  with  the  hope  that  in  time, 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  95 

if  it  was  God's  will  to  prosper  the  undertaking  and  give  her  and  her  com- 
panion "  a  relish  for  their  functions,"  it  might  be  gradually  consolidated  into 
a  permanent  institution. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  180S,  Mrs.  Seton  embarked  with  her  three  daughters 
for  Baltimore;  and  her  two  sons  being  brought  from  Georgetown,  to  be 
under  Father  Dubourg's  care  at  St.  Mary's  College,  she  had  once  more  all 
her  children  under  her  own  immediate  superintendence.  This  was  no  slight 
alleviation  to  the  feelings  that  must  have  been  awakened  in  her  heart  by 
finding  herself  thrust  out,  as  it  were,  and  unregretted,  from  her  native  city, 
and  the  companionship  of  her  own  family  and  all  the  friends  of  her  early 
life.  She  was  going  to  a  new  scene  and  sphere  of  action,  amongst  strangers; 
and  that  society  of  which  she  had  been  for  so  long  the  cherished  ornament, 
now  triumphed  over  her  departure. 

Yet  the  only  reflections  which  her  unfailing  confidence  in  God  inspired, 
on  the  eve  of  her  arrival  at  Baltimore,  were  expressed  in  the  following 
words:  "  To-morrow  do  I  go  among  strangers?  No.  Has  an  anxious 
thought  or  fear  passed  my  mind?  No.  Can  I  be  disappointed?  No.  Our 
sweet  sacrifice  will  re-unite  my  soul  with  all  who  offer  it.  Doubt  and  fear 
will  fly  from  the  breast  inhabited  by  Him.  There  can  be  no  disappointment, 
where  the  soul's  only  desire  and  expectation  is  to  meet  His  adored  will  and 
fulfill  it." 

Mrs.  Seton  reached  Baltimore  on  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi ;  and  in 
the  services  of  that  day,  and  the  affectionate  greeting  which  followed,  from  a 
large  circle  of  new  friends  already  prepared  to  love  her,  she  lost  at  once  all 
sense  of  loneliness. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Mrs.  Seton  had  not  left  New  York 
without  informing  the  Messrs.  Filicchi  of  her  intended  plans.  And  as  soon 
as  she  was  settled  in  her  new  home,  and  the  design  which  Father  Dubourg 
had  in  proposing  her  removal  was  a  little  matured,  she  wrote  again,  frankly 
asking  what  amount  of  aid  she  might  hope  to  receive  from  them,  in  the  event 
of  its  being  advisable  to  provide  by  building,  etc.,  for  a  permanent  institution. 

Her  generous  friend,  Antonio,  who  was  at  this  time  contributing  largely 
to  her  own  support,  responded  gladly  to  this  new  appeal,  bidding  her  draw 
at  once  on  his  agents  for  one  thousand  dollars  or  more  if  needful;  adding, 
"your  prayers  had  so  much  bettered  our  mercantile  importance  here  below, 
that  in  spite  of  all  the  embargoes,  political  and  commercial  troubles,  which 
have  caused  and  will  cause  the  utter  ruin  of  many,  we  possess  greater  means 


~6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

now  than  before,  thanks  to  God,  with  the  same  unalterable  good  will."  This 
plan,  however,  was  not  destined  to  be  carried  out ;  at  least,  not  in  the  way 
which  was  then  contemplated. 

Mrs.  Seton's  view  was  to  begin  by  opening  a  boarding-school  for  young 
ladies,  leaving  to  time  and  the  will  of  God  that  which  she  had  already  very 
earnestly  at  heart,  the  formation  of  a  society  specially  consecrated  to  religion. 
She  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  required  number  of  pupils;  and  as  they 
lived  literally  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Church,  and  she  enjoyed  at  this 
time  singular  religious  privileges,  and  the  frequent  society  of  many  dis- 
tinguished clergymen,  particularly  of  Bishop  Carroll,  she  writes  in  a  transport 
of  joy  at  the  blessing  of  her  lot:  ':  Every  morning  at  Communion,  living  in  the 
very  wounds  of  our  dearest  Lord,  seeing  only  his  representatives,  and 
receiving  their  benedictions  continually." 

It  was  her  only  wish  that  her  young  sister-in-law,  Miss  Cecilia  Seton, 
would  join  her.  But  it  had  been  thought  advisable  that  this  lady  should 
remain  for  the  present  in  New  York,  with  a  brother  upon  whom  she  was 
entirely  dependent.  Left  in  the  midst  of  those  who  had  been  so  hostile  to 
her  change  of  religion,  she  had  many  trials  to  endure;  but  by  unflinching 
firmness,  and  the  strictest  perseverance  in  attending  all  her  religious  duties 
she  became  daily  a  more  fervent  Catholic,  and  cherished  the  hope  of  one  day 
devoting  herself  in  a  special  manner  to  the  service  of  God. 

Another  sister,  Harriet,  who  was  also  warmly  attached  to  Mrs.  Seton, 
had  inexpressible  longings  to  fly  to  that  happy  retirement  which  she  so  elo- 
quently painted  in  her  letters  from  Baltimore.  This  lady  was  the  "  belle  of 
New  York,"  living  in  the  midst  of  fashionable  society,  engaged  to  a  step- 
brother of  Mrs.  Seton's  (of  course  a  Protestant),  and,  on  account  of  some 
preference  she  had  already  shown  for  the  Catholic  faith,  was  closely  watched 
by  her  family. 

Presently  we  shall  have  to  return  to  these  ladies;  but  first  it  is  necessary 
that  we  should  relate  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  removal  of  Mrs. 
Seton  from  Baltimore  after  a  sojourn  of  only  a  few  months,  and  brought 
about  the  fulfillment  of  her  pious  intentions  in  a  manner  she  herself  had  never 
ventured  to  hope  for. 

In  the  autumn  of  1808,  a  young  lady,  seeking  retirement  from  the  world, 
had  made  up  her  mind  for  this  purpose  to  go  to  some  foreign  conventual 
establishment;  but  hearing  of  Mrs.  Seton's  plans  and  wishes,  came  gladly  to 
Baltimore,   and   was    there    offered    by    her    father    "  as    a    child    whom    he 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  97 

consecrated  to  God."  She  became  for  the  present  an  assistant  in  the  school; 
but  on  the  arrival  of  this  first  companion,  Father  Babade,  then  her  spiritual 
director,  encouraged  Mrs.  Seton  to  discern  the  "  announcement  of  an  under- 
taking which  would  gradually  collect  round  her  a  numerous  band  of  spiritual 
daughters."     The  time  for  this  was  indeed  already  come. 

One  morning,  after  Holy  Comunion,  she  felt  an  extraordinary  impulse 
to  devote  herself  to  the  care  of  poor  female  children,  and  to  found  for  their 
benefit  some  abiding  institution.  Going  at  once  to  Father  Dubourg,  she  said, 
"This  morning  in  my  dear  Communion,  I  thought,  dearest  Savior,  if  You 
would  but  give  me  the  care  of  poor  little  children,  no  matter  how  poor;  and 
Mr.  Cooper  being  directly  before  me  at  his  thanksgiving,  I  thought,  he  has 
money;  if  he  would  but  give  it  for  the  bringing  up  of  poor  little  children,  to 
know  and  love  You." 

Mr.  Cooper  was  a  convert,  a  student  at  St.  Mary's  for  the  priesthood, 
and  anxious  to  devote  his  property  to  the  service  of  God.  On  hearing  Mrs. 
Seton's  words,  Father  Dubourg  seemed  lost  in  astonishment,  and  told  her 
that  Mr.  Cooper  had  spoken  to  him  that  very  morning  of  his  thoughts  being 
all  for  poor  children's  instruction,  and  that  if  he  could  find  somebody  to  do  it, 
he  would  give  his  money  for  that  purpose;  and  he  wondered  if  Mrs.  Seton 
would  be  willing  to  undertake  it.  Struck  with  the  wonderful  coincidence, 
the  priest  advised  each  to  reflect  for  a  month  on  the  subject,  and  acquaint  him 
with  the  result.  During  this  time  there  was  no  communication  between  the 
parties;  nevertheless,  they  returned  at  the  appointed  time,  offering,  the  one 
his  means,  and  the  other  her  services,  for  the  relief  of  Christ's  poor. 

The  clergy  consulted  on  the  occasion  could  not  but  approve  of  an  inten- 
tion so  plainly  in  the  ordering  of  God,  and  the  site  of  Emmitsburg,  Maryland, 
was  fixed  upon  as  affording  "moral  and  physical  advantages  for  a  religious 
community,  being  far  from  the  city  and  in  the  midst  of  wild  mountain 
scenery."  4 

The  prospect  now  opening  before  Mrs.  Seton  was  hailed  with  delight 
by  all  who  knew  her  remarkable  fitness  for  the  work.  Amongst  others,  her 
esteemed  friend,  Father  John  Louis  de  Cheverus,  writes,  almost  in  the  lan- 
guage of  prophecy:  "How  admirable  is  Divine  Providence!  I  see  already 
numerous  choirs  of  virgins  following  you  to  the  altar.  I  see  your  holy  order 
diffusing  itself  in  the  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  spreading  every- 
where the  good  odor  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  teaching  by  their  angelical  lives 
and  pious  instructions  how  to  serve  God  in  purity  and   holiness.     I  have  no 


oS  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

doubt,  my  beloved  and  venerable  sister,  that  He  who  has  begun  this  work 
will  bring  it  to  perfection." 

The  title  of  mother  was  already  gladly  given  everywhere  to  Mrs.  Seton; 
and  one  lady  after  another  came  gathering  around  her,  in  fervor  and  humility, 
offering  themselves  as  candidates  for  the  new  sisterhood.  A  conventual 
habit  was  adopted  (which  was  afterwards  changed  to  that  worn  by  the  Sisters 
of  Charity),  and  under  the  title  of  "Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,"  a  little  band  was 
organized  under  temporary  rules. 

The  humble  soul  of  Mother  Seton,  as  she  must  now  be  called,  was  filled 
with  such  an  overwhelming  sense  of  the  responsibility  committed  to  her,  that 
on  the  evening  of  the  day  she  received  it  as  a  charge  from  her  spiritual 
directors, she  sunk,  weeping  bitterly,  upon  her  knees;  and  after  giving  way  to 
her  emotions  for  some  time,  she  confessed  aloud  before  the  sisters  who  were 
present  the  most  frail  and  humiliating  actions  of  her  life,  from  her  childhood 
upwards,  and  then  exclaimed  from  the  depths  of  her  heart,  "My  gracious 
God!  You  know  my  unfitness  for  this  task;  I,  who  by  my  sins  have  so  often 
crucified  You ;  I  blush  with  shame  and  confusion !  How  can  I  teach  others, 
who  know  so  little  myself,  and  am  so  miserable  and  imperfect?" 

Mrs.  Seton  bound  herself  privately  at  this  time,  in  the  presence  of  the  ven- 
erable Bishop  Carroll, by  the  usual  vows,  for  a  year;  and  soon  afterwards  she 
was  joined  by  one  who  had  long  waited  patiently  until  the  will  of  God  should 
permit  her  to  follow  where  her  heart  had  already  gone  before.  Miss  Cecilia 
Seton,  falling  dangerously  ill,  was  advised  by  her  physician  to  try  a  sea  voy- 
age as  a  last  remedy,  and  thankfully  determined  to  visit  Mother  Seton.  She 
was  accompanied  by  her  sister  Harriet,  two  brothers,  and  a  servant.  Con- 
trary to  all  expectations,  her  health  gradually  began  to  improve,  and  on 
reaching  Baltimore  her  attendants  left  her,  with  the  exception  of  her  sister 
Harriet,  who  stayed  to  take  care  of  her. 

This  illness  again  proving  serious,  change  of  air  was  once  more  advised, 
and  Mother  Seton  then  removed  with  the  invalid  to  the  site  of  her  intended 
residence  at  Emmitsburg.  Miss  Harriet  Seton,  of  course,  accompanied  them, 
with  some  of  the  community  and  Mother  Seton's  children.  As  no  habitation 
was  yet  ready  for  the  sisterhood,  they  were  allowed  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Dubois,  president  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College  (to  which  Mrs.  Seton's  sons 
had  already  been  removed  from  Baltimore),  to  occupy  a  small  log-house  on 
the  mountain.  Here  Cecilia  soon  recovered  some  degree  of  health,  and  here 
her  sister  was  strengthened  to  say,  spite  of  all  the  persecution  which  she  well 


Brother  Maurelian,  on  behalf  of  all  Catholic  Educators,  greeting  Monsignor  Satolli,  special  delegate 
to  represent  Pope  Leo  XIII,  at  the  opening  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition. 


MONSIGNOR  O'CONNELL. 


BROTHER    MAURELIAN. 


ARCHBISHOP  SATOLLI. 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  99 

knew  such  a  step  would  entail  from  her  own  family,  and  although  she  was 
uncertain  what  effect  it  might  have  upon  him  to  whom  she  was  engaged,  "It 
is  done,  my  sister,  I  am  a  Catholic.  The  cross  of  our  dearest  Lord  is  the 
desire  of  my  soul ;  I  will  never  rest  till  He  is  mine." 

At  the  end  of  July,  Mother  Seton  and  the  whole  of  her  community,  now 
ten  in  number,  besides  her  three  daughters  and  her  sister-in-law,  removed  to 
the  little  farm-house  on  their  own  land  in  St.  Joseph's  Valley,  which  was  to 
be  their  present  home.  It  was  much  too  small  to  be  considered  anything  but 
a  temporary  refuge,  containing  only  three  or  four  rooms,  and  "  a  little  closet 
just  wide  enough  to  hold  an  altar,"  where  the  presence  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment made  up  for  every  privation;  and  a  more  commodious  and  ample  build- 
ing was  being  prepared  at  once,  as  rapidly  as  circumstances  would  admit. 

Meanwhile,  in  accordance  with  the  institute  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
with  which  this  was  intended  to  conform,  instruction  of  youth  and  care  of  the 
sick  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  sisters'  time;  and  as  it  happened  that  a 
fever  was  just  now  breaking  out  in  the  neighborhood,  they  received  many 
petitions  to  come  and  tend  those  who  were  attacked  by  it.  Full  of  zeal  and 
piety,  they  cheerfully  lent  themselves  to  this  good  work,  and  gave  the  greatest 
edification  wherever  they  went. 

They  were  very  poor,  circumstances  not  yet  allowing  them  to  open  a 
school ;  but  all  were  so  anxious  to  devote  themselves  to  a  life  of  mortification 
that  Mother  Seton  says,  "  carrot  coffee,  salt  pork,  and  buttermilk,  seemed  too 
good  a  living."  The  expenses  of  building  reduced  them  to  a  still  more  desti- 
tute condition;  their  bread  was  of  the  coarsest  rye,  and  for  many  months  they 
"  did  not  know  where  the  next  meal  would  come  from."  On  Christmas  Day 
they  rejoiced  to  have  "  some  smoked  herrings  for  dinner,  and  a  spoonful  of 
molasses  for  each."  Yet  the  most  perfect  cheerfulness  and  harmony  pre- 
vailed*; they  were  literally  all  of  one  mind. 

About  the  end  of  September  Miss  Harriet  Seton  was  received  into  the 
Church.  As  was  expected,  a  torrent  of  reproaches  from  home  followed  this 
announcement;  but  nothing  could  now  prevent  the  holy  fervor  of  this  young 
convert;  and  rejoicing  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  even,  if  need  were,  the 
love  of  him  to  whom  her  hand  was  promised,  she  still  pleaded  for  an  exten- 
sion of  her  stay  in  St.  Joseph's  Valley.  Here,  while  nursing  her  sick  sister, 
she  was  herself  seized  with  a  violent  fever;  and  within  three  months  of  her 
conversion  her  remains  were  carried  to  a  spot  she  had  once  playfully  chosen 
as  a  last  resting-place  in  the  silent  woods,  and  laid  beneath  the  tree   she   had 


IOO  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

pointed  out.     Thus,  although  the  last  called,  she  became  "  the  first-fruits  of 
those  who  sleep  in  St.  Joseph's  Valley." 

The  death-bed  of  this  pious  and  beautiful  young  lady  was  never  forgotten 
by  those  who  had  the  happiness  to  assist  at  it.  Amidst  the  most  intense  suf- 
ferings the  names  of  God,  heaven,  or  eternity  instantly  fixed  her  attention, 
insensible  to  every  other  address.  Her  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  had 
been  remarkable,  and  even  in  delirium  the  same  divine  object  absorbed  all  her 
mind;  her  last  sign  of  life  was  an  effort  to  join  the  hymn  at  Benediction.  It 
was  impossible  for  her  best  friends  not  to  rejoice  that  she  was  thus  spared  the 
sufferings  and  temptations  that  would  have  assailed  her  had  she  lived  to 
return  to  New  York.  Far  different,  however,  was  the  effect  of  her  death 
upon  her  relations  there;  and  when,  after  four  months  more,  her  sister  Cecilia 
was  also  laid  in  that  same  little  inclosure,  planted  with  wild  flowers,  their 
indignation  against  this  "  pest  of  society  "  knew  no  bounds,  even  in  its  public 
expression.  But  all  this,  as  Mother  Seton  herself  observed,  was  music  to  the 
spirit  hoping  only  to  be  conformed  to  Him  who  was  despised  and  rejected  by 
men. 

Two  months  before  Cecilia's  death  the  community  were  established  in 
their  new  dwelling,  a  large  log  house  two  stories  high,  with  a  sanctuary, 
sacristy,  and  an  apartment  where  strangers  could  assist  at  Mass,  facing  one 
end  of  the  sanctuary.  The  choir  where  the  community  heard  Mass,  etc.,  *vas 
hi  front  of  the  altar.  So  poor  was  the  altar  that  its  chief  ornaments  were  a 
framed  portrait  of  our  dear  Redeemer,  which  Mother  Seton  had  brought  with 
her  from  New  York,  her  own  little  silver  candlesticks,  some  wild  laurel, 
paper  flowers,  etc. 

After  placing  themselves  solemnly  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Joseph, 
the  sisterhood  commenced  their  labors  on  a  much  more  extensive  scale. 
They  now  opened  a  day  and  boarding  school,  and  in  May,  1810,  Mother 
Seton  thus  alludes  to  the  condition  of  the  house:  "You  know  the  enemy  of 
all  good- will  of  course  makes  his  endeavors  to  destroy  it;  but  it  seems  our 
Adored  is  determined  on  its  full  success,  by  the  excellent  subjects  He  has 
placed  in  it.  We  are  now  twelve  and  as  many  again  are  waiting  for  admis- 
sion. I  have  a  very,  very  large  school  to  superintend  every  day,  and  the 
entire  charge  of  the  religious  instruction  of  all  the  country  round.  All  apply 
to  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  who  are  night  and  day  devoted  to  the  sick  and  the 
ignorant.  Our  blessed  bishop  intends  removing  a  detachment  of  us  to  Balti- 
more, to    perform    the  same  duties   there.     We   have   a   very   good   house, 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  101 

though  a  log  building;  and  it  will  be  the  mother-house  and  retreat  in  all 
cases;  as  a  portion  of  the  sisterhood  will  always  remain  in  it,  to  keep 
the  spinning,  weaving,  knitting,  and  school  for  country  people,  regularly 
progressing." 

The  income  derived  from  the  school  and  donations  from  friends  now 
kept  the  house  free  from  embarrassment,  and  in  any  case  of  emergency  the 
generosity  of  the  brothers  Filicchi  was  unfailing.  The  following  extract 
from  a  letter  of  Mother  Seton's  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind,  and  the  answer 
she  received,  will  show  the  spirit  of  frankness  and  Christian  confidence 
which  prevailed  between  them:  "Does  it  hurt  you  that  I  press  so  hard  on 
you,  and  make  no  further  application  to  my  friends  in  New  York?  Con- 
sider, how  can  I  apply  to  them  for  means  which  would  go  to  the  support 
only  of  a  religion  and  institution  they  abhor;  while  what  is  taken  from  you 
is  promoting  your  greatest  happiness  in  this  world,  and  bringing  you  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  Adored  in  the  next.  But  again  let  me  repeat,  if  I  have 
gone  too  far,  stop  me  short  forever,  if  you  find  it  necessary,  without  fear  of 
the  least  wound  to  the  soul  you  love;  which  receives  all  from  your  hands  as 
from  that  of  our  Lord,  and  whenever  they  may  be  closed,  will  know  that  it 
is  He  who  shuts  them,  who  uses  all  for  His  own  glory  as  He  pleases." 

l' Chase  your  diffidence  away,"  replies  Mr.  A.  Filicchi;  "speak  to  your 
brother  the  wants  of  a  sister,  and  trust  in  Him  who  knows  how  to  clothe  and 
feed  the  birds  of  the  air,  and  clothes  the  grass  of  the  earth  with  brightness." 

In  1811,  measures  were  taken  for  procuring  from  France  a  copy  of  the 
regulations  in  use  amongst  the  "  Daughters  of  Charity,''  founded  by  St.  Vin- 
cent of  Paul,  as  it  was  intended  that  Mother  Seton's  community  should  model 
itself  upon  the  same  basis.  It  became  necessary,  however,  to  introduce  some 
modification  of  the  rules,  as  it  was  thought  expedient  that,  at  least  for  the 
present,  the  sisters  should  be  occupied  in  the  instruction  of  the  young;  and 
moreover,  it  was  feared  that  Mother  Seton's  peculiar  position  as  the  sole 
guardian  of  five  young  children,  might  prove  a  hindrance  to  her  being  bound 
permanently  as  the  superior  of  a  religious  community. 

She  herself,  indeed,  considered  that  her  duties  as  a  mother  were  para- 
mount to  every  other,  especially  since  her  children's  Protestant  relations  were 
numerous  and  wealthy.  Writing  to  a  friend  on  this  subject,  she  says:  "  By 
the  law  of  the  Church  I  so  much  love,  I  could  never  take  an  obligation  which 
interfered  with  my  duties  to  the  children,  except  I  had  an  independent  pro- 
vision and  guardian  for  them,  which  the  whole  world  could  not  supply  to  my 


io2  .  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

judgment  of  a  mother's  duty."  This  and  every  other  difficulty  in  the  adop- 
tion of  the  rules  was,  however,  at  length  arranged  by  the  wisdom  of  Arch- 
bishop Carroll,  who  had  recently  been  elevated  to  the  archiepiscopal  dignity, 
and  in  January,  1S12,  the  constitutions  of  the  community  were  confirmed  by 
the  archbishop  and  the  superior  of  St.  Mary's  College  in  Baltimore,  and  sent 
for  observance  to  the  sisters. 

A  year  was  allowed  to  all  already  in  the  sisterhood  to  try  their  vocation, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  they  might  either  leave  the  institution  or  bind  them- 
selves by  vows.  Mother  Seton  was  authorized,  even  after  she  had  taken  the 
vows,  to  watch  over  her  children's  welfare ;  and  a  conditional  provision  was 
made  for  securing  to  the  community  her  permanent  superintendence. 

The  general  rules  and  object  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  are  so  well  known 
that  little  need  be  said  on  that  subject.  The  society  was  to  be  composed  of 
unmarried  women  and  widows,  sound  of  mind  and  body,  and  between  sixteen 
and  twenty-eight  years  of  age  at  their  entrance.  It  was  also  expected  that 
they  should  desire  to  devote  their  whole  lives  to  the  service  of  God  in  His 
poor,  and  in  the  instruction  of  children ;  though  the  vows  were  only  taken 
for  a  single  year,  and  renewed  annually. 

During   the  year  of  probation  ten  more  ladies  were  added  to  the  com- 
munity, which  now  consisted  of  thirty  sisters;  and  by  the  adoption  of  a  set- 
tled rule  of  life,  Mother  Seton  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  them  make  daily 
progress   both   in   fervor    towards    God    and   usefulness  to  their    neighbors. 
There  was  one  amongst  them  who  was  a  source  of  far  deeper  joy  and  grati- 
tude than   the  rest.     This  was  her  own  eldest  daughter,  Anna  or  Annina. 
From  early  childhood  she  had  been  remarkable  for  her  virtue  and  piety;  and 
now,  being  both  good,  clever,  and  beautiful,  she  was  the  delight  of  all  who 
knew  her.     When  only  fifteen,  her  hand  had  been  sought  in  marriage  by  a 
young   gentleman  of  great  wealth  and  talent ;  and,  with  the  approbation  of 
all  his  friends,  he  journeyed  to  his  distant  home  to  make  the  necessary  prep- 
aration.    There,  however,  he  found  his  only  parent,  a  mother,  so  strongly 
opposed  to  it,  that  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  break  his  faith  with  Miss  Seton. 
Happily,  with  the  true  spirit  of  a  Christian,  the  young  lady  regarded  the 
whole  matter  as  ordered  by  God  for  her  greater  good,  and  devoted   herself 
more  assiduously  than  before  to  all  the  religious  practices  of  the  community 
in  St.  Joseph's  Valley.     Although  still  only  amongst  the  pupils,  she  strictly 
observed  the  rules  of  the  novitiate,  rising  at  four  both  in  winter  and  summer, 
that  she  might  spend  an  hour  in  prayer  and  meditation  before  Mass  in  the 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON. 


103 


chapel.  She  performed  in  secret  many  heroic  acts  of  mortification,  and  had 
so  little  taste  for  the  world  that,  when  visiting  a  very  excellent  family  in 
Baltimore,  she  implored  her*  mother  to  recall  her  to  St.  Joseph's  Valley, 
because  "  her  soul  wearied  of  the  distractions  of  a  secular  life." 

Her  example  animated  the  pupils  to  an  extraordinary  devotion,  and  some 
of  the  elder  girls  formed  themselves  into  a  band  under  her  direction,  governed 
by  special  rules,  and  habitually  seeking  to  mortify  themselves  by  acts  of 
penance.  At  the  same  time  she  both  watched  tenderly  over  the  younger 
pupils — especially  those  preparing  for  their  first  Communion — and  also  main- 
tained a  correspondence  with  those  young  ladies  who  had  left  the  school, 
seeking  to  keep  alive  in  their  hearts  the  good  principles  they  had  learned 
amongst  the  sisters.  Anxious  to  consecrate  herself  more  perfectly  to  God, 
she  applied,  as  soon  as  her  age  permitted,  for  admission  to  the  sisterhood, 
and  was  gladly  received;  but  towards  the  end  of  September,  181 1,  taking  a 
violent  cold,  she  soon  became  so  ill,  that  all  hope  of  seeing  her  continue  to 
edify  the  community  by  her'  exemplary  piety  was  sorrowfully  abandoned. 
As  for  herself,  she  only  rejoiced  to  believe  that  she  was  near  her  end ;  and 
she  continued  to  the  last  both  to  practice  perfect  humility  and  patience  in  her- 
self, and  to  encourage  it  in  others. 

When  Mother  Seton  haif  reproached  her  for  her  little  care  of  her  health, 
"rising  at  the  first  bell,  and  even  being  on  the  watch  to  ring  it  the  moment  the 
clock  struck;  washing  at  the  pump  in  the  severest  weather,  often  eating  in 
the  refectory  what  sickened  her  stomach,  etc. — 'Ah,  dear  mother,'  she  replied, 
coloring  deeply,  as  if  she  was  wounding  humility,  'if  our  dear  Lord  called 
me  up  to  meditate,  was  I  wrong  to  go?  If  I  washed  at  the  pump,  did  not 
others  more  delicate  do  it?  If  I  ate  what  I  did  not  like,  was  it  not  proper, 
since  it  is  but  a  common  Christian  act  to  control  my  appetite?  Besides,  what 
would  my  example  have  been  to  my  class,  if  I  had  done  otherwise  in  any  of 
these  cases?  Indeed,  I  have  given  too  much  bad  example  without  this. 
Dearest  Lord,  pardon  me.'  " 

Night  and  day  did  Mother  Seton  watch  over  her  suffering  child;  and  it 
is  said  that  "  it  would  be  difficult  to  decide  which  was  the  more  worthy  of 
admiration,  the  daughter  pressing  forward  with  eagerness  to  her  heavenly 
home,  or  the  mother  generously  offering  the  sacrifice  of  her  first-born  child." 

On  the  30th  of  January,  she  received  with  great  fervor  the  last  sacra- 
ments ;  but  her  death  was  yet  delayed  for  some  weeks.  Her  mother  at  this 
time  writes  to  a  friend :     "  The  dear,  lovely  and  excellent  child  of   my  heart 


I04  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

is  on  the  point  of  departure.  During  the  whole  of  the  last  week  she  has  been 
every  moment  on  the  watch,  expecting  every  coughing-fit  would  be  the  last; 
but  with  a  peace,  resignation,  and  contentment  of  soul  truly  consoling,  not  suf- 
fering a  tear  to  be  shed  around  her,  she  has  something  comforting  to  say  to  all." 

On  the  Sunday  before  her  death,  Annina  begged  that  the  young  ladies 
from  the  school  might  come  in,  to  learn  a  lesson  of  human  frailty  from  her 
wasted  form.  Being  fifty  in  number,  they  were  admitted,  a  few  at  a  time, 
and  she  addressed  them  in  her  dying  voice  with  the  most  impressive  words. 
Allowing  them  to  see  the  mortification  which  had  already  begun  in  her  neck, 
she  said,  "  See  the  body  which  I  used  to  dress  and  lace  up  so  well,  what  is  it 
now?  Look  at  these  hands!  the  worms  will  have  poor  banquets  here!  What 
is  beauty?  what  is  life?  Nothing,  nothing.  Oh,  love  and  serve  God  faith- 
fully, and  prepare  for  eternity.  Some  of  you,  dear  girls,  may  be  soon  as  I 
am  now;  be  good,  and  pray  for  me."  Annina  prayed  very  earnestly  to  die  a 
professed  Sister  of  Charity ;  and  though  the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  any 
to  bind  themselves  by  the  usual  vows,  she  was  permitted  to  do  so  on  the  day 
before  her  death,  thus  becoming  the  first  professed  member  of  the  sisterhood. 
The  following  act  of  consecration  was  written  by  her  the  morning  before  her 
death,  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  a  crucifix: 

"  Amiable  and  adorable  Savior!  at  the  foot  of  Your  cross  I  come  to  con- 
secrate myself  to  You  forever.  It  has  pleased  You  in  Your  infinite  mercy 
and  goodness,  to  unite  and  fasten  me  to  it  with  You.  O  dear  Jesus,  I  offer 
You  all  my  sufferings,  little  as  they  are,  and  will  accept  with  resignation  (oh, 
by  Your  grace,  let  me  say,  love),  whatever  You  will  please  to  send  in  future. 
I  offer,  in  union  with  Your  blessed  merits,  all  the  sufferings  I  ever  had ;  those 
which  I  endured  at  a  time  when  I  did  not  learn  to  unite  them  to  Yours. 
Those  I  have  experienced  during  this  last  sickness  I  offer  more  particularly 
to  Your  glory,  and  in  expiation  of  the  offenses  and  grevious  sins  committed 
during  my  life.  Oh,  my  Jesus,  pardon  the  impatience,  ill-humor,  and  num- 
berless other  faults  I  now  commit;  I  beseech  Thee  to  forgive.  I  offer  Thee 
my  sufferings,  in  union  with  Your  merits,  in  expiation  of  my  many  and  daily 
offenses." 

On  the  following  morning  she  requested  her  two  young  sisters  to  kneel 
by  her  bed  and  sing: 

"Though  all  the  pains  of  hell  surround, 

No  evil  will  I  fear: 
For  while  my  Jesus  is  my  friend, 

No  danger  can  come  near." 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON. 


They  tried  to  compose  their  voices,  broken  by  sobs,  that  they  might 
please  their  dying  sister,  whom  their  mother,  sitting  at  her  pillow,  was  sup- 
porting in  her  arms.  But  their  voices  refused  to  sing  at  such  a  moment;  and 
soon  the  struggles  of  the  departing  soul  became  so  severe,  that  Mother  Seton 
was  obliged  to  retire  from  her  now  insensible  child  to  the  chapel,  where  she 
remained  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  till  all  was  over. 

On  the  following  day  the  body  was  committed  to  the  ground,  and 
Mother  Seton,  more  like  a  statue  than  a  living  being,  followed  her  sweet 
child  to  the  grave.  But 
one  tear  was  seen  upon 
her  cheek  as  she  returned; 
and  raising  her  eyes  to 
heaven,  she  uttered  slow- 
ly, as  if  yielding  to  the 
full  force  of  the  sublime 
sentiment:  "Father,  Thy 
will  be  done!"  Thus 
died  Sister  Annina,  on 
March  12,  1S12,  in  the 
seventeenth  year  of  her 
age. 

In  September,  1812, 
the  Rev.  Simon  Gabriel 
Brute,  afterwards  first 
bishop  of  Vincennes,  In- 
diana, was  appointed  to 
assist  the  Rev.  Mr.  Du- 
bois; and  his  friendship 
and  services  were  of  the 
greatest  possible  value  to 
Mother  Seton  and  the 
community,  for  whom  he 

now  celebrated  Mass  four  times  a  week.  Father  Brute  was  a  man  of  rare 
gifts,  rare  learning,  and  great  physical  activity  singularly  blessed  with  energy 
and  power  of  expression;  and  from  the  first  he  and  Mother  Seton  heartily 
sympathized. 

In  the  following  July,  the  community,  now  eighteen  in   number,  bound 


RT.    REV.    SIMON    GABRIEL    BRUTE,    FIRST    BISHOP    OF 
VINCENNES. 


io6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

themselves  by  the  vows  of  poverty,  charity,  and  obedience,  ten  young  ladies 
being  at  the  same  time  admitted  into  the  novitiate. 

The  war  with  Great  Britian  at  this  time  made  many  things  so  expensive,  that 
a  more  rigid  economy  was  necessary,  to  which,  however,  the  sisters  cheerfully 
lent  themselves.  Sugar  was  dispensed  with,  and  coarser  clothing  introduced. 
In  1S14,  a  detachment  of  sisters  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  to  take  charge 
of  the  children  whose  parents  had  died  of  the  yellow-fever;  and  in  1817  a 
colony  was  established  in  New  York  City  from  the  mother-house  at  Emmits- 
burg.  The  instructions  and  affectionate  exhortations  given  by  Mother  Seton 
to  those  sisters  who  were  leaving  her  for  another  mission,  were  beautifully 
characteristic  of  her  idea  of  what  the  life  of  a  Christian,  and,  above  all,  a 
Sister  of  Charity  should  be. 

Twice  a  week  she  gave  familiar  instructions  to  the  elder  pupils,  in  which 
she  displayed  her  singular  aptitude  for  education.  Yet  her  manner  was 
rather  that  of  the  intelligent  and  affectionate  parent,  than  of  the  pedantic 
teacher;  and  her  sweetness  won  so  readily  the  confidence  of  her  pupils,  that 
they  opened  their  hearts  to  her  as  their  dearest  friend. 

"Your  little  mother,  my  darlings,"  she  would  say,  "does  not  come  to 
teach  you  to  be  good  nuns  or  Sisters  of  Charity;  but  rather  I  would  wish  to 
fit  you  for  that  world  in  which  you  were  destined  to  live;  to  teach  you  how  to 
be  good  mistresses  and  mothers  of  families.  Yet,  if  the  dear  Master  selects 
one  among  you  to  be  closer  to  Him,  happy  are  you;  He  will  teach  you 
Himself." 

In  1 8 14  Mrs.  Seton's  eldest  son  completed  his  eighteenth  year.  He 
was  anxious  to  enter  the  navy,  whilst  his  mother  wished  him  to  go  into  some 
mercantile  house;  but  this  was  rendered  somewhat  difficult,  in  consequence  of 
the  disturbed  state  of  commercial  affairs  during  the  war.  However,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Brute  being  anxious  to  visit  Europe,  she  resolved  to  send  her  son  under 
his  guardianship  to  the  Messrs.  Filicchi,  at  least  for  a  time.  Two  years  later 
her  second  son  was  placed  in  the  house  of  a  merchant  in  Baltimore,  and  went 
afterwards  to  Leghorn,  when  his  brother  left  to  carry  out  his  own  purpose  of 
entering  the  navy. 

About  this  time  Mr. Philip  Filicchi  died;  and  deeply  was  his  loss  deplored, 
not  only  by  Mother  Seton  and  his  most  immediate  friends,  but  by  all.  His 
death  was  said  to  be  almost  a  public  calamity,  sorrowed  over  by  "hundreds  of 
poor  fed  at  his  hands,  orphans  depending  on  his  support,  and  prisoners  relieved 
by  his  charity." 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  i0y 

Two  months  after  this  time  Mother  Seton  was  called  upon  to  render  back 
to  God  another  of  her  children,  her  youngest  daughter,  whose  intelligent  and 
amiable  disposition  had  endeared  her  to  all  who  knew  her.  She  had  been 
ailing  now  since  1812,  when  she  was  injured  by  a  fall  on  the  ice;  and  that 
she  might  have  the  best  medical  advice,  she  was  removed  for  some  time  to 
Baltimore.  Whilst  there,  her  mother  used  the  most  affectionate  endeavors, 
by  frequent  little  notes,  to  turn  the  mind  of  her  suffering  child  to  the  end  for 
which  she  was  afflicted.     The  following  is  one  of  them: 

"My  Soul's  Little  Darling. — Mother's  eyes  fill  with  tears  ever 
when  she  thinks  of  you;  but  loving  tears  of  joy,  that  my  dear  one  may 
suffer  and  bear  pain,  and  resign  herself  to  the  will  of  our  Dearest,  and  be  the 
child  of  His  cross.  You  know,  mother  has  often  told  you  that  the  one  who 
suffers  most  is  the  dearest  to  me;  and  so  our  Dearest  loves  the  child  He  afflicts 
with  a  double  love.  Remember,  my  dear  one,  what  mother  told  you  about 
love  and  obedience  to  our  so  kind  and  tender  friend  (the  lady  with  whom 
she  was  staying);  and  our  Dearest,  not  to  forget  Him  for  a  moment.  You 
know  He  never  forgets  you ;  and  do  not  mind  kneeling,  but  speak  your  heart 
to  Him  anywhere.  May  His  dear,  dearest  blessing  be  on  you.  .  .  .  Jesus, 
Mary,  and  Joseph,  bless  and  love  you!" 

By  the  pious  example  of  this  amiable  child,  many  practices  of  devotion 
were  introduced  amongst  the  boarders ;  and  as  she  was  a  general  favorite  at 
St.  Joseph's,  her  influence  had  the  happiest  effect.  The  orphans  educated 
there  had  been  formed  into  a  class  distinct  from  the  boarders,  and  were  dis- 
posed to  resent  this  separation  as  a  humiliating  position;  Miss  Rebecca 
Seton,  however,  voluntarily  ranked  herself  amongst  them,  and  immediately  all 
bitterness  of  feeling  was  changed  into  grateful  affection.  Though  only 
thirteen  years  of  age,  she  was  devout  and  fervent  in  approaching  the  sacra- 
ments; and,  indeed,  she  needed  all  the  strength  and  consolation  which  these 
alone  can  bestow;  for  during  the  last  six  months  of  her  life  she  was  scarce! y 
ever  free  from  the  most  excruciating  pain.  Nevertheless,  she  was  always 
patient,  resigned,  and  even  cheerful  in  manner,  fulfilling  the  anxious  wishes 
of  her  mother,  that  she  might  look  on  her  sufferings  only  as  a  transitory 
means  to  a  glorious  and  eternal  end. 

"Death,  death,  my  mother,"  she  would  say  in  her  agony;  "it  seems  so 
strange  that  I  shall  do  no  more  here.  You  will  come  back  (from  the  grave- 
yard), dearest  mother,  alone.  No  little  Rebecca  behind  the  curtain.  But 
that   is  onlv  one  side;  when   I   look   at  the  other,  I  forget   all — you   will  be 


io8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

comforted.  If  Dr.  C.  were  to  say  now,  Rebecca,  you  will  get  well,  I  could 
not  wish  it — no,  my  dearest  Savior!  I  am  convinced  of  the  happiness  of 
an  early  death.  And  to  sin  no  more — that  is  the  point,  my  mother;"  throw- 
ing her  arms  around  her,  and  repeating  "to  sin  no  more." 

A  few  extracts  from  the  journal  of  her  dear  child's  last  days,  made  by 
Mother  Seton  for  Father  Brute,  who  was  still  absent  in  Europe,  will 
describe  more  touchingly  than  any  words  of  our  own  the  admirable  fortitude 
with  which  the  little  sufferer  "endured  to  the  end." 

"'It  seemed  to  me  this  morning,'  said  she,  'that  I  could  not  bear  it;  but 
one  look  at  our  Savior  changed  it  all.  What  were  the  dislocations  of  his 
bones,  my  mother!  Oh,  how  can  I  mind  mine!'  Not  a  change  now  from 
continued  sitting,  but  to  kneel  a  little  on  one  knee ;  obliged  to  give  up  her 
bed  entirely.  We  tried  to-day.  'I  know,'  said  she,  'I  cannot;  but  we  must 
take  it  quietly,  my  dear  mother,  and  offer  up  the  pains' — trying  to  get  in 
and  out  of  bed — 'and  let  it  take  its  way.'  Finding  it  impossible,  she  said, 
'  I  must  lie  down  no  more  until — but  never  mind,  mother,  come  sit  by  me.' 
Softly  now  she  sings   the  little  words,  after  resting  on  one  knee  awhile,  for 

our  evening  prayer: 

"Now  another  day  is  gone, 

So  much  pain  and  sorrow  o'er, 

So  much  nearer  our  dear  home  ; 
There  we'll  praise  Him, 

There  we'll  bless  Him  evermore." 
Then  leans  so  peaceably  her  dear  head  on  my  lap,  and  offers  up,  as  she  says,, 
'the  poor  mass  of  corruption,  covered  with  the  blood  of  our  Jesus.' 

"The  little  beloved  now  sits  up  in  a  chair  night  and  day,  leaning  on  my 
arm,  the  bones  so  rubbed  she  cannot  rest  on  one  knee  as  before;  but  says  so- 
cheerfully,  'Our  Lord  makes  me  pay  for  past  misdemeanors.' 

"What  a  morning  with  our  little  one  !  her  perspective  !  Straining  for- 
ward, with  rolling,  rapid  tears,  she  said,  putting  her  arms  around  me, 
'  Mother,  the  worst  is,  I  shall  have  to  give  an  account  of  all  the  Masses  I 
have  heard  so  carelessly;  O  my  carelessness!'  the  tears  redoubled.  'My  first 
Communion!  yet  surely  I  tried  not  to  make  it  badly;  and  if,  dearest  mother, 
I  shall  have  the  blessings  of  the  last  sacraments,' — then  she  looked  so  earn- 
estly at  the  crucifix,  and  wiped  her  eyes.  Again  spoke  of  Extreme  Unction, 
after  all  the  comfort  of  another  burst  of  tears.  'Yet  the  last  struggles,  mother! 
—there  is  something  in  death — I  cannot  tell.  How  lazy  I  am,  my  mother; 
and  how  sweet  and  bright  is  Nina's  carpet!     [Her  sister  Annina's  carpet,  the 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON. 


[09 


blue  sky,  seen  from  the  window.]  Oh,  how  I  will  beg  our  Lord  to  let  me 
come  to  you,  when  you  will  be  here  so  lonely!  You  know,  mother,  I  never 
enjoyed  any  little  pleasure  in  this  world,  unless  you  shared  it,  or  I  told  you 
of  it.  How  I  will  beg  of  Him  to  let  me  come  and  comfort  you!  You  know, 
too,  I  could  guess  your  pains,  even  when  you  did  not  speak.'  But  oh,  the 
thousand  little  endearments  of  her  manner,  while  saying  these  words,  so  dear 
to  a  mother's  heart!  Every  waking  through  the  night  speaking  of  what 
they  were  doing  in  heaven!  Her  poor  leg  burst — pain  in  the  side  excessive — 
but  the  little  cheerful  laugh  and  pain  go  together.  '  How  good  it  is,  oh,  how 
good!  since  it  shows  our  Lord  will  not  let  it  last  long.' 

"  '  Last  night,'  said  she,  '  in  the  midst  of  my  misery,  I  seemed  somewhere 
gone  out  of  my  body,  and  summoning  all  the  saints  and  angels  to  pray  for 
me;  but  the  Blessed  Virgin,  St.  Joseph,  and  my  guardian  angel,  St.  Augus- 
tine, and  St.  Xavier,  whom  I  love  so  much  (St.  Augustine's  burning  heart 
for  our  Lord,  you  know,  mother),  these  I  claimed  and  insisted  on  defending 
me  in  judgment — oh,  my  mother!  that  judgment;'  then  again  her  eyes 
fastened  on  the  crucifix  as  long  as  pain  would  permit.  '  O  mother,  how  I 
suffer,  every  bone,  every  joint,  every  limb;  do,  mother,  pray  for  my  faith. 
You  see,  dearest,  every  day  something  of  warning  is  added  that  I  soon  must 
go;  yet  I  remember  only  twice  to  have  thought  my  sufferings  too  hard  since 
I  was  hurt — so  our  dear  Lord  pity  me,  and  give  me  a  short  purgatory ;  yet 
in  this  His  will  be  done ;  at  least,  then  I  shall  be  safe  and  sin  no  more.' 

"  Always  wishing  to  be  employed,  she  cut  some  leaves  of  artificial 
flowers,  and  seemed  very  earnestly  employed  in  sewing  on  a  small  garment 
for  a  poor  child,  with  trembling  hands  and  panting  breath,  two  days  before 
her  agony. 

"  The  superior  came,"  Rev.  Mr.  Dubois,  "  and  seeing  the  pitiful  state  of 
the  poor  darling,  kindly  offered  to  remain  with  her.  Her  gratitude  was  in- 
expressible. The  presence  of  a  priest  seemed  to  arm  her  against  every  power 
of  the  enemy.  He  told  her,  about  midnight,  that  as  she  had  not  slept  nor 
ate  anything  for  the  last  twenty -four  hours,  it  would  be  well  to  take  a  little 
paregoric.  '  Well,'  said  she  very  gently  to  him,  '  if  I  go  to  sleep  I  shall  not 
come  back;  so  good-by  to  you  all.  Do  give  my  love  to  everybody;  good-by, 
dear  Kit  (her  sister  Josephine,  kissing  her  most  tenderly),  and  you,  my 
dearest  mother.'  But  her  little  heart  failed  her,  and  she  hid  herself  in  my 
bosom.  Again,  trying  to  compose  herself,  she  said,  <  I  will  give  your  love  to 
everybody  I  meet  with   on   the  way.'     But  no  sleep  or  rest  for  her."     So 


1 10  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

dawned  for  child  and  mother  All  Souls'  Day.  "  It  passed  as  yesterday;  only 
increased  pains.  Our  God,  our  God !  to  wait  one  hour  for  an  object  every 
moment  expected!  but  poor  Bee's  hours  and  agonies  are  known  to  You  alone! 
■ — her  meek,  submissive  looks,  artless  appeals  of  sorrow,  and  unutterable  distress. 

"  The  hundred  little  acts  of  piety  that  All  Souls'  Day,  so  sad  and  sor- 
rowful; the  fears  of  the  poor  mother's  heart;  her  bleeding  heart  for  patience 
and  perseverance  in  so  weak  a  child,  the  silent  long  looks  at  each  other;  fears 
of  interfering  in  any  way  with  the  designs  of  infinite  love!  Oh,  that  day  and 
night  and  following  day!  The  Rev.  superior  told  her  he  would  not  wish  her 
sufferings  shortened.  She  quietly  gave  up,  felt  her  pulse  no  more,  inquired 
no  more  about  going,  or  what  time  it  was;  but  with  her  heart  of  sorrow 
pictured  on  her  countenance,  looking  now  at  the  crucifix,  again  at  mother, 
seemed  to  mind  nothing  else.  Once  she  said,  '  My  love  is  so  weak — so  im- 
perfect— my  mother ;  I  have  been  so  unfaithful,  I  have  proved  so  little  my 
love.'  Her  poor  little  heart  seemed  sinking,  yet  eyes  steadfastly  fixed  on  the 
crucifix.  'My  mother;  kiss  that  blessed  side  for  me.'  Her  small  crucifix 
round  her  neck  was  often  pressed  to  her  lips — those  cold,  dying  lips ;  and 
then  she  would  press  it  to  her  heart.  '  Hangs  my  helpless  soul  on  Thee,'  she 
would  say.  Night  came  again.  She  often  bowed  her  head,  in  which  all  her 
pain  seemed  centered,  to  the  holy  water  presented  by  the  Rev.  superior.  We 
said  some  short  prayers,  and  she  repeated,  '  In  the  hour  of  death  defend  me; 
call  me  to  come  to  Thee;  receive  me.'  Near  four  in  the  morning,  she  said, 
'Let  me  sit  once  more  on  the  bed;  it  will  be  the  last  struggle.'  Cecilia's 
arms  and  mother's  supporting  her,  she  sank  between  us;  the  darling  head  fell 
on  the  well-known  heart  it  loved  so  well,  and  all  was  over.  My  God!  my 
God!  That  morning  she  had  said,'  Be  not  sorrowful,  my  mother!  I  shall 
not  go  far  from  you;  I  am  sure  our  dear  Lord  will  let  me  come  and  console 
you.'  Josephine's  tears  hurt  her.  '  I  do  not  look,'  she  said,  '  to  being  left  in 
the  grave,  and  you  all  turning  home  without  me;  I  look  high  up.'  " 

During  the  years  we  have  so  rapidly  passed  over  many  sisters  were  sum- 
moned from  the  little  community  to  their  eternal  home.  And  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  relate  of  their  pious  souls  the  different  acts  of  humility,  charity,  and 
devotion  by  which  they  edified  all  who  knew  them,  and  embalmed  their 
names  in  the  memory  of  the  sisterhood,  some  idea  might  be  formed  of  the 
holy,  happy  retreat  over  which  Mother  Seton  presided  in  St.  Joseph's  Valley. 
Many  were  converts.  Amongst  others  we  are  told  of  one  who  had  been  .  a 
Methodist,  but  was  ever  seeking  after  the  true  Church  until  she  found  it. 


SAINTLY  MOTHER  SETON.  1 1 1 

"  Luther  is  Luther,"  she  used  to  say  to  those  on  whom  she  urged  her 
anxiety  before  her  conversion.  "Calvin  is  Calvin,  Wesley  is  Wesley;  but 
where  is  the  Church  of  the  Apostles?"  By  God's  good  grace  she  was  guided 
at  last  to  St.  Joseph's  Valley,  where  she  happily  found  what  she  sought. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  more  than  once  that  Mother  Seton's  health 
had  become  very  feeble ;  and  in  1820  her  lungs  were  so  seriously  affected 
that  her  medical  attendants  gave  no  hope  of  her  ultimate  recovery.  For  her 
this  world  had  long  ceased  to  be  anything  but  "  a  dark  passage  leading  to 
eternity.  I  see  nothing,"  she  says,  "  but  the  blue  sky  and  our  altars ;  all  the 
rest  is  so  plainly  as  not  to  be  looked  at.  We  talk  now  all  day  of  my  death, 
and  how  it  will  be,  just  like  the  rest  of  the  housework.  What  is  it  else?  What 
are  we  come  into  the  world  for?  Why  is  it  so  long,  but  this  last,  great, 
eternal  end?     It  seems  to  me  so  simple  when  I  look  up  to  the  crucifix." 

Twelve  years  she  had  now  spent  in  her  retirement.  During  the  last  f our 
months  she  was  confined  to  her  room,  and  her  sufferings  at  times  were  verv 
great;  but  only  under  obedience  to  her  director  would  she  submit  to  any  effort 
for  their  alleviation.  Not  a  complaint  was  to  be  heard;  and  if  through 
extreme  pain  there  escaped  her  an  involuntary  sign  of  impatience,  she  was 
uneasy  until  she  had  received  absolution.  Her  humility  was  as  great  as  her 
resignation.  One  of  the  sisters  saying  something  which  implied  a  hope  of 
going  to  heaven  immediately  after  death,  Mother  Seton  exclaimed  fervently, 
"  My  blessed  God !  how  far  from  that  thought  am  I,  of  going  straight  to 
heaven!  such  a  miserable  creature  as  I  am!"  Father  Brute"  was  constantly 
with  her,  and  his  ministry  was  a  source  of  the  most  abundant  graces  to  her 
soul. 

Being  about  to  receive  the  last  sacraments,  she  begged  that  all  her  spir- 
itual daughters  might  assemble  in  her  room,  where  they  were  addressed  in  her 
name  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dubois  as  follows:  "Mother  Seton  being  too  weak, 
charges  me  to  recommend  to  you  at  this  sacred  moment,  in  her  place;  first,  to 
be  united  together  as  true  Sisters  of  Charity ;  secondly,  to  stand  most  faith- 
fully by  your  rules;  thirdly,  that  I  ask  pardon  for  all  the  scandals  she  may 
have  given  you,  that  is,  for  indulgences  prescribed  during  sickness  by  me  or 
the  physicians."  Mother  Seton's  voice  added,  "  I  am  thankful,  sisters,  for 
your  kindness  in  being  present  at  this  trial.  Be  children  of  the  Church,  be 
children  of  the  Church." 

When  the  last  awful  moment  was  at  hand,  the  sisters  pressed  in  anguish 
around   the   bed    of   their  cherished  and    saintly  mother.     Her  only  daughter 


1 1 2  THE  COL  UMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

was  fainting  beside  her  from  intense  emotion;  but  on  Mother  Seton's  coun- 
tenance was  no  shadow  of  grief,  or  doubt,  or  disturbance — all  was  peace 
there.  She  rested  immovably  in  the  hands  of  God,  repeating,  "  May  the 
most  just,  the  most  high,  and  the  most  holy  will  of  God  be  accomplished 
forever!" 

A  sister  whom  she  requested  to  repeat  her  favorite  prayer ;  "  Soul  of 
Jesus,  sanctify  me;  Blood  of  Jesus,  wash  me,"  etc.,  being  unable  through  her 
sobs  to  proceed,  the  dying  lady  finished  it  herself.  "Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph," 
were  her  last  words.  And  thus  passed  away  from  this  world,  in  faith  and 
hope  and  love,  Mother  Elizabeth  Ann  Seton,  on  the  4th  of  January,  182 1,  in 
the  forty-seventh  year  of  her  age. 

Amidst  the  tears  and  lamentations  of  the  whole  community,  her  remains 
were  carried  to  their  last  resting-place  on  the  following  day.  A  cross  and  a 
rose-tree  were  planted  on  her  grave,  and  from  innumerable  grateful  hearts 
went  up  to  heaven  with  the  Adorable  sacrifice  the  most  pure  and  fervent 
prayers  that  her  soul  may  rest  in  peace.  Since  that  time  a  marble  monument 
has  been  raised  over  her  remains,  on  the  four  sides  of  which  are  inscribed : 
"  To  the  memory  of  E.  A.  Seton,  Foundress."  "Precious  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord  is  the  death  of  His  saints."  "  The  just  shall  live  in  everlasting 
remembrance."  "  The  just  shall  shine  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father."  And  on  the  wall  of  the  humble  chamber  in  which  she  breathed 
her  last  may  be  read  the  following  inscription:  "  Here  near  this  door,  by 
this  fire-place,  on  a  poor,  lowly  couch,  died  our  cherished  and  saintly  Mother 
Seton,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1821.  She  died  in  poverty,  but  rich  in  faith 
and  good  works;  may  we,  her  children,  walk  in  her  footsteps,  and  share 
one  day  in  her  happiness.     Amen." 


Chapter  9&\. 


JVieTROPOfclTANS  AND  COUNCILS. 


A  Glorious  Old  Age. — Bishop  Cheverus  Declines  the  Burden. — Archbishop 
Neale  at  Rest. — The  Coadjutor  Becomes  Primate. — A  Lawyer  Becomes 
Priest. — Abundant  Trials.— Establishment  of  Mt.  St.  Mary's. — The  Log 
College  at  the  Mountain. — Labors  of  Dr.  Dubois. — Baltimore  Diocese 
Divided. — Death  of  a  Christian  Prelate.— Archbishop  Whitefield  Con- 
secrated.— The  First  Provincial  Council. — Selection  From  Decrees. — 
Archbishop  Eccleston. — A  Series  of  Provincial  Councils.  —  Constant 
Demand  for  New  Dioceses. — Catholic  Army  Chaplains. — Service  in  the 
Mexican  War. — Archbishops  Kenrick,  Spalding,  and  Bayley. — National 
and  Plenary  Councils. — Sympathy  With  Pio  Nono. — The  Great  Vatican 
Council. — The  Present  Illustrious  Primate. 

N  the  death  of  the  first  archbishop  of  Baltimore  in  1815,  the 
United  States  contained  only  eighty-five  priests,  and  of  this  num- 
ber forty -six  were  in  the  metropolitan  diocese.  Archbishop 
Leonard  Neale  was  almost  seventy  years  old  when  he  was  left 
alone,  burdened  with  the  episcopacy,  and  painful  infirmities 
deprived  him  of  the  strength  which  he  would  have  needed  for  his 
high  functions.  We  have  recounted  the  apostolic  labors  of  the  missionary 
and  coadjutor.  After  braving  the  climate  of  Guiana  and  the  yellow-fever  of 
Philadelphia,  Bishop  Neale  was  to  bear  in  his  glorious  old  age  the  marks  of 
his  toil,  and  he  sought  repose  for  his  last  days  near  the  monastery  of  the 
Visitation,  which  he  had  founded  at  Georgetown.  Yet  when  his  health  per- 
mitted, and  on  solemn  occasions,  he  appeared  at  Baltimore,  and  devoted  him- 
self with  constant  care  to  the  administration  of  his  vast  diocese. 

Foreseeing  his  approaching  end,  the  holy  prelate   had  in  1815  petitioned 
the  sovereign  pontiff,  to  associate  to  him  in  the  administration  of  his  diocese, 

"3 


U4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Bishop  Cheverus,  of  Boston,  with  a  right  of  succession  to  the  see  of  Balti- 
more. Pius  VII  consented,  but  wished  first  to  know  how  he  was  to  replace 
Bishop  Cheverus  at  Boston.  Archbishop  Neale  invited  the  latter  to  Balti- 
more  to  confer  with  him  on  the  intentions  of  the  holy  father,  but  Bishop 
Cheverus  no  sooner  discovered  the  motive  than  he  begged  to  be  left  at  Bos- 
ton. He  strongly  urged  the  archbishop  to  take  in  preference  a  coadjutor, 
and  named  several  Jesuits  and  Mr.  Marechal,  a  priest  of  St.  Sulpice.  He 
also  wrote  on  the  subject  to  the  congregation  "de  propaganda  fide" 

Archbishop  Neale  at  last  yielded  to  his  friend's  wishes,  and  on  the 
refusal  of  several  Jesuits,  he  asked  the  Holy  See  to  appoint  Mr.  Mare'chal  as 
his  coadjutor.  As  soon  as  Bishop  Cheverus  knew  this  decision  he  wrote  to 
Rome,  asking  to  remain  at  Boston.  "I  shall  rejoice  to  see  Mr.  Marechal  per- 
forming the  episcopal  functions  at  Baltimore,  where  he  and  his  brethren  of 
St.  Sulpice  have  been  the  masters  and  models  of  the  clergy,  and  have  con- 
ciliated universal  regard." 

Pius  VII  approved  the  new  arrangement,  and  by  a  brief  of  July  24, 
1817,  he  appointed  Father  Ambrose  Marechal  coadjutor  to  the  archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  with  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Stauropolis.  But  before  the  date 
even  of  the  brief ,  Archbishop  Neale  had  sunk  under  his  infirmities.  He  died 
at  Georgetown,  on  the  15th  of  June,  1S17,  and  his  mortal  remains  were  laid 
in  the  convent  chapel  of  the  Visitation,  where  they  still  remain.  "  Thus," 
says  his  biographer,  "thus  in  death  was  he  placed  where  his  affections 
were  strongest  in  life;  and  thus,  in  the  last  honors  to  his  mortal  remains, 
was  preserved  a  parallel  to  the  last  sad  tribute  to  St.  Francis  of  Sales. 
The  body  of  Archbishop  Neale  sleeps  under  the  chapel  of  the  convent 
founded  by  him  in  America;  that  of  St.  Francis  under  the  church  of  the  con- 
vent which  he  founded  in  Europe.  Annecy  has  her  saint;  so  may  we  hope 
that  Georgetown  has  hers." 

The  bulls  appointing  Archbishop  Marechal  did  not  reach  Baltimore  till 
the  10th  of  November,  1817,  five  months  after  the  death  of  his  venerable 
predecessor,  and  he  was  consecrated  on  the  14th  of  December  followingrby 
Bishop  Cheverus,  of  Boston.  Ambrose  Marechal,  thus  raised  to  the  primacy 
of  the  American  Church,  was  born  at  Ingre,  near  Orleans,  in  1768.  When 
he  had  completed  his  classical  course,  he  felt  a  vocation  for  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  but  his  family  opposed  his  designs  so  warmly  that  he  at  first  yielded  to 
their  desires,  and  began  the  study  of  law,  intending  to  practice  at  the  bar. 
The  young  advocate  soon  found,    however,   that    he    was  called    to    a   far 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  nc 

different  life,  and  after  having  shown  all  due  deference  to  his  family's  wishes, 
at  last  entered  the  Sulpitian  Seminary  at  Orleans.  The  persecutions  of  revolu- 
tionary France  did  not  shake  his  resolution,  but  he  resolved  to  depart  from  a 
land  that  martyred  its  faithful  clergy,  and  he  embarked  at  Bordeaux  for  the 
United  States,  with  the  Abbes  Matignon,  Richard,  and  Ciquard.  It  was  on 
the  very  eve  of  his  embarkation  that  Abbe"  Marexhal  was  privately  ordained, 
and  such  were  the  horrors  of  those  unhappy  times,  that  he  was  even  prevented 
from  saying  Mass.  He  celebrated  the  Holy  Sacrifice  for  the  first  time  at 
Baltimore,  where  he  arrived  on  June  24,  1792.  Later  he  became  professor 
at  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  and  was  for  a  time  president  of  the  college.  This 
life  of  study,  so  akin  to  his  taste,  was  not,  however,  to  last;  and  in  1816  he 
was  informed  of  his  nomination  by  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  the  see  of  Phila- 
delphia. In  vain  did  he  endeavor  to  escape  these  honors;  it  was  only  to  have 
far  greater  imposed  upon  him  by  pontifical  authority.  He  alleged  the  import- 
ance of  leaving  him  at  his  studies,  at  least  till  the  completion  of  a  theological 
work  adapted  to  the  religious  condition  of  the  United  States.  But  the  Church 
chose  to  employ  his  merit  in  more  eminent  functions,  and  Mr.  Marechal  con- 
sented to  become  archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  earlier  days  of  his  administration  were  thick  sown  with  trials  of  the 
most  painful  character.  The  Catholics  in  the  United  States,  living  amid  a 
Protestant  population,  and  influenced  by  the  surrounding  ideas  of  independ- 
ence, have  not  always  shown  the  subordination  ever  to  be  desired  towards 
pastors.  The  temporal  administration  of  the  churches  is  the  source  of  con- 
stant collisions;  and  the  laity,  seeing  the  manner  in  which  the  Protestant 
churches  are  managed,  too  frequently  usurp  powers  not  their  own.  Archbishop 
Marechal  had  thus  to  struggle  with  a  spirit  of  insubordination  and  faction, 
which  threatened  to  result  in  an  open  schism.  In  this  difficult  position,  the 
prelate  displayed  that  zeal,  that  prudence,  that  devotion  to  his  flock,  that 
firm  adherence  to  true  principles,  which  have  ever  characterized  great  bishops, 
and  which  eventually  checked  the  progress  of  the  disorder,  under  which  the 
cause  of  religion  threatened  to  sink.  His  pastoral  in  1819  showed  the  extent 
of  the  evil  and  the  wisdom  of  the  remedy.  It  laid  down  with  preciseness 
the  reciprocal  rights  and  duties  of  the  clergy  and  laity;  it  shows  the  entire 
inaptitude  of  the  latter  to  interfere  in  the  spiritual  government  of  the  Church, 
and  points  out  to  the  priests  the  calamities  which  would  afflict  religion,  if  they 
neglected  the  obligations  of  their  sacredotal  character.  It  maintains  the 
exclusive  right  for  the  episcopal  authority,  of  appointing  priests  to  parishes 


„6  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  for  other  duties,  and  concludes  in  these  words:  "In  the  midst  of  the 
troubles  and  persecutions  to  which  you  are  now,  or  may  hereafter  be  exposed, 
be  careful,  after  the  example  of  the  saints,  dearest  brethren  daily  to  entreat 
with  fervor  your  heavenly  Father,  to  take  under  his  special  protection  your- 
selves, your  families,  your  friends,  your  pastors,  and  all  the  Catholics  of  the 
United  States.  The  Church  of  Christ  in  this  country  is  now  in  affliction. 
Dissensions  and  scandals  threaten  to  destroy  her  peace  and  happiness.  As 
for  you,  dear  brethren,  strive  to  console  her  by  every  possible  mark  of  respect, 
attachment,  obedience,  and  love;  for  though  surrounded  with  difficulties, 
though  even  attacked  by  some  unnatural  children,  still  she  is  your  mother, 
your  protectress,  your  guide  on  earth,  and  the  organ  by  which  Divine  mercy 
communicates  to  you  the  treasure  of  His  grace,  and  all  the  means  of  salvation." 

Other  obstacles,  of  a  more  personal  character,  added  to  the  burdens  of 
the  episcopate,  in  the  case  of  Archbishop  Marshal.  Yet,  his  administration 
was  not  without  its  consolations,  not  the  least  of  which  was  the  continued 
success  and  permanent  establishment  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  Seminary  and 
College.  Of  this  hive  of  the  American  clergy — for  it  has  given  the  Church 
many  archbishops  and  bishops,  and  a  large  proportion  of  our  most  zealous 
and  useful  priests — we  must  now  treat. 

The  Rev.  John  Dubois,  of  whom  we  shall  hereafter  speak  more  at  length, 
was  stationed,  in  1808,  at  Frederick,  and  once  a  month  celebrated  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  in  the  private  chapel  of  Aloysius  Elder,  Esq.,  as  his  predecessors  had 
done  for  many  years.  The  better  days,  however,  now  justified  the  erection 
of  a  church,  and  the  zealous  priest  began  to  erect  near  Emmitsburg,  a  church, 
on  a  rising  ground,  which  he  named  Mount  St.  Mary's.  A  church  did  not 
satisfy  his  zeal ;  he  sought  also  to  found  a  school,  which  should  furnish  candi- 
dates for  holy  orders;  and,  in  all  humility,  began  his  labors  to  carry  out 
the  idea  which  he  had  conceived.  Purchasing  a  log  hut  near  the  Church, 
he  opened  his  school  in  1808,  and  having  in  the  following  year  joined 
the  Sulpitians,  he  received  the  pupils  of  their  establishment  at  Pigeon 
Hill.  His  little  log  hut  and  a  small  brick  house  in  the  neighborhood,  no 
longer  sufficed,  so  that  he  purchased  the  present  site  of  the  college,  and, 
erecting  suitable  buildings,  resigned  his  log-cabin  to  Mother  Seton,  who 
made  it  the  cradle  of  her  order. 

The  first  college  at  the  mountain  was  but  a  row  of  log-cabins,  themselves 
the  work  of  several  years'  toil,  for  the  founder  had  but  little  means.  Yet  all 
joined  in  his  labors,  and,  by  their  united  efforts,  grounds  were  cleared,  gardens 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  Iiy 

and  orchards  planted,  and  roads  cut.  In  spite,  however,  of  these  disadvantages, 
the  well-known  ability  of  Mr.  Dubois  drew  pupils  to  his  rural  school,  though 
the  payment  in  kind  often  corresponded  to  the  style  rather  than  to  the  wants 
of  the  establishment.  And  the  school,  though'  strictly  Catholic,  increased, 
so  that  its  ever  cheerful  and  laborious  president  could  not,  in  1812,  have  had 
less  than  sixty  pupils  under  his  care.  Of  his  associates  in  the  foundation, 
none  deserves  a  higher  praise  than  one  whom  Catholics  have  learned  to  style 
the  sainted  Brute,  whose  name  is  no  less  indissolubly  united  to  Mount  St. 
Mary's  than  to  Vincennes,  of  which  he  died  bishop.  Removed,  for  a  time, 
to  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  in  Baltimore,  Mr.  Brute  returned  to  the  mountain 
in  181S,  and,  opening  the  class  of  theology,  made  the  establishment  a  seminary 
as  well  as  a  college,  thus  giving  it  the  present  form  and  its  present  stability. 
By  this  time,  too,  pupils  had  become  teachers,  and  the  Rev.  Roger  Smith, 
Nicholas  Kerney,  Alexius  Elder,  George  Elder,  founder  of  St.  Joseph's  at 
Bardstown,  and  William  Byrne,  founder  of  St.  Mary's,  in  the  same  State; 
Charles  Constantine  Pise,  John  B.  Purcell,  now  archbishop  of  Cincinnati, 
John  Hughes,  now  archbishop  of  New  York,  with  his  former  coadjutor,  the 
bishop  of  Albany,  all,  with  many  another  priest  and  prelate,  taught,  in  their 
younger  days,  the  classes  at  the  mountain. 

Mr.  Brute's  talents,  during  the  next  sixteen  years  which  he  spent  here, 
availed  the  institution  not  only  as  a  professor — as  a  treasurer,  his  method  and 
system  extricated  it  from  many  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and  placed  matters 
in  a  secure  shape. 

So  complete  had  been  the  success,  and  so  promising  were  now  their 
hopes,  that  Dr.  Dubois,  soon,  after  the  separation  from  the  Sulpitians,  in  18 19, 
resolved  to  erect  a  stone  edifice  for  the  accommodation  of  his  pupils.  This 
work  Archbishop  Mardchal  approved  and  encouraged.  Accordingly,  in  the 
spring  of  1824,  a  handsome  building  of  three  stories  high,  and  ninety-five 
feet  by  forty  in  extent,  was  raised  on  the  mountain;  but  just  as  all  were  pre- 
paring at  Whitsuntide  to  enter,  to  their  grief  and  regret  it  was  fired  by  accident 
or  design,  and  in  a  few  hours  nothing  remained  but  a  mass  of  smoking  ruins. 
Undaunted  by  this  disaster,  which  Doctor  Pise  has  embalmed  in  our  memories 
in  classic  verse,  Dr.  Dubois  at  once  began  the  erection  of  a  new  and  grander 
college.  Great  were  the  trials  it  imposed  upon  him  and  the  companions  of 
his  labors,  but  aided  by  the  generous  contributions  of  the  neighbors,  and  of 
Catholics  in  various  parts,  the  great  work  was  completed  just  as  the  illustrious 
founder  was  called  to  occupy  the  see  of  New  York,  in  1826. 


:iS  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

While  the  illustrious  Dubois  was  consolidating  a  work  so  important  to  his 
diocese,  Archbishop  Mar^chal  was  still  more  consoled  by  the  increase  of 
Catholics,  and  by  the  numbers  whom  the  clergy  found  in  sections  where  they 
least  expected  to  meet  any. 

It  will  not  be  useless  to  define  here  in  what  this  increase  of  the  Catholic 
population  consists,  of  which  we  must  render  an  account  periodically  in  each 
diocese,  and  which  has  made  it  necessary  to  multiply  the  bishops  from  one  to 
forty  in  the  space  of  sixty  years.  The  immigration,  chiefly  from  Ireland, 
scattering  over  the  country,  presented  on  all  sides  little  congregations  ready 
for  a  pastor.  When  he  came,  Catholics,  or  the  children  of  Catholics,  who 
had  almost  lost  the  faith  in  the  absence  of  religious  teachers,  gathered  around 
and  converts  came  silently  dropping  in,  chiefly, -however,  from  the  more 
enlightened  classes. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  diocese  of  Baltimore  now  called  for  a  division, 
and  in  1S1S  the  Rev.  Robert  Browne,  an  Irish  Augustinian  who  had  been 
for  many  years  a  missionary  at  Augusta,  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  proceeded 
to  Rome,  bearing  a  petition  from  the  Catholics  soliciting  the  erection  of  a 
new  diocese,  to  comprise  the  states  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia; 
for  though  few  and  scattered  the  Catholics  were  so  remote  from  the  episco- 
pal see  that  their  interests  were  unavoidably  neglected. 

The  Holy  See  examined  the  question  with  its  usual  maturity,  and 
resolved  to  erect  Virginia  into  a  diocese  of  which  Richmond  should  be  the 
episcopal  see,  and  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia  into  another,  the  bishop  of 
which  should  reside  at  Charleston.  To  the  latter  see  the  holy  father 
appointed  the  Rev.  John  England,  pastor  of  Brandon,  in  the  diocese  of  Cork, 
who  was  already  favorably  known  in  the  United  States. 

The  diocese  of  Richmond,  thus  erected  in  1821,  continued  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  the  archbishops  of  Baltimore  for  twenty  years,  nor  did  any  bishop 
sit  in  Richmond  till  1S41,  when  the  first  bishop  of  Wheeling  was  appointed 
to  the  see. 

While  the  extensive  diocese  of  BaLtimore  was  thus  subdivided,  Bishop 
Flaget,  of  Bardstown,  was  also  soliciting  at  Rome  the  division  of  his;  and 
thus,  at  the  commencement  of  1822,  the  United  States  were  divided  into  nine 
dioceses,  viz. : 

1.  Baltimore,  comprising  Maryland  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 

2.  Boston,  comprising  the  six  New  England  states. 

3.  New  York,  comprising  the  state  of  New  York  and  half  of  New  Jersey. 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  119 

4.  Philadelphia,  comprising  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  half  of 
New  Jersey. 

5.  Bardstown,  comprising  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

6.  Charleston,  comprising  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia. 

7.  Richmond,  comprising  the  state  of  Virginia,  and  administered  by  the 
archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

8.  Cincinnati,  comprising  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Northwest   Territory. 

9.  New  Orleans,  comprising  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  Missouri. 
Archbishop  Marechal  had  the  consolation  of  opening  for  divine  worship 

the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  which  had  been  begun  by  Archbishop  Carroll 
eighteen  years  before.  On  the  31st  of  May,  182 1,  this  beautiful  Church  was 
solemnly  dedicated,  and  its  Byzantine  architecture,  though  not  a  model  of 
taste,  is  not  destitute  of  grandeur  in  its  proportion.  Its  situation  of  the  sum- 
mit of  a  pyramidal  hill,  on  which  the  houses  of  the  city  are  built,  gives  to 
Baltimore  the  aspect  of  an  entirely  Catholic  city,  where  the  Cathedral  towers 
above  all  the  other  monuments,  as  in  our  European  cities.  The  archbishop 
obtained  in  France  numerous  presents,  a  painting  and  vestments,  with  which 
he  adorned  the  temple  that  he  had  raised.  Archbishop  Marshal  could  here 
display  all  the  pomp  of  our  worship,  being  aided  by  the  Sulpitians  of  the 
seminary,  who  had  preserved  all  the  traditions  of  the  ceremonial.  Nothing 
is  more  desirable  than  thus  to  surround  religion  with  the  dignity  which  is  its 
noblest  appanage.  The  poverty  of  the  sanctuary,  or  their  narrow  precincts, 
too  often  deprives  the  faithful  in  the  United  States  of  the  most  imposing 
solemnities.  The  absence  of  ceremonies  likens  our  churches  to  the  coldness 
of  sectarian  halls,  but  the  pomp  of  worship,  while  it  revives  the  faith  of 
Catholics,  produces  a  salutary  impression  on  such  of  our  separated  brethren 
as  witness  it.  Nothing  is,  then,  more  desirable  than  to  see  large  churches 
multiplied  in  the  United  States,  and  Archbishop  Marshal  was  one  of  the 
first  to  appreciate  the  advantage  which  religion  might  derive  from  them. 

Archbishop  Marechal  went  to  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  182 1,  to  lay 
the  state  of  his  diocese  before  the  sovereign  pontiff.  In  1826  he  visited 
Canada,  whither  the  interests  of  religion  led  him,  for  he  shrank  from  no 
fatigue  at  the  call  of  duty.  But  the  cruel  pangs  of  a  dropsy  in  the  chest  soon 
condemned  him  to  absolute  repose.  He  bore  the  pains  of  a  long  illness  with 
Christian  courage,  and  died  on  the  29th  of  January,  1S28,  in  the  expectation 
of  a  blessed  immortality. 

As  soon  as  Archbishop   Marechal  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  the  disease 


I2o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

that  was  to  carry  him  off,  he  applied  to  the  Holy  See  for  a  coadjutor  to  suc- 
ceed him  in  his  important  post.  The  name  of  Dr.  James  Whitfield  was  the 
first  on  the  list  of  persons  which  he  submitted  to  the  choice  of  the  holy  father, 
and  by  a  brief  of  the  8th  of  January,  1828,  Leo  XII,  acceding  to  the  arch- 
bishop's request,  appointed  Dr.  Whitfield  coadjutor.  The  brief  did  not 
arrive  until  after  Archbishop  Mardchal  had  expired,  and  Dr.  Whitfield  was 
consecrated  archbishop  of  Baltimore  on  Whitsunday,  the  25th  of  May,  1828. 

James  Whitfield  was  born  at  Liverpool,  England,  on  the  3d  of  Novem- 
ber, 1770,  and  belonged  to  a  very  respectable  mercantile  family,  who  gave 
him  all  the  advantages  of  a  sound  education.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
lost  his  father  and  became  the  sole  protector  of  his  mother. 

In  order  to  dissipate  her  melancholy  he  took  her  to  Italy,  and  after  spend- 
ing some  vears  there  in  commercial  affairs,  young  Whitfield  went  to  France, 
in  order  to  pass  over  to  England.  It  was  just  at  this  moment  that  Napoleon 
decreed  that  every  Englishman  discovered  on  French  soil  should  be  retained 
a  prisoner.  James  Whitfield  spent  most  of  the  period  of  his  exile  at 
Lyons,  and  there  formed  the  acquaintance  with  the  Abbe'  Mar^chal,  the 
future  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  then  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  seminary 
of  St.  Irenaeus,  at  Lyons.  The  young  man's  piety  soon  disposed  him  to 
embrace  the  ecclesiastical  state.  He  entered  the  seminary  under  the  direc- 
tion of  his  learned  frierld,  and  was  soon  distinguished  for  his  ardor  as  a  student 
and  for  his  solidity  of  judgment.  He  was  ordained  at  Lyons  in  1809,  and  on 
his  mother's  death  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  for  some  time  appointed 
to  the  parish  of  Crosby.  When  the  Abb£  Mare'chal  was  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  begging  him  to  come  and 
share  the  cares  of  a  diocese  whose  wants  were  so  great.  Mr.  Whitfield 
yielded  to  the  desire  of  his  old  tutor,  and  he  landed  in  the  United  States  on 
the  8th  of  September,  1817.  He  was  at  first  stationed  at  St.  Peter's  Church, 
Baltimore,  and  then  became  one  of  the  vicars-general  of  the  diocese.  In 
1825,  by  a  special  indult  of  the  court  of  Rome,  the  archbishop  solemnly  con- 
ferred on  Mr.  Whitfield  and  two  other  eminent  clergymen  of  Baltimore  the 
grade  of  Doctor  of  Divinity;  and  the  ceremony,  full  of  interest  for  Catholics, 
was  hailed  by  them  with  joy  as  the  commencement  of  a  faculty  of  theology 
in  America. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Archbishop  Whitfield's  administration  was  the 
visitation  of  his  diocese,  which,  in  1828,  comprised  fifty-two  priests  and 
from  sixty  thousand  to  eighty  thousand  Catholics.     This  visitation  showed 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  121 

him  the  crying  wants  of  the  vast  district  committed  to  his  care,  and  the 
feeble  resources  which  he  could  control  for  the  advancement  of  religion. 
His  private  fortune  was  considerable,  and  he  now  devoted  his  whole  income 
to  building  churches  and  establishing  useful  institutions.  Like  his  venerable 
predecessor,  he  invariably  appealed  for  aid  to  the  Association  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Faith,  and  by  the  returns  of  that  body  from  1825  to  1834,  the 
archbishop  of  Baltimore  received  thirty-two  thousand  francs.  There  was, 
moreover,  a  certain  sum  allotted  for  Mount  St.  Mary's,  and  Louis  XVIII  and 
Charles  X  also  sent,  on  several  occasions,  offerings  to  their  grand  almoner 
for  the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  Still  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith  showed  itself,  at  first,  especially  liberal  to  the  dioceses  of  New 
Orleans  and  Bardstown.  There  all  was  to  be  created,  while  Maryland  offered 
some  resources  to  her  clergy. 

The  Catholic  bishops  in  the  United  States  had  long  desired  to  assemble 
in  council,  in  order  to  adopt  regulations  as  to  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments.  Obstacles,  however,  of  various  kinds 
prevented  their  meeting.  Archbishop  Whitfield  undertook  to  remove  all  these 
difficulties,  and  with  the  approbation  of  the  Holy  See,  had  the  satisfaction  of 
convoking  his  colleagues  in  a  provincial  council,  the  opening  of  which  took 
place  on  Sunday,  the  4th  of  October,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore.  The 
prelates  who  met  at  the  call  of  their  metropolitan  were: 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Joseph  Flaget,  bishop  of  Bardstown. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  England,  bishop  of  Charleston  and  vicar-general  of 
Florida  East. 

Rt.  Rev.  Edward  Fenwick,  bishop  of  Cincinnati. 

Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  bishop  of  St.  Louis  and  administrator  of  New 
Orleans. 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick,  bishop  of  Boston. 

Four  prelates  were  unable  to  come,  from  sickness  or  other  imperative 
reasons.  Archbishop  Whitfield  celebrated  a  solemn  Mass,  and  having  fixed 
that  day  for  the  reception  of  his  pallium,  it  was  imposed  upon  him  by  Bishop 
Flaget,  the  senior  prelate. 

The  decrees  of  this  council,  having  been  duly  submitted  at  Rome,  were 
approved  and  printed  in  183 1.  Following  is  a  summary  of  the  more  im- 
portant: 

I.  The  bishops  have  the  right  of  sending  to  any  part  of  their  diocese,  or 
recalling  any  priest  ordained  or  incorporated  within  it.     This  does  not  extend 


I22  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

to  the  see  of  New  Orleans,  which  is  alone  regarded  as  having  the  rank  and 
privileges  of  benefices  in  the  United  States. 

II.  Priests  ordained  in  a  diocese  or  incorporated  into  it  are  not  to  leave 
without  license  of  the  bishop. 

III.  Bishops  are  exhorted  not  to  grant  faculties  to  strange  priests, 
unless  they  bring  testimonials  from  their  own  bishops.  This  provision,  how- 
ever, does  not  apply  to  apostolical  missionaries. 

V.  As  lay  trustees  have  often  abused  the  powers  conferred  upon  them 
by  the  civil  law,  the  council  expresses  the  desire  that  bishops  should  not  con- 
sent to  the  erection  or  consecration  of  a  church,  unless  a  deed  of  the  prop- 
erty be  duly  executed  to  them. 

VI.  Some  laymen,  and  especially  trustees,  having  assumed  a  right  of 
patronage,  and  even  of  institution,  in  some  churches,  the  council  declares 
these  pretensions  unfounded,  and  forbids  their  exercise  on  any  grounds  what- 
ever. 

IX.  The  council  exhorts  the  bishops  to  dissuade  their  flocks  from 
reading  Protestant  translations  of  the  bible,  and  recommend  the  use  of  the 
Douay  version. 

X.  It  is  forbidden  to  admit  as  sponsors,  heretics,  scandalous  sinners, 
infamous  men ;  lastly,  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of  faith. 

XVI.  A  question  having  grown  up  from  the  difficulty  of  the  times,  of 
conferring  baptism  in  private  houses,  the  council  does  not  wish  to  suppress 
it  absolutely,  but  nevertheless  exhorts  priests  to  administer  the  sacrament  in 
the  Church  as  much  as  possible. 

XXVI.  The  pastors  of  souls  are  warned  that  it  behooves  them  to  pre- 
pare the  faithful  well  for  the  sacrament  of  matrimony;  and  that  they  should 
not  consider  themselves  exempt  from  sin,  if  they  have  the  temerity  to  admin- 
ister the  sacrament  to  persons  manifestly  unworthy. 

XXXIV.  As  many  young  Catholics,  especially  those  born  of  poor 
parents,  are  exposed  to  the  danger  of  losing  faith  and  morality,  from  the 
want  of  teachers  to  whom  their  education  may  be  safely  confided,  the  coun- 
cil expresses  the  wish  that  schools  should  be  established,  where  youth  may 
imbibe  principles  of  faith  and  morality  along  with  human  knowledge. 

XXXVI.  According  to  the  wise  counsel  of  Pope  Leo  XII,  addressed 
to  the  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  a  society  shall  be  established  for  the  diffusion 
of  good  books. 

To  meet  the  views  of  the  holy  father,  the  bishops  formed  an  association 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS, 


123 


to  publish  elementary  books  suited  to  Catholic  schools,  and  free  from  all 
that  can  give  the  young  false  ideas  as  to  religion.  This  metropolitan  press 
continued  its  issues  for  several  years,  till  the  spirit  of  enterprise  among  Cath- 
olic booksellers  led  them  to  publish  devotional  and  other  works  so  cheap 
that  the  object  of  the  bishops  was  attained.  The  prelates  also  favored  the 
establishment  of  Catholic  journals,  and  the  Catholics  in  the  United  States 
soon  counted  five  weekly  organs — the  "Metropolitan"  at  Baltimore,  the 
"Jesuit "  at  Boston,  the  "  Catholic"  at  Hartford,  the  "  Miscellany  "  at  Charles- 
ton, and  the  «  Truth  Teller." 

The  years  which  followed  the  meeting  of  the  first  provincial  council  of 
Baltimore  brought  various  changes  in  the  episcopate  of  the  United  States. 
Bishop  Dubourg  of  New  Orleans  had  left  Louisiana  in  June,  1826,  to  assume 
the  direction  of  the  diocese  of  Montauban  in  France,  and  New  Orleans  had 
for  several  years  been  administered  by  the  bishop  of  St.  Louis.  The  vacancy 
of  the  see  was  filled  by  the  pontifical  rescript  of  August  4,  1829,  appointing 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Leo  De  Neckere,  a  Belgian  priest  of  the  congregation  of  the 
missions,  bishop  of  New  Orleans.  He  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Rosati  on 
the  24th  of  June,  1830,  and  began  his  episcopate.  At  Cincinnati,  Bishop 
Edward  Fenwick,  having  fallen  a  victim  to  the  cholera  in  1832,  had  been 
replaced  by  Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  consecrated  on  the  13th  of  October, 
1833.  At  Philadelphia,  the  Rev.  William  Mathews,  appointed  administrator 
of  the  diocese  by  a  pontifical  brief  dated  February  26,  1828,  having  refused 
the  post  of  coadjutor,  the  Rev.  Francis  Patrick  Kenrick  was  appointed  bishop 
of  Arath  and  coadjutor  of  Philadelphia,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  6th  of 
June,  1830.  Lastly,  the  Holy  See  had  formed  a  special  diocese  of  Michigan 
and  Northwest  Territory,  which  comprised  what  is  now  Wisconsin  and  Iowa, 
and  named  the  Rev.  Frederick  Rese'  bishop  of  Detroit. 

The  prelates  who  corresponded  to  the  call  of  Archbishop  Whitfield, 
and  convened  with  their  metropolitan  on  the  20th  of  October,  1833,  were: 

Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  David,  bishop  of  Mauricastro  and  coadjutor  of  Bardstown. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  England,  bishop  of  Charleston. 

Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  bishop  of  St.  Louis. 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick,  bishop  of  Boston. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  Dubois,  bishop  of  New  York. 

Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Portier,  bishop  of  Mobile. 

Rt.  Rev.  Francis  P.  Kenrick,  bishop   of   Arath,   coadjutor  and  adminis 
trator  of  Philadelphia. 


l2.  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Rt.  Rev.  Frederick  R£sd,  bishop  of  Detroit. 
Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  bishop  of  Cincinnati. 

The  two  last  named  prelates  had  received  episcopal  consecration  only  a 
few  days  before  the  opening  of  the  council.  Bishop  Flaget  of  Bardstown, 
had  been  prevented  by  age  from  coming  to  Baltimore,  and  Bishop  De  Neck- 
ere,  of  New  Orleans,  had  died  the  preceding  month. 

By  its  fourth  decree,  the  council  submits  to  the  Holy  See  the  following 
mode  of  electing  the  bishops: 

"When  a  see  falls  vacant,  the  suffrages  of  the  other  bishops  in  the 
province  are  to  be  taken,  in  order  to  determine  the  priests  who  shall  be  pro- 
posed to  the  sovereign  pontiff  for  that  see.  If  a  provincial  council  is  to  meet 
within  three  months  after  the  prelate's  death,  the  bishops  are  to  wait  till  then 
to  select  the  persons  to  be  proposed.  Bishops  desiring  a  coadjutor  shall  also 
submit  to  the  votes  of  their  colleagues  in  council  assembled,  the  names  of  the 
clergymen  proposed  for  the  post  of  coadjutor. 

"As  the  holding  of  a  provincial  council  may  be  remote,  every  bishop  shall 
keep  two  sealed  packages,  containing  the  names  of  at  least  three  priests  who 
seem  to  him  worthy  to  succeed  him.  On  the  death  of  the  prelate,  the  vicar, 
general  shall  transmit  one  of  these  to  the  archbishop,  the  other  to  the  nearest 
bishop.  The  latter,  after  taking  note  of  the  names  given  by  the  late  prelate,  shall 
transmit  it  with  his  observations  to  the  archbishop.  The  metropolitan  then 
writes  to  all  his  suffragans,  submitting  to  their  examination  the  three  names 
o-iven  by  the  late  prelate,  or  three  others,  if  he  finds  serious  objections  to  the 
former;  and  then  every  bishop  writes  individually  to  the  propaganda,  giving 
his  observations  on  the  three  or  on  the  six  proposed.  On  the  death  of  the 
metropolitan,  the  dean  of  the  suffragans  shall  discharge  the  duties  which,  in 
other  circumstances,  devolve  on  the  archbishop.  If  the  deceased  prelate  leave 
among  his  papers  no  nomination  of  a  successor,  the  nearest  bishop  suggests 
three  names  to  the  archbishop,  and  the  latter  submits  them  to  his  suffragans, 
with  three  other  names,  if  the  former  do  not  meet  his  confidence. " 

The  two  councils  over  which  Archbishop  Whitfield  had  the  glory  of 
presiding,  and  which  illustrate  the  period  of  his  short  episcopacy,  displayed 
the  dignity  and  conciliating  spirit  of  the  venerable  metropolitan.  The  sessions 
were  conducted  with  an  order  and  unanimity  which  gave  general  satisfaction. 
Before  these  august  assemblies  the  prelates  of  the  United  States  had  only  a 
very  imperfect  knowledge  of  each  other;  they  were  united  only  by  the  com- 
mon sentiment  of  respect  which  the  episcopal  character  inspired;  but  after 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS. 


I25 


deliberating  together  on  the  gravest  interests  of  the  Church,  after  learning  to 
esteem  and  love  each  other,  while  exchanging  opinions  often  different,  but 
always  based  on  the  desire  of  the  general  good,  the  bishops  separated  to  bear 
to  their  several  dioceses  sentiments  of  sincerest  friendship  and  esteem  for  each 
other.  The  deliberations  of  the  councils  were  very  important  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Catholic  population;  they  contrasted  with  the  tumultuous  assemblies  of 
Protestantism,  and  such  was  the  veneration  which  they  inspired,  that  three 
celebrated  jurists,  of  whom  one  was  the  late  Chief-Justice  Tany5  admitted 
once  before  the  bishops  to  give  an  opinion  on  some  points  relating  to  the  civil 
law  of  the  land,  left  the  council  full  of  respect  and  wonder.  "  We  have," 
they  said,  "appeared  before  solemn  tribunals  of  justice,  but  have  never  had 
less  assurance,  or  felt  less  confidence  in  ourselves,  than  when  we  entered  that 
august  assembly." 

Before  sickness  had  seriously  enfeebled  Archbishop  Whitfield,  that  pre- 
late and  his  suffragans  had  been  engaged  in  proposing  to  the  Holy  See  an 
ecclesiastic  whose  zeal  and  piety  fitted  him  to  govern  a  diocese  so  important 
as  that  of  Baltimore ;  and  such  a  person  they  had  found  in  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Eccleston,  president  of  St.  Mary's  College.  The  propaganda  approved  this 
choice,  and  in  the  summer  of  1834  Archbishop  Whitfield  received  letters 
apostolic,  nominating  Father  Eccleston  bishop  in  partibus,  and  coadjutor  of 
the  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  with  the  right  of  succession.  The  prelate  elect 
was  consecrated  in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore  on  the  14th  of  September  in 
the  same  year,  Archbishop  Whitfield  performing  the  ceremony.  But  that 
worthy  dignitary  soon  sunk  under  the  weight  of  his  infirmities,  and  at  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  19th  of  October,  1834,  Dr.  Eccleston  became 
archbishop  of  Baltimore.  In  the  following  year  he  received  the  pallium,  the 
complement  of  his  metropolitan  dignity;  and  he  was  at  the  same  time,  as  his 
two  predecessors  had  been,  invested  with  the  administration  of  the  see  of 
Richmond,  for  which  the  Holy  See  appointed  no  bishop  till  1841. 

Samuel  Eccleston  was  born  on  the  27th  of  June,  1801,  in  Kent  county, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  His  grandfather,  Sir  John  Eccleston,  had 
emigrated  thither  from  England  some  years  before  the  Revolutionary  War. 
His  parents  occupied  an  honorable  position  in  society,  and  belonged  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  which,  too,  young  Samuel  was  educated. 
But  while  still  young  his  mother  became  a  widow,  and  married  a  worthy 
Catholic,  and  this  event  opened  to  him  a  horizon  of  light  and  grace,  consider- 
ably developed  in  the  sequel  by  his  education.     The  young  man  was  placed 


126 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


at  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  and  distinguished  himself  in  all  branches  of 
study,  at  the  same  time  that  he  learned  to  know  religion.  He  there  embraced 
the  Catholic  faith  while  still  at  college,  and  was  so  deeply  impressed  at  the 
death  of  one  of  his  venerable  professors  that  he  resolved  to  devote  himself  to 

the  ecclesiastical  state.  He  entered 
the  seminary  attached  to  the  college 
on  the  23d  of  May,  18 19,  but  was 
scarcely  inclosed  in  this  retreat  of 
his  choice  when  he  was  beset  with 
pressing  solicitations  from  his  kin- 
dred and  friends  to  abandon  a  career 
in  their  eyes  contemptible,  and  to 
return  to  the  world,  of  which  they 
displayed  the  attractions.  No  con- 
sideration could  alter  Eccleston's 
step;  on  the  contrary,  temptations 
confirmed  him  in  his  pious  design, 
and  he  received  the  tonsure  in  the 
course  of  the  year  1820.  While 
pursuing  his  theological  studies  he 
rendered  useful  service  in  the  college 
as  professor.  Deacon's  orders  were 
conferred  on  him  in  1823,  and  on 
the  24th  of  April,  1825,  he  was 
raised  to  ecclesiastical  dignity.  Five 
months  after  his  ordination  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eccleston  repaired  to  France,  and 
spent  almost  two  years  in  the  Sulpitian  solitude  at  Issy.  Returning  home  in 
1827,  after  visiting  Ireland  and  England,  he  brought  back  an  immense  fund 
of  acquired  knowledge  and  ardent  zeal  for  the  cause  of  religion.  Appointed 
vice-president  of  St.  Mary's  College,  then  president  of  that  institution,  he  dis- 
charged with  remarkable  success  these  important  functions,  when  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Holy   See  selected  him  for  the  episcopate. 

On  his  succession,  Archbishop  Eccleston  found  religion  flourishing  in 
the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  Ecclesiastical  seminaries,  religious  institutions, 
several  houses  for  the  education  of  youth  of  both  sexes,  and  a  numerous  clergy 
for  the  exercise  of  the  ministry — these  resources  showed  themselves  only  in 
Maryland;  Catholicity  is  better  spread  there  than  in  most  of  the  States  of  the 


MOST    REV.    SAMUEL    ECCLESTON,    FIFTH 
ARCHBISHOP    OF    BALTIMORE. 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  1 27 

Union.  The  archbishop  felt,  however,  that  the  growing  wants  of  the  faith- 
ful required  renewed  efforts;  and  he  took  to  heart  to  increase  the  facilities  for 
religious  instruction.  During  his  administration,  the  Sisters  of  the  Visitation 
at  Georgetown  opened  three  new  schools — at  Baltimore,  Frederick,  and 
Washington.  The  brothers  of  the  Christian  schools,  invited  to  Baltimore, 
opened  a  novitiate  at  Calvert  Hall;  and  before  the  prelate's  death,  these  four 
schools  were  frequented  by  eleven  hundred  scholars,  while  the  pious  teachers 
of  youth  gave  at  the  same  time  their  care  to  an  orphan  asylum  containing 
sixty-four  children. 

During  the  term  of  his  episcopate,  Archbishop  Eccleston  was  called  upon 
to  preside  over  five  of  the  provincial  councils  of  Baltimore,  and  he  discharged 
his  important  duties  with  equal  wisdom  and  dignity,  exercising  the  most  cor- 
dial hospitality  towards  his  brother  prelates.  His  suffragans  accordingly 
resolved  to  show  their  gratitude  by  offering  the  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  in 
their  collective  name,  the  rich  vestments  and  plate  of  an  episcopal  chapel. 

The  third  provincial  council  met  at  Baltimore,  on  the  16th  of  April, 
1837,  and  eight  bishops  convened.  The  fathers  of  the  council  proposed  to 
the  Holy  See  the  erection  of  new  dioceses — at  Nashville  for  the  state  of 
Tennessee,  at  Natchez  for  the  state  of  Mississippi,  at  Dubuque  for  the  terri- 
tory of  Wisconsin,  and  at  Pittsburg  for  the  western  part  of  the  state  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  congregation  of  the  propaganda,  by  letter  of  September  2, 
1837,  transmitted  the  pontifical  briefs,  of  the  date  of  July  28th,  founding  three 
new  dioceses,  and  appointing  their  bishops.  The  division  of  the  diocese  of 
Philadelphia,  by  the  erection  of  a  see  at  Pittsburg,  was  deferred,  and  a  coad- 
jutor was  given  to  Bishop  Dubois  of  New  York,  in  the  person  of  Rev.  John 
Hughes,  then  pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Philadelphia. 

On  the  17th  of  May,  1840,  the  fourth  provincial  council  opened  at  Balti- 
more. Thirteen  bishops  were  present,  and  among  them  the  pious  bishop  of 
Nancy,  Monseigneur  de  Forbin-Janson.  At  a  preparatory  meeting,  held  on 
the  14th  of  May,  the  American  prelates  had  unanimously  resolved  to  invite 
their  French  brother  to  assist  at  their  sessions  with  a  deliberative  and  decisive 
vote,  and  thus  acknowledged  the  services  rendered  to  religion  in  the  United 
States  by  the  ardent  zeal  of  Bishop  Forbin-Janson.  The  missions  which  he 
gave  in  various  dioceses  produced  the  most  abundant  fruits.  His  eloquence 
and  liberality  founded  a  French  Church  in  New  York,  and  Canada  still 
remembers  the  wonders  of  his  evangelical  charity,  and  the  touching  ceremony 
of  planting  a  cross  a  hundred  feet  high  on  the  mountain  of  Beloeil,  whence 


128  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  august  sign  of  salvation  casts  its  protecting  shadow  over  the  surrounding 
fields  and  villages.  America  is  also  indebted  to  him  for  the  organization  of 
ecclesiastical  retreats,  and  never  indeed  will  the  name  of  the  holy  prelate  cease 
to  be  mentioned  with  reverence. 

The  fathers  of  this  council,  by  their  fifth  decree,  very  earnestly  recom- 
mended the  formation  of  temperance  societies  among  the  Catholics;  and  in 
fact,  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors  is  the  only  means  of  preserving  the 
people  from  the  dangers  of  intoxication,  by  sheltering  them  from  the  misery 
and  vice  which  are  the  consequences  of  this  degrading  vice.  It  is  the  beset- 
ting sin  of  the  Irish  laborer,  and  it  is  only  when  his  conscience  is  bouijd  by 
an  oath  of  honor,  and  he  belongs  to  an  association  consecrated  by  religion, 
that  he  has  power  to  resist  the  poisonous  attractions  of  liquor.  The  celebrated 
Father  Theobald  Mathew  did  not  confine  his  labors  to  Ireland.  In  1S49  he 
came  to  America,  and  spent  two  years  and  a  half  constantly  preaching  tem- 
perance and  enrolling  thousands  of  the  faithful  under  the  banner  of  sobriety. 

The  fifth  council  of  Baltimore  met  on  the  14th  of  May,  1843.  Sixteen 
bishops  took  part  in  the  deliberations,  and  one  of  the  most  important  decrees 
is  that  which  pronounces  the  penalty  of  excommunication  ipso  facto  against 
those  who,  after  obtaining  a  civil  divorce,  pretend  to  contract  a  second  mar- 
riage. 

The  council  of  Baltimore,  accordingly,  have  not  failed  to  disapprove 
decidedly  mixed  marriages,  and  to  dissuade  Catholics  from  them,  while 
decrees  endeavor  to  protect  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  and  that  of  all  the 
future  children. 

The  happy  progress  of  religion,  ascertained  by  the  fathers  of  the  fifth 
council,  induced  them  to  ask  a  new  subdivision  of  dioceses;  and  in  consequence 
the  bishops  renewed  the  proposition  for  the  erection  of  an  episcopal  see  at 
Pittsburg  for  Western  Pennsylvania,  at  the  same  time  that  they  solicited  the 
foundation  of  other  sees — at  Chicago  for  the  state  of  Illinois,  at  Milwaukee 
for  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  at  Little  Rock  for  the  state  of  Arkansas,  and  at 
Hartford  for  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 

The  sixth  council  of  Baltimore  assembled  on  the  10th  of  May,  1846. 
Twenty-three  bishops  took  part  in  its  deliberations,  and  the  first  decree  was 
to  choose  the  "  Blessed  Virgin  conceived  without  sin"  as  the  Patroness  of  the 
United  States.  The  fathers  of  the  council  thus  honored  the  Immaculate 
Conception  with  an  ardent  and  unanimous  voice.  And  this  solemn  declara- 
tion   might  even  then  convince  the   holy  fathers  of  the  aspirations  of  the 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  1 29 

Church  for  the  dogmatic  definition  of  the  glorious  privilege  of  the  Mother 
of  God. 

This  council  also  asked  of  the  Holy  See  the  division  of  the  vast  diocese 
of  New  York,  and  the  formation  of  the  diocese  of  Buffalo  with  the  western 
counties  of  the  State,  and  that  of  Albany  with  the  northern  counties.  At 
the  same  time,  it  was  proposed  to  detach  from  the  see  of  Cincinnati  the 
northern  portion  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  where  the  see  of  Cleveland  was  to 
be  erected. 

While  the  bishops  were  assembled  in  council,  they  had  the  consolation 
of  seeing  two  Catholic  chaplains  appointed  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  to  join  the  army  then  invading  Mexico.  The  recruits  of  the  American 
forces  are  generally  Irish,  and  the  first  regiments  assembled  on  the  Mexican 
frontier  were  at  first  greatly  harassed  in  their  religious  faith.  The  commander 
endeavored  to  enforce  their  attendance  on  the  Protestant  worship  in  the  camp; 
some  who  refused  were  even  flogged,  and  numerous  desertions, then  and  later, 
were  the  results  of  this  deplorable  intolerance. 

The  Catholic  soldiers  in  Taylor's  army  were  not  silent  under  their 
wrongs.  Their  remonstrances  reached  Washington;  the  religious  press  took 
up  their  cause  warmly,  and  public  opinion  pronounced  in  their  favor.  Presi- 
dent Polk  asked  the  bishops  assembled  in  council  to  name  two  chaplains  for 
the  troops.  The  prelates  advised  the  government  to  apply  to  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  a  provincial  of  which  resided  at  Georgetown,  at  the  very  doors  of  the 
capitol.  The  provincial  chose  for  this  post  of  honor  two  of  the  most  eminent 
fathers  of  the  society — Father  John  McElroy  and  Father  Anthony  Rey. 
Although  policy  had  a  considerable  share  in  this  act  of  justice,  President 
Polk  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  Catholics  for  affording  the  troops  the  con- 
solations of  their  religion  amid  the  peril  of  war;  and  the  fact  of  these  disciples 
of  St.  Ignatius  being  appointed  chaplains  in  the  army  of  Protestant  republi- 
cans, is  one  of  those  providential  and  extraordinary  events  of  which  the 
history  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  numbers  so  many  in  its  pages. 

Father  Anthony  Rey  set  out  for  the  army  in  May,  1846,  and  joined  the 

corps  of  Gen.  Taylor,  where  he  immediately  won  the  esteem  and  friendship 

of  that  old  warrior.      He   fulfilled  his  duties  to  the  soldiers  with  admirable 

zeal,  which,  not  satisfied  with  assisting  them  in  the  hospital  and  on  the  field 

of   battle,  induced   him   to  learn   Spanish,  in  order  to  evangelize  the  poor 

Mexican   frontier-men,  scattered   over  a  territory  incessantly  ravaged  by  the 

hordes  of   savage   Apaches,   and  destitute  of    all   religious    succor.     It    was 
10 


i3° 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


especially,  however,  at  the  siege  of  Monterey  that  Father  Rey  displayed  the 
courage  of  a  Christian  hero.  The  combat  was  deadly,  and  continued  from 
street  to  street,  from  house  to  house.  The  Jesuit  accompanied  the  soldiers  in 
all  their  movements,  raising  the  wounded,  administering  the  sacraments  to 
the  dying,  praying  for  the  dead,  so  that  a  Protestant  account  speaks  of  him 
in  these  terms: 

"  The  bulletins  of  your  generals,  and  the  glowing  eulogiums  of  letter- 
writers  on  particular  deeds  of  daring,  present  no  examples  of  heroism  supe- 
rior to  this.  That  Jesuit  priest,  thus  coolly,  bravely,  and  all  unarmed,  walk- 
ing among  bursting  shells,  over  the  slippery  streets  of  Monterey,  and  the 
iron  storm  and  battle  steel  that  beat  the  stoutest,  bravest  soldier  down,  pre- 
senting no  instrument  of  carnal  warfare,  and  holding  aloft,  instead  of  true 
and  trusty  steel,  that  flashed  the  gleam  of  battle  back,  a  simple  miniature 
cross;  and  thus  armed  and  equipped,  defying  danger,  presents  to  my  mind 
the  most  sublime  instance  of  the  triumph  of  the  moral  over  the  physical  man, 
and  is  an  exhibition  of  courage  of  the  highest  character.  It  is  equal  to,  if  not 
beyond,  any  witnessed  during  that  terrible  siege." 

After  the  fall  of  Monterey,  Father  Rey  remained  in  the  city  to  take  care 
of  the  wounded,  and  also  gave  missions  in  the  neighboring  country.  In  one 
of  his  apostolic  excursions  he  drew  on  himself  the  hatred  of  some  wretches 
for  inveighing  severely  against  the  depravity  of  a  village  which  he  had  visited. 
Attacked  by  them,  he  was  assassinated,  together  with  the  domestic  who 
attended  him,  stripped  of  his  clothing,  and  the  body  of  this  generous  hero  of 
faith,  martyr  to  his  apostolic  zeal,  was  found  by  the  people  of  Ceralvo,  to 
whom  he  had  preached  the  day  before.  His  soldiers  wept  his  loss,  and 
interred  him  far  from  his  native  land,  far  from  the  land  of  his  adoption,  amid 
the  tears  of  the  Mexicans. 

The  fathers  of  the  sixth  council  of  Baltimore  had  scarcely  had  time  to 
return  to  their  dioceses,  when  news  arrived  of  the  death  of  Pope  Gregory 
XVI,  followed  almost  immediately  by  the  election  of  his  holiness  Pius  IX. 
The  Catholics  of  the  United  States  testified  sincere  regret  for  a  pontiff  who 
had  done  much  for  religion  in  their  country,  and  who  had  founded  half  the 
episcopal  sees  then  existing.  The  holy  organizer  of  so  many  rising  churches 
was  deplored  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  New  World;  the  Catholic  papers 
put  on  mourning,  and  in  almost  every  diocese  a  solemn  funeral  service  was 
celebrated  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

The  tribulations  and  exile  of  his  well-beloved  successor,  Pius  IX,  during 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS. 


*3l 


1848,  aroused  a  fervid  loyalty  among  all  Catholics,  and  the  faithful  in  the 
United  States  flattered  themselves  that  the  pope  would  come  to  seek  a 
generous  hospitality  from  the  great  republic  of  the  New  World.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore  was  the  organ  of  this  unanimous  voice,  and  on  the  18th 
of  January,  1S49,  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter,  Arch- 
bishop Eccleston  wrote  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  beg  him  to  honor  Mary- 
land with  his  sacred  presence: 

"  Our  seventh  council  of  Baltimore  is  to  be  held  on  the  6th  of  JVIay  next. 
We  are  perhaps  too  bold,  holy  father,  in  asking  and  hoping  that,  if  possible, 
the  shadow  of  Peter  may  even  transiently  gladden  us,  and  give  us  new 
strength  and  courage.  How  great  an  honor  and  support  to  our  rising  Church! 
What  joy  and  fervor,  what  fruits  and  pledges  of  communion  thoughout  our 
whole  republic,  if  your  holiness,  yielding  to  our  unanimous  wishes,  would  but 
stand  amid  the  prelates  assembled  from  the  most  remote  shores  of  North 
America,  and  deign  to  console  and  honor  us  and  our  flocks  with  your  apostolic 
advice  and  paternal  blessing!  The  council  might  easily,  if  your  holiness 
so  direct,  be  deferred  to  a  more  convenient  time,  and  so  far  as  our  poverty 
permits,  nothing  shall  be  wanting  to  make  everything  a  comfort  and  joy  to 
our  most  holy  father." 

Deprived  of  the  happiness  of  being  presided  over  by  the  successor  of  the 
prince  of  the  apostles,  the  fathers  of  the  seventh  council  of  Baltimore  wished 
to  show  their  lively  sympathy,  by  ordering  a  collection  to  be  made  in  their 
dioceses,  in  the  nature  of  Peter's  pence.  This  spontaneous  tribute  produced 
about  twenty-six  thousand  dollars,  which  was  transmitted  to  the  pope's 
nuncio,  at  Paris,  by  the  archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  council  met  on  the  6th  of  May,  1849;  twenty-five  bishops  were 
present;  and  by  the  first  and  second  decrees,  the  fathers  proclaimed  that  the 
devotion  of  the  clergy  and  faithful  of  the  United  States  to  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was  universal;  and  declared  that  the 
prelates  would  regard  with  lively  satisfaction  the  doctrinal  definition  of  that 
mystery  by  the  sovereign  pontiff,  if,  in  the  judgment  of  his  wisdom,  he 
deemed  the  definition  seasonable.  The  council  also  proposed  the  erection  of 
many  new  sees. 

Among  numerous  good  works  Archbishop  Eccleston  also  distinguished 
his  episcopate  by  his  labors  for  the  completion  of  his  Cathedral.  Although 
apparently  in  good  health,  his  constitution  was  very  delicate,  and  God  called 
the  archbishop  to  Himself,  at  an  age  when  he  might  still  hope  to  render  long 


I32  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

service  to  the  Church.  The  archbishop  visited  Georgetown  early  in  April, 
1 85 1,  intending  to  make  only  a  short  stay  there,  but  sickness  detained  him, 
and  he  expired  piously  on  the  22d  of  April.  The  calmness,  patience,  amenity, 
and  piety  which  he  displayed  during  his  last  days  were  truly  edifying,  and 
one  of  the  religious  who  attended  the  venerable  sufferer, wrote  to  her  com- 
panions some  hours  before  the  fatal  moment:  "Could  you  have  been  at  our 
father's  side  since  the  beginning  of  his  illness,  what  angelic  virtue  would  you 
not  have  witnessed!  Such  perfect  meekness,  humility,  patience  and  resigna- 
tion! Not  a  murmur,  not  a  complaint  has  escaped  his  lips.  Truly  has  he 
most  beautifully  exemplified  in  himself  those  lessons  which,  in  health  he 
preached  to  others.  In  losing  him,  we  lose  indeed  a  devoted  father,  a  vigi- 
lent  superior,  a  sincere  and  most  disinterested  friend." 

To  take  the  mortal  remains  of  the  worthy  prelate  to  his  metropolitan 
see,  the  funeral  had  to  cross  Washington,  the  capital  of  the  union;  the  pro- 
cession, which  was  nearly  a  mile  long,  slowly  wended  its  way  through  the 
principal  street,  chanting,  amid  the  tolling  of  the  bells,  the  psalms  of  the 
ritual^  the  clergy  were  arrayed  in  their  proper  vestments,  and  among  the  dis- 
tinguished persons  who  followed  the  corpse  were  seen  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  his  cabinet,  and  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  While 
the  executive  power  thus  honored  the  Catholic  religion  in  its  pastors,  in  the 
face  of  heaven  and  earth,  at  that  very  time  the  queen  of  England,  who  has 
nine  millions  of  Catholic  subjects  in  Europe,  allowed  her  ministry  to  insult 
them  and  provoke  a  fanatical  agitation,  on  no  better  pretext  than  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  episcopal  hierarchy. 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Eccleston,  the  see  of  Baltimore  did  not 
long  remain  vacant,  and  by  letters  apostolic  of  August  3,  1851,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Francis  P.  Kenrick  was  transferred  from  the  see  of  Philadelphia  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Baltimore.  By  a  brief  of  the  19th  of  August  in  the  same 
year,  the  sovereign  pontiff  appointed  Archbishop  Kenrick  apostolic  dele- 
gate, to  preside  at  the  National  Council  of  the  entire  episcopate  of  the  United 
States.  This  council  met  on  the  9th  of  May,  1852;  six  archbishops  and 
twenty-six  bishops  took  part  in  its  deliberations,  and  the  most  important 
measure  which  they  proposed  to  the  Holy  See,  was  to  create  new  dioceses, 
in  order  to  multiply  on  the  immense  surface  of  the  American  continent  the 
centers  of  action  and  vigilance,  and  in  order  that,  in  no  point,  the  faithful  be 
out  of  the  reach  of  visits  from  their  first  pastors.  If  there  were  questions  of 
dignities,  rendered    attractive  by  the  honors,  power,  or  riches   of  earth,  we 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS. 


133 


might  see  in  this  development  of  the  episcopate,  human  reasons  and  motives 
of  ambition.  But  in  the  United  States,  the  miter  is  only  a  fearful  burden, 
with  none  of  the  consolations  which  lighten  it  elsewhere;  and  the  prelates 
are  but  venerable  mendicants,  ever  extending  the  hand  for  daily  bread,  for 
means  to  raise  the  humble  shrines  that  form  their  cathedrals  and  churches. 
Imagine  one  of  these  missionaries,  on  whom  the  Holy  See  imposes  the  bur- 
den of  a  diocese,  and  imprints  the  apostolic  character.  The  new  bishop  has 
everything  to  create;  he  finds  only  a  few  priests  scattered  here  and  there, 
entirely  insufficient  for  a  country  where  immigration  periodically  brings 
crowds  of  Irish  and  German  Catholics,  who  are  to  be  preserved  and 
still  more  whose  children  are  to  be  preserved  from  the  allurements  of 
error.  He  must  build  a  church  and  a  dwelling,  found  a  seminary  and 
schools,  elicit  vocations  by  his  influence,  and  confirm  the  faithful  in  the 
truth;  gather  around  him  brothers  and  communities  of  sisters,  provide  by 
unceasing  toil  for  the  subsistence  of  these  fellow-laborers,  travel  constantly 
on  horseback  or  on  foot,  in  snow  or  rain,  preach  at  all  hours,  hear  confessions 
without  respite,  visit  the  sick,  and  watch  everywhere  to  preserve  intact  the 
sacred  deposit  of  faith  and  morality.  Such  is  the  life  of  an  American  pre- 
late appointed  to  found  a  new  diocese — a  life  of  bodily  fatigue,  like  that  of 
the  humblest  missionary,  but  with  all  the  responsibility  of  a  bishop.  Most 
frequently  such  duties  are  accepted  through  obedience  by  him  whom  the 
Holy  See  deems  courageous  enough  to  fulfill  them;  and  the  new  diocese  soon 
sees  churches  and  convents  arise,  the  clergy  multiply,  and  the  priest  stand  beside 
the  pioneer  in  the  latest  clearings.  Such  is  the  history  of  religion  in  America 
since  the  commencement  of  this  century,  and  the  future  promises  that  in  spite 
of  the  trials  of  the  last  few  years,  this  development  will  not  cease. 

Archbishop  Kenrick  convened  a  synod  of  his  diocese  in  1853,  and  pro. 
mulgated  statutes  based  on  the  decrees  of  the  council  and  the  special  wants  of 
his  flock.  In  the  following  year  he  proceeded  to  Rome  to  attend  the  solemn 
definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  which  he  was 
deeply  interested  as  a  profound  theologian  and  a  most  devout  servant  of  Mary. 

On  his  return  from  the  center  of  unity  he  convened  a  provincial  council, 
and  his  pastoral,  issued  at  its  close,  shows  how  unanimously  and  heartily  the 
pastors  and  the  flocks  rejoiced  in  the  definition. 

His  visitations  of  his  diocese  were  always  productive  of  great  good; 
being  punctual  and  accurate,  a  close  observer  of  the  laws  of  the  Church,  he 
sought  to  have  his  clergy  follow  the  same  path.     Quickened  zeal  is  always 


J34 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


seen  where  the  laws  and  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  are  most  exactly 
observed ;  and  Archbishop  Kenrick  beheld  the  wants  of  the  people  supplied 
by  new  or  enlarged  institutions,  such  as  the  asylum  for  infants,  and  for  aged 
women,  St.  Agnes'  Asylum,  an  extension  of  Mount  Hope,  a  convent  of  Sisters 
of  Mercy. 

His  leisure  hours  were  always  given  to  study,  so  that  his  friends  com- 
plained that  he  allowed  few  opportunities  for  them  to  enjoy  his  presence 
among  them.  While  archbishop  of  Baltimore  he  completed  the  revision  of 
the  current  Catholic  version  of  the  Bible,  with  notes  of  great  learning  and 
value,  especially  to  students.  He  also  brought  out  a  new  edition  of  the  New 
Testament.  An  edition  of  the  Bible,  with  notes,  adapted  for  general  circula- 
tion, was  also  completed,  but  he  was  not  spared  to  publish  it. 

Ever  anxious  for  the  full  discharge  of  his  duties  as  archbishop  he  con- 
vened another  synod  in  1857,  anc^  a  council  of  the  province  in  the  following 
year.  His  labor  in  these  solemn  gatherings  of  the  clergy  and  episcopate,  as' 
shown  in  the  acts  of  the  councils,  from  the  time  when  he  first  attended  one  as 
a  theologian,  show  his  influence  in  their  truly  Catholic  spirit,  as  well  as  in  the 
elegance  of  the  language  in  which  he  so  often  embodied  the  will  of  the  assem- 
bled bishops. 

He  extended  as  much  as  possible  the  forty  hours'  devotion;  and  one  of 
his  last  labors  was  to  take  steps  to  establish  a  suitable  retreat  for  clergymen 
who,  amid  the  labors  of  the  mission,  had  lost  their  health,  or  were  incapaci- 
tated by  the  infirmity  of  age.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  establish- 
ment of  an  American  college  at  Rome,  seeing  no  greater  bond  of  unity  than 
to  have  learned  priests  throughout  the  country  who  had  drawn  their  inspira- 
tion from*- an  education  within  the  shadow  of  St.  Peter's. 

His  health  gradually  failed;  and  the  disasters  of  the  country,  in  which 
his  own  diocese  became  a  scene  of  warlike  activity,  preyed  upon  him ;  anxiety 
was  felt  for  him,  but  no  immediate  danger  was  feared.  On  the  evening  of 
July  5,  1863,  his  old  friend,  Bishop  O'Connor,  of  Pittsburg,  was  with  him, 
and  left  him  apparently  no  worse  than  he  had  been ;  that  night,  however,  he 
gently  passed  away;  to  his  flock,  indeed,  suddenly,  but  so  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned not  unprepared. 

Archbishop  Kenrick,  by  his  theological  and  scriptural  works,  by  polemics 
in  which  his  gentleness  and  mildness  are  equaled  only  by  his  learning,  by  his 
"  Primacy  of  the  Apostolic  See,"  as  well  as  by  his  administration  of  the 
dioceses  of  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  will  always  stand    in   our   history  as 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  135 

one  of  the  greatest  of  our  bishops.  His  epitaph  says,  with  justice — "  He 
adorned  the  archiepiscopal  chair  with  the  greatest  piety  and  learning,  as  well 
as  with  equal  modesty  and  poverty." 

The  choice  of  a  successor  to  Archbishop  Ke.nrick  fell  on  one  already 
conspicuous  in  the  Church.  The  Right  Rev.  Martin  John  Spalding,  whose 
defense  of  his  theses  when  he  concluded  his  divinity  course  at  Rome  had 
attracted  the  wondering  attendance  of  able  theologians,  and  been  described  in 
letters  to  all  parts  of  the  world  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  exhibitions  ever 
seen,  even  in  Rome,  had  more  than  justified  the  hopes  formed  for  the  young 
Levite.  As  coadjutor  to  the  holy  Bishop  Flaget,  and  as  bishop  of  Louisville, 
he  had  displayed  the  greatest  learning,  the  simplest  piety,  singular  power  of 
government,  and  skill  in  presenting  to  the  American  public  the  genuine 
principles  of  Catholics,  and  the  solid  grounds  on  which  they  rest. 

Of  an  old  Maryland  family,  in  which  the  traditional  teaching  of  the  early 
Jesuit  fathers  had  maintained  the  most  thorough  and  staunch  loyalty  to  the 
Holy  See,  Bishop  Spalding  was  alike  thoroughly  American  and  thorougoly 
Roman.  His  words,  written  or  spoken,  had  a  robust,  healthy  energy  and 
character  that  carried  conviction  and  inspired  respect. 

When  the  see  of  Baltimore  became  vacant  by  the  death  of  Archbishop 
Kenrick,  all  eyes  were  turned  to  Louisville,  and  his  promotion  by  the  Holy 
See  was  hailed  with  joy  by  all,  and  by  none  more  than  by  the  faithful  of  the 
diocese  of  Baltimore. 

In  his  new  field  of  labor  he  began  by  establishing  a  convent  of  the 
Good  Shepherd,  as,  later,  he  did  a  Boys'  Protectory,  and  by  completing  the 
decoration  of  the  Cathedral.  In  May,  1S65,  he  convened  the  sixth  diocesan 
synod  of  Baltimore;  and  at  its  close  addressed  his  clergy  and  people  in  a  pas- 
toral, to  which  he  annexed  the  famous  Encyclical  of  Pope  Pius  IX,  with  the 
Syllabus  of  Errors  condemned  from  time  to  time.  He  laid  it  correctly  before 
all  men,  and  showed  how,  properly  understood,  no  decision  of  the  Holy  See, 
briefly  summarized  in  the  syllabus,  was  at  variance  with  any  sound  principle 
dear  to  the  American  people. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  he  used  his  great  influence  to  excite  sym- 
pathy and  procure  aid  for  the  suffering  dioceses  in  the  Southern  States. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  1866,  as  apostolic  delegate,  he  convened  the 
Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  which  he  had  long  and  earnestly  urged. 
On  that  day  seven  archbishops,  thirty-eight  bishops,  three  mitered  abbots,  and 
more  than  one  hundred   and  twenty  theologians  met  in   session  —  a  larger 


I36  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

synodical  body  than  had  been  seen  anywhere  in  the  world  since  the  Council 
of  Trent.  The  sessions  of  the  council  were  marked  by  great  unanimity. 
The  matters  to  be  discussed  had  all  been  carefully  prepared,  so  that  any  points 
to  be  elucidated  were  at  once  seen.  After  passing  all  the  decrees  which 
the  times  seemed  to  require,  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  closed 
with  ceremonies  as  imposing  as  those  which  opened  it.  Among  the  persons 
of  distinction  who  witnessed  it,  was  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

The  decrees,  after  examination  and  approval  at  Rome,  were  published, 
and  attracted  general  admiration.  "I  have  been  able  to  consult  it  frequently," 
wrote  Cardinal  Cullen,  "and  I  find  that  it  is  a  mine  of  every  sort  of  knowledge 
necessary  for  an  ecclesiastic."  At  the  council  of  the  Vatican  it  was  in  the 
hands  of  many  of  the  fathers,  and  referred  to  with  special  commendation  as 
having  thoroughly  seized  the  character  of  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

Archbishop  Spalding  encouraged  the  evangelization  of  the  freedmen 
of  the  South,  and  aided  materially  the  labors  of  the  priest  of  St.  Joseph's 
Society  for  Foreign  Missions,  to  whom  his  holiness  commended  this  interest- 
ing field  of  mission  labor. 

The  centenary  of  St.  Peter's  martyrdom  called  Archbishop  Spalding 
and  many  other  members  of  the  American  hierarchy  to  Rome;  but  that,  and 
all  similar  gatherings  of  the  episcopate,  were  eclipsed  by  the  opening  of  the 
General  Councd  of  the  Vatican,  on  the  8th  of  December,  1869.  It  was  the 
first  council  held  since  that  of  Trent,  and  while  there  the  English-speaking 
portion  of  the  Church  was  represented  by  only  two  prelates,  in  that  of  the 
Vatican  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  venerable  fathers  were  from  countries  where 
our  language  is  spoken,  and  prominent  among  all  were  Archbishop  Spalding 
and  several  American  bishops,  whose  voice  in  the  deliberations  was  always 
heard  with  interest. 

No  greater  evidence  of  the  growth  of  Catholicity  in  America  could  be 
seen  than  that  afforded  by  their  presence  in  a  general  council. 

When  the  sittings  of  the  council  were  suspended,  Archbishop  Spalding 
returned  to  his  diocese  and  actively  resumed  the  duties  of  his  exalted  position ; 
but  his  health  declined  rapidly,  and  he  died  February  7,  1872. 

To  fill  the  chair  of  Carroll,  Pius  IX  selected  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  Roose- 
velt Bailey,  bishop  of  Newark.  As  nephew  of  the  illustrious  Mrs.  Seton, 
he  was  already  known  and  esteemed  in  the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  His  life 
had  been  given  to  the  service  of  the  Church,  as  a  priest  on  the  mission,  pro- 
fessor at  St.  John's   College,  secretary  of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  and  as 


METROPOLITANS  AND  COUNCILS.  137 

bishop  of  Newark.  A  constitution  naturally  robust  had  gradually  given  way 
before  the  insidious  assaults  of  disease,  yet,  on  assuming  his  new  position,  he 
entered  at  once  on  its  duties  with  all  the  hearty  earnestness  of  his  nature. 
He  made  several  visitations  of  his  dioceses  and  took  especial  interest  in  the 
colored  portion  of  his  flock.  In  1877  he  went  to  Europe  in  hopes  of  obtain- 
ing some  relief  from  the  use  of  the  waters  of  Vichy,  but  it  was  evident  that 
his  disease  was  beyond  control,  and  he  returned  to  the  United  States  and 
was  conveyed  to  his  old  home  in  Newark,  where  he  died,  October  3,  1S77. 

When  he  found  that  his  health  was  unfitting  him  for  episcopal  duties,  he 
solicited  the  Holy  See  to  appoint  him  a  coadjutor,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  James 
Gibbons,  who  had  already,  as  vicar-apostolic  of  North  Carolina  and  bisnop 
of  Richmond,  rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of  religion,  was,  on  the 
29th  of  May,  1877,  translated  to  that  position,  and,  on  the  death  of  Arch- 
bishop Bayley,  became  the  ninth  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  later  a  cardinal 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  some  details  of  his  brilliant  career  being  sup- 
plied in  another  chapter. 


GMmpUx  lim. 


TH6  OfeO   DOMINION. 


Virginia's  Renown. — The  Chieftain  of  Axacan. — Ancient  Problems  in  Geog- 
raphy.— Reminiscences  of  the  Missions. — Father  Segura's  Expedition.— 
The  Log  Chapel  on  the  Rappahannock. — A  Solitary  Outpost  of  the 
Faith. — Death  and  Desolation.— Raleigh's  Expedition. — How  Anglican- 
ism Was  Planted.—  Banishment  of  Irish  Emigrants. —  Sad  Fate  of  the 
Redemptioners. — Virginian  Laws  Against  Popery. — Surreptitious  Mis- 
sion Work. —  Father  Carroll  Among  the  Faithful. —  Father  Dubois 
says  Mass  in  the  Capitol.— The  Livingston's  Queer  Visitors. — Exor- 
cism and  Conversions. —  Dr.  Carroll's  Zealous  Efforts.  —  A  Bishop 
Teaching  School. — Success  of  Bishop  Whelan. -A  Martyr  of  Charity. 
— Guarding  the  Sanctity  of  Confession. — A  Case  in  Court. — Evils  of 
Civil  War. — Bishop  Gibbons  in  Charge. — The  Gifted  Bishop  Kain. 

jIRGINIA  is  proud  of  her  antiquity.  She  assumes  the  title  of  Old 
Dominion;  she  was  long  styled  the  Mother  of  Presidents.  But 
really  her  antiquity  is  greater  than  many  know.  Before  the  Eng- 
lish settlers  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  James,  Spanish  navigators 
had  entered  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and  consecrated  that 
noble  sheet  of  water  to  the  Virgin  daughter  of  David's  line,  as  the 
Bay  of  St.  Mary,  or  the  Bay  of  the  Mother  of  God. 

The  soldier  of  the  cross  followed  hard  on  the  steps  of  the  explorer.  As 
early  as  in  1536,  St.  Mary's  Bay  is  laid  down  on  Spanish  maps.  Oviedo 
mentions  it  in  1537,  and  from  that  time  pilots  ranged  the  coast,  David  Glavid, 
an  Irishman,  being  recorded  as  one  who  knew  it  best.  All  agree  as  to  its 
latitude,  its  two  capes,  the  direction  of  the  bay,  and  the  rivers  entering  into  it, 
identifying  beyond  all  peradventure  our  modern  Chesapeake  with  the  St. 
Mary's  Bay  of  the  early  Spanish  explorers.     Though  his  attention  was  called 

to  it,  the  latest  historian  of  Virginia,  misled   by  a  somewhat   careless   guide, 

138 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  139 

robs  his  state  of  the  glory  which  we  claim  for  her.  The  sons  of  St.  Dominic 
first  planted  the  cross  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  bore  away  to 
civilized  shores  the  brother  of  the  chief  of  Axacan,  a  district  not  far  from  the 
Potomac.  Reaching  Mexico,  this  chief  attracted  the  notice  of  Don  Luis  de 
Velasco,  the  just,  upright,  disinterested  viceroy  of  New  Spain — one  of  those 
model  rulers  who,  amid  a  population  spurred  on  by  a  fierce  craving  for  wealth, 
never  bent  the  knee  to  Mammon,  but  lived  so  poor  that  he  died  actually  in 
debt.  This  good  man  had  the  Virginian  chief  instructed  in  the  Christian 
faith,  and,  when  his  dispositions  seemed  to  justify  the  belief  in  his  sincerity 
and  faith,  the  chieftain  of  the  Rappahannock  was  baptized,  amid  all  the  pomp 
and  splendor  of  Mexico,  in  the  Cathedral  of  that  city,  the  viceroy  being  his 
god-father,  and  bestowing  upon  him  his  own  name,  Don  Luis  de  Velasco,  by 
which  the  Virginia  chief  is  always  styled  in  Spanish  annals. 

Meanwhile,  Coligny's  French  Huguenots  attempted  to  settle  Florida, 
but  their  colony,  which  was  doomed  to  early  extinction  from  its  very  material 
and  utter  want  of  religious  organization  or  any  tie  but  a  mere  spirit  of  adven- 
ture, was  crushed  with  ruthless  cruelty  by  Pedro  Melendez,  a  brave  but  stern 
Spanish  navigator  and  warrior,  in  whose  eyes  every  Frenchman  on  the  sea 
was  a  pirate.  Soon  after  accomplishing  his  bloody  work,  whicii  left  Spain 
in  full  possession  of  the  southern  Atlantic  coast,  Melendez,  who  had  sent  out 
vessels  to  explore  the  coast,  began  his  preparations  for  occupying  St.  Mary's 
Bay.  The  form  of  the  northern  continent  was  not  then  known ;  much,  indeed, 
of  the  eastern  coast  had  been  explored,  but  so  little  was  the  line  of  the  western 
coast  understood  that  on  maps  and  globes  the  Pacific  was  shown  as  running 
nearly  into  the  Atlantic  coast,  as  may  be  seen  in  a  curious  copper  globe  pos- 
sessed by  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  but  which  once  belonged  to  Pope 
Marcellus  II.  Believing  that  the  Chesapeake,  by  the  rivers  running  into  it, 
would  easily  lead  to  the  western  ocean,  Melendez  spent  the  winter  of  1565 
studying  out  the  subject  with  the  aid  of  Don  Luis  de  Velasco  and  Father 
Urdaneta,  a  missionary  just  arrived  from  China  by  the  overland  route 
across  Mexico.  Combining  all  the  information,  he  was  led  to  believe  that, 
by  ascending  for  eighty  leagues  a  river  flowing  into  the  bay,  it  was 
necessary  only  to  cross  a  mountain  range  to  find  two  arms  of  the  sea, 
one  leading  to  the  French  at  Newfoundland,  the  other  to  the  Pacific.  To 
many  this  will  seem  wild;  but  it  is  evident  that  Don  Luis  referred  to  the 
great  trail  leading  from  the  Huron  country  through  the  territory  of  the  Five 
Nations  to  the  land  of  the  Andastes  on  the  Susquehanna,  by  which  the  last- 


14o  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

named  tribe  sold  furs  on  the  upper  lakes,  which  went  down  to  the  French  at 
Brest  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  while  the  upper  lakes  were  the  arm  of 
the  sea  stretching  westward,  as  was  supposed,  to  China.  An  adventurous 
Frenchman,  Stephen  Brule,  some  few  years  later  followed  this  trail  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Susquehanna.  Melendez,  however,  misinterpreted  it. 
To  his  mind  the  upper  waters  of  the  Chesapeake,  the  Potomac  and  Susque- 
hanna, then  known  as  the  Espiritu  Santo  and  Salado,  were  to  be  the  great 
carrying  place  of  eastern  trade. 

Anxious  to  secure  for  his  own  country  so  important  a  pass,  Melendez,  in 
1566,  despatched  to  St.  Mary's  Bay  a  vessel  bearing  thirty  soldiers  and  two- 
Dominican  fathers  to  begin  a  station  in  Axacan  or  Jacan,  near  the  Chesa- 
peake. These  pioneers  of  the  faith  were  escorted  or  guided  by  Don  Luis  de 
Velasco.  Of  these  missionaries  we  seek  in  vain  the  names.  Perhaps  their 
fellow-religious  now  laboring  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  will  be  stimulated 
to  trace  up  these  early  labors  of  the  sons  of  St.  Dominic;  though  we  must  admit 
that  Spanish  chronicles  do  not  speak  of  them  with  praise.  In  fact,  they  assert 
that  these  missionaries,  corrupted  by  an  easy  life  in  Peru,  had  no  taste  for  a 
laborious  mission  in  Virginia,  though  perhaps  they  learned  the  real  state  of 
affairs  in  that  land,  and,  taught  by  Father  Cancer's  fate,  felt  that  the  attempt 
would  be  fatal  to  all.  Certain  it  is  that  the  whole  party  took  alarm.  They 
forced  the  captain  to  weigh  anchor,  and,  leaving  the  capes  on  either  hand,, 
steer  straight  to  Spain.  The  Dominican  missions  in  Spanish  Florida,  which 
began  with  the  glorious  epic  of  Father  Cancer's  devoted  heroism,  closed  with 
this  feeble  effort  to  plant  the  gospel  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake;  yet 
they,  too,  like  the  earlier  discoverers,  undoubtedly  consecrated  to  Mary  and 
the  Rosary  the  land  which  in  its  names,  Virginia  and  Maryland,  yet  recalls, 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  to  whom  the  bay  was  first  consecrated. 

Four  years  later  saw  Melendez  himself  in  Spain,  full  of  his  projects,  and 
bent  on  carrying  them  out.  The  sons  of  St.  Ignatius  Loyola,  full  of  the  early 
vigor  of  their  institute,  were  in  Florida.  The  new  mission,  begun  in  1566,. 
had  already  a  martyr  in  Father  Peter  Martinez,  of  Celda,  in  the  diocese  of 
Saragossa,  who  was  shipwrecked  on  the  coast,  and  put  to  death  by  the  Indians 
not  far  from  St.  Augustine.  It  had  its  devoted  laborers,  who  sought  to  win 
to  Christ  the  Indians  near  St.  Augustine  and  Port  Royal,  and  who  had  estab- 
lished an  Indian  school  at  Havana  to  help  the  great  work,  Brother  Baez  being 
the  first  to  compile  a  grammar.  To  extend  these  missions  as  far  as  the 
Chesapeake  was  a  subject  which   Melendez   laid   before  St.  Francis  Borgiav 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  141 

then  recently  made  general  of  the  order,  after  having  acted  as  commissary  of 
the  Spanish  missions.  A  letter  of  St.  Pius  V  encouraged  Melendez,  and 
with  the  co-operation  of  these  two  saints  the  projected  mission  to  the  Chesa- 
peake took  form  at  last.  Perhaps  some  of  the  clergy  in  Maryland  and 
Virginia  remember  the  personal  interest  of  these  saints  in  the  field  where 
they  are  now  laboring;  but  we  fear  that  the  fact  has  been  forgotten.  Let 
us  trust  that  more  than  one  Church  of  St.  Pius  V  will  be  monuments  of  his 
interest  in  the  land  where  the  next  pope  that  bore  his  name  established  the 
first  episcopal  see  on  the  coast — that  of  Baltimore — and  religion  has  taken 
such  gigantic  steps  under  the  fostering  care  of  popes  Pius  VII  and  Pius  IX. 

When  the  founder  of  Florida  was  thus  earnestly  engaged  in  Spain  in 
promoting  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  colony,  Don  Luis  de  Velasco,  the 
Virginian  chief,  was  still  beyond  the  Atlantic,  a  grave,  intelligent  man  of 
fifty,  well  versed  in  Spanish  affairs,  to  all  appearance  a  sincere  and  correct 
Christian  and  a  friend  of  the  Spaniards.  With  every  mark  of  joy  he  offered 
to  return  to  his  native  land  of  Axacan,  and  there  do  all  in  his  power  to 
further  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  who  should  be  sent  to  instruct  his 
brother's  tribe.  So  powerful  a  coadjutor  was  welcomed  by  all,  and  ere  long 
Don  Luis  stood  on  the  deck  of  a  staunch  Spanish  ship,  with  a  band  of  Jesuits 
destined  to  reinforce  those  already  laboring  on  the  Florida  mission.  This 
pious  party  consisted  of  Father  Luis  de  Quiros,  a  native  of  Xerez,  in  Andalu- 
sia, with  Brothers  Gabriel  Gomez  and  Sancho  de  Zevellos,  all  selected  for 
the  great  work  by  St.  Francis  Borgia  himself.  In  November  the  vessel 
anchored  before  the  Spanish  fort  Santa  Elena,  which  stood  on  the  island  of 
South  Carolina's  famous  Port  Royal,  that  still  bears  the  name  of  the  sainted 
mother  of  Constantine. 

The  Jesuit  mission  of  Florida  had  been  erected  into  a  vice-province 
under  Father  John  Baptist  Segura.  This  estimable  religious  was  a  native  of 
Toledo,  who  had,  while  pursuing  his  theological  course  of  study,  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus  at  Alcala  on  the  9th  of  April,  1566.  St.  Francis,  who  knew 
him  well,  entertained  the  highest  esteem  for  Segura's  virtues  and  personal 
merit,  and  took  him  from  the  rectorship  of  the  college  of  Vallisoleta  in  1568 
to  assume  the  direction  of  the  vice-province  of  Florida.  For  two  years  had 
he  labored  with  sad  discouragement  in  the  forbidding  field  among  the 
Floridian  tribes,  cheered  by  letters  of  his  superiors  rather  than  by  any  hope 
of  success  that  as  yet  seemed  to  dawn  on  his  exertions. 

He    was  at   Santa   Elena   when    Father    Quiros   arrived,   bearing    the 


142 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


instructions  for  the  establishment  of  the  new   mission  on  the  shores  of  the 
Chesapeake. 

That  missionary  had  become  discouraged  and  disheartened.  All  his 
labors  and  those  of  his  associate  missionaries  among  the  Calos  Indians,  on  the 
southern  coast  of  Florida,  had  proved  utterly  unavailing.  No  impression 
could  be  made  on  the  flinty  hearts  of  those  treacherous  and  cruel  tribes, 
which,  indeed,  to  the  end  resisted  the  calls  of  divine  grace.  The  labors  of 
the  Jesuit  missionaries  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina  were  scarcely  more 
encouraging.  The  attempts  to  civilize  and  convert  found  hearers  only  as 
long  as  food  and  presents  were  given. 

Father  Segura  resolved  for  a  time  to  abandon  the  unpromising  field,  and 
turn  all  their  energies  to  an  Indian  school  at  Havana,  where  children  from 
the  Florida  tribes  could  be  carefully  instructed,  so  as  to  form  a  nucleus  for 
future  Christian  bands  in  their  native  tribes.  But  the  voice  of  St.  Francis 
recalled  him  to  sterner  labors,  and  he  resolved  to  go  in  person  to  the  new 
field  open  to  them  in  Axacan,  where  the  influence  of  Don  Luis  and  the 
character  of  the  tribes  seemed  to  promise  more  consoling  results.  He  accord- 
ingly selected  eight  associates  for  his  new  mission,  with  four  Indian  boys  from 
their  school  at  Havana,  and  regarded  as  novices,  trained  already  to  mission 
work  as  catechists.  Such  was  the  missionary  party  that  was  to  plant  the  cross 
in  Axacan  and  open  the  way  for  Christianity  to  China  by  a  new  route. 

With  the  influence  and  support  of  Don  Luis  they  would  need  no  Spanish 
aid ;  and  as  experience  had  shown  them  that  soldiers  were  sometimes  a  detri- 
ment to  the  mission  they  were  intended  to  protect,  these  devoted  mission- 
aries determined  to  trust  themselves  entirely  alone  and  unprotected,  in  the 
hands  of  the  Indians. 

On  his  side  Don  Luis  made  every  promise  as  to  the  security  of  the  per- 
sons of  the  missionaries  confided  to  his  care  by  the  adelantado  of  Florida. 
"  They  shall  lack  nothing,"  he  declared,  "  I  will  always  be  at  hand  to  aid 
them." 

On  the  5th  of  August,  1570,  this  little  mission  colony  sailed  from  St. 
Helena,  its  sufferings  and  terrible  fate  having  been  recounted  in  our  chapter 
on  the  Florida  missions.  They  are  only  reverted  to  here  to  make  note  of 
what  has  been  claimed  as  the  first  Christian  temple  in  the  Old  Dominion — 
the  log  chapel  then  erected  on  the  Rappahannock. 

The  hamlet  first  reached  by  the  missionaries  was  a  wretched  one,  ten- 
anted only  by  gaunt  and  naked  savages,  who  bore  the  famine   imprinted   on 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  1+3 

their  whole  forms.  Here,  amid  the  tent-like  lodges  of  the  Indians,  made  of 
poles  bound  together  and  covered  with  mats  and  bark,  Father  Segura  and 
his  companions  erected  a  rude  house  of  logs,  the  first  white  habitation  in  that 
part  of  America — first  church  of  the  living  God,  first  dwelling  place  of  civil- 
ized men ;  for  one  end  was  devoted  to  their  chapel,  while  the  other  was  their 
simple  dwelling.  Here,  doubtless,  before  the  close  of  September,  1570,  the 
little  community  recited  their  office  together,  and  under  the  tuition  of  Don 
Luis  began  to  study  the  language.  Here,  at  this  modest  altar,  the  Holy  Sac- 
rifice was  for  the  first  time  offered  by  the  two  priests.  Nowhere  on  the  con- 
tinent to  the  northward  were  the  sacred  rites  then  heard,  unless,  indeed,  at 
Brest,  in  Canada.  Greenland,  with  its  bishop  and  clergy  and  convents,  was  a 
thing  of  the  past;  Cartier's  colony,  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  had  been  abandoned. 
The  chapel  of  the  Mother  of  God,  at  Axacan,  was  the  Church  of  the  frontier, 
the  outpost  of  the  faith. 

In  1584  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  sent  out  from  England,  at  his  own  expense, 
an  expedition  which  took  nominal  possession  of  certain  parts  of  the  Amer- 
ican coast;  and  on  the  return  of  the  vessels,  Queen  Elizabeth,  herself,  gave 
her  new  possessions  the  name  of  Virginia,  in  honor  of  her  title  of  Virgin 
Queen,  which  it  is  certain  she  claimed,  but  not  certain  that  she  deserved.  It 
was  not,  however,  till  1606  that  a  colonization  society  was  formed  to  settle 
Virginia,  and  Capt.  John  Smith,  with  a  royal  charter  from  James  I,  landed 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  colonists  in  May,  1607.  Anglicanism  thus  planted 
itself  on  that  shore,  and  every  newcomer  who  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
royal  supremacy  was  expelled,  while  most  severe  laws  threatened  with 
death  the  priest,  and  especially  the  Jesuit,  hardy  enough  to  appear  in 
Virginia. 

The  hour  for  bearing  the  cross  thither  had  not  struck,  and  the  first  mis- 
sionaries who  appeared  were  the  prisoners  of  Protestantism.  In  1614  two 
French  Jesuits,  Father  Peter  Biard  and  Father  Ennemond  Masse,  having 
founded  St.  Savior's  mission  on  the  northern  coast,  in  what  is  now  the  State 
of  Maine,  Captain  Argal,  of  Virginia,  destroyed  it  out  of  mere  hatred  of 
Catholicity.  A  Jesuit  brother  was  killed,  and  the  two  fathers  were  taken  to 
Virginia,  where  the  governor,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  for  some  time  deliberated 
on  the  propriety  of  consigning  them  to  the  executioner  to  be  hanged,  drawn, 
and  quartered. 

Irish  emigrants  who  subsequently  arrived  were  forced  to  leave,  and  settled 
at  Montserrat  in  the  West  Indies,  long  known  as  an  Irish  colony.  Sir  George 


I44  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Calvert  even  was  excluded  from  Virginia  on  account  of  his  faith,  and  for  that 
reason  founded  his  colony  of  Maryland. 

When  the  Protestants  whom  he  had  admitted  rose  in  1645  against  their 
Catholic  fellow-settlers,  they  seized  all  the  priests  and  dragged  them  in  chains 
to  Virginia,  where  one  of  them  expired  the  following  year.  Such  were  the 
first  relations  of  Virginia  with  Catholicity  and  its  missionaries ;  but  amid  their 
persecutions,  the  pious  fathers  doubtless  sought  to  extend  around  them  the 
succors  of  religion,  for  some  Catholics  were  even  then  to  be  found  in  Vir- 
ginia, chiefly  as  slaves  or  indented  apprentices — Irish  men  and  women,  torn 
from  their  native  land  and  sold  into  foreign  bondage. 

After  the  Irish  struggle  of  1641,  and  the  Protestant  triumph  which 
ensued,  the  Irish  Catholics  were  relentlessly  banished,  and  the  state  documents 
of  Cromwell's  time  enable  us  to  reckon  from  fifty  thousand  to  one  hundred 
thousand  forcibly  transported  to  America.  The  majority  were  given  to  the 
settlers  in  Barbadoes  and  Jamaica,  but  a  great  number  of  women  and  children 
were  also  sold  in  Virginia,  the  men  having  been  pressed  into  the  Protector's 
navy.  In  1653  the  commissaries  of  the  commonwealth  ordered  "Irish  women 
to  be  sold  to  merchants  and  shipped  to  Virginia,"  and  these  unfortunate  females 
reduced  to  the  same  condition  of  slavery  as  African  negroes,  sank  in  great 
numbers  under  the  labors  imposed  upon  them  by  their  masters.  At  a  later 
date  another  class  of  Irish  increased  the  laboring  population  in  Virginia — 
voluntary  emigrants,  driven  from  home  by  poverty,  and  too  poor  to  pay  their 
passage.  These  bound  themselves  by  contract,  to  service  for  a  term  of  years, 
in  order  to  pay  the  vessel.     They  were  called  Redemptioners. 

The  laws  of  the  colony  oppressed  them  sorely,  and  doubtless  compelled 
many  to  leave  as  soon  as  they  were  free.  Thus  in  January,  1641,  it  was 
enacted  that  no  popish  recusant  should,  under  a  penalty  of  a  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco,  presume  to  hold  any  office.  In  the  following  year  the  same  statute 
was  re-enacted,  and  a  clause  added  requiring  priests  to  leave  the  colony  on 
five  days'  notice.  After  this  the  penal  spirit  seemed  lulled  till  the  restoration 
of  Charles;  then,  in  1661,  all  who  did  not  attend  the  Protestant  Church  were 
made  subject  to  a  fine  of  £20.  The  fall  of  James  II  again  called  up  intol- 
erance in  all  its  rancor.  In  1699  Virginia  decreed  that  no  popish  recusant 
should  be  allowed  to  vote,  and  six  years  later  re-enacted  the  law,  making  five 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  the  penalty  for  offending  against  it.  Even  this, 
however,  did  not  satiate  the  spirit  of  hatred  with  which  the  minds  of  men 
Were  imbued.  They  had  oppressed  the  Catholics;  this  was  not  enough.  They 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  145 

sought  means  to  degrade  and  insult  them,  and  devised  a  plan  which  rated 
them  socially  with  their  negro  slaves.  By  an  act,  unparalleled  in  legislation, 
Virginia  in  1705  declared  Catholics  incompetent  as  wi^iesses — their  testimony 
could  not  be  taken  in  court.  It  may  be  supposed  that  this  was  the  act  of  a 
moment  of  frenzy ;  this  can  hardly  be,  for  nearly  half  a  century  later  it  was 
re-enacted,  and  to  prevent  any  doubt,  the  words  "  in  any  case  whatever"  were 
added.  Thus,  men  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  actually 
voted  for  the  most  proscriptive  of  laws. 

The  year  1756,  just  twenty  years  before  the  close  of  British  rule,  marks 
the  last  of  the  penal  acts,  and  it  is  by  far  the  most  comprehensive.  By  its 
terms  the  oath  was  to  be  tendered  to  Papists;  they  were  not  to  keep  arms 
under  a  penalty  of  three  months'  imprisonment,  the  forfeiture  of  the  arms, 
and  thrice  their  value.  The  informer  was  to  have  as  his  reward  the  value  of 
the  arms;  and  any  Virginian  high-minded  enough  not  to  inform  against  his 
Catholic  neighbor,  incurred  the  same  penalties  as  the  latter.  By  the  same 
law  no  Catholic  was  permitted  to  own  a  horse  worth  over  £5;  and  if  he  did, 
and  kept  it  concealed,  he  was  liable  to  three  months'  imprisonment  and  a  fine 
of  thrice  its  value.  Thus,  in  colonial  times,  a  Catholic,  in  the  native  State  of 
Washington,  could  not  hold  any  office,  nor  vote,  nor  keep  arms,  nor  own  a 
horse,  nor  even  be  a  witness  in  any  cause,  civil  or  criminal.  Priests  were 
subjected  to  the  penalties  of  the  English  law.  For  more  than  a  century  the 
Catholics  thus  scattered  among  the  Virginia  plantations  were  deprived  of 
religious  succor,  and  faith  died  out  among  them,  or  at  least  disappeared  after 
the  first  generation. 

Meanwhile  the  Jesuit  fathers  of  Maryland  visited  with  great  zeal  the 
parts  of  Virginia  least  remote  from  their  province,  and  one  of  the  most  ardent 
in  this  laborious  mission  was  Father  John  Carroll,  the  illustrious  founder  of 
the  episcopal  hierarchy  in  the  United  States.  When  he  resided  at  Rock 
Creek  in  Maryland,  in  1774,  he  visited  once  a  month  the  little  congregation 
of  Aquia  Creek,  in  Virginia,  sixty  miles  from  his  residence.  His  two  eldest 
sisters  had  settled  at  Aquia,  having  married  two  Catholics  named  Brent,  who 
had  maintained  their  faith  amid  every  peril,  and  drawn  other  Catholics  around 
them.  This  was  probably  the  first  organized  parish  in  Virginia,  and  the 
name  of  Carroll,  so  eminent  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Maryland,  has 
thus  a  new  title  to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful. 

About  the  same  time  Father   George   Hunter,  an  Englishman,  left  his 

residence  of  St.  Thomas  Manor,  to  cross  the  Potomac,  and  secretly  in  disguise 
11 


i46  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

celebrate  the  holy  mysteries  in  some  Virginian  cabin.  Father  James  Fram- 
bach  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  Catholics  around  Harper's  Ferry; 
and  one  day  the  missionary  having  been  discovered  by  some  Protestants,  owed 
his  life  only  to  the  fleetness  of  his  horse,  which  swam  the  Potomac  amid  a 
shower  of  balls,  which  the  fanatical  Virginians  discharged  on  the  fugitive 
Jesuit. 

Soon  after,  however,  the  Rev.  John  Dubois,  afterwards  bishop  of  New 
York,  landed  at  Norfolk  in  July,  1791,  with  letters  of  recommendation  from 
Lafayette  to  the  Randolphs,  Lees,  and  Beverlys,  to  James  Monroe  and 
Patrick  Henry.  Thus  introduced  to  the  leading  men  of  Virginia,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Richmond,  and  for  want  of  a  chapel,  said  Mass  for  the  few  Catho- 
lics of  the  place  in  the  capitol,  which  was  kindly  placed  at  his  disposal. 

Teaching  for  his  support,  Mr.  Dubois  labored  here  for  several  years, 
and  effected  the  conversion  of  Governor  Lee.  Even  after  his  removal  to 
Frederick,  he  extended  his  regular  missionary  visits  to  Martinsburg,  Win- 
chester, and  indeed  to  all  Western  Virginia. 

The  Rev.  Dennis  Cahill  also  about  this  time  labored  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Martinsburg,  and  was  the  instrument  of  receiving  into  the  Church  a  family 
who  were  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  faith  in  a  mode  so  extraor- 
dir  lry  that  we  cannot  avoid  some  account  of  it. 

About  1779  a  Lutheran  of  German  origin,  Livingston  by  name,  removed 
with  his  family  to  a  place  in  Jefferson  county,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Mid- 
dleway,  still  called  Wizard's  Clip.  Soon  after  this  his  house  was  haunted  by  a 
strange  visitant,  that  burnt  his  barns,  killed  his  cattle,  broke  his  furniture,  and 
cut  his  clothing  all  to  pieces  in  a  most  curious  and  remarkable  manner.  He 
naturally  sought  means  to  rid  himself  of  this  annoyance,  and  not  a  few  vol- 
unteered to  deliver  the  house.  The  first  who  came,  however,  were  soon  put 
to  flight  by  the  conduct  of  a  stone,  which  danced  out  from  the  hearth  and 
whirled  around  for  some  time,  to  their  great  dismay.  A  book  of  common- 
prayer,  used  by  another  party  in  conjuring  it,  was  unceremoniously  thrust 
into  a  place  of  contempt.  Others  tried  with  as  little  success ;  but  at  last  Liv- 
ingston had  a  dream,  in  which  he  saw  a  Catholic  Church,  and  heard  a  voice 
telling  him  that  the  priest  was  the  man  who  would  relieve  him.  His  wife 
then  persuaded  him  to  send  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cahill,  who  seemed  rather 
unwilling  to  go,  but  at  last  yielded,  and  sprinkled  the  house  with  holy  water, 
upon  which  the  noise  and  annoyance  ceased. 

Livingston   soon  after  visited  a  Catholic  Church  at  Shepherdstown,  and 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  147 

recognizing  in  the  officiating  priest  the  person  whom  he  saw  in  his  dream, 
believed  and  resolved  to  become  a  Catholic.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Cahill  subse- 
quently said  Mass  at  his  house,  but  Mr.  Livingston  and  his  family  were 
instructed  by  a  voice  which  explained  at  length  the  sacraments  of  Penance 
and  the  Holy  Eucharist,  prayed  with  them,  and  frequently  exhorted  them  to 
prayer  and  penitential  works.  These  facts  were  notorious,  and  the  family 
were  known  to  be  almost  ignorant  of  English  and  without  Catholic  books. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Cahill,  Prince  Gallitzin,  and  his  tutor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brozius, 
Father  Pellentz,  and  Bishop  Carroll  all  investigated  these  occurrences,  which 
were  renewed  during  seventeen  years,  accompanied  even  by  apparitions,  and 
all  considered  them  really  supernatural,  generally  ascribing  them  to  a  suffer- 
ing soul  in  purgatory. 

So  completely  did  Mr.  Livingston  disregard  the  loss  of  his  temporal 
goods  in  consideration  of  the  precious  boon  in  faith  which  had  been  bestowed 
upon  him,  that  like  the  merchant  who,  seeking  good  pearls  and  finding  one 
precious  one,  sold  all  he  possessed  to  acquire  it,  he  would  have  given  all  to 
obtain  it;  and  to  show  his  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  gave  a  lot  of  ground 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Church. 

The  conversions  did  not  cease  with  his  own  family ;  many  of  the  neigh- 
bors were  also  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  true  faith,  and  in  one  winter 
no  less  than  fourteen  were  converted.  The  Catholics  were  by  the  same 
means  maintained  in  a  more  strict  observance  of  the  duties  which  religion 
enjoins,  and  warned  of  the  least  neglect. 

Strange  as  these  incidents  may  seem  to  many,  no  facts  are  better  substan- 
tiated,and  a  full  account  was  drawn  up  by  the  Rev.  Demetrius  A.  Gallitzin,  who 
in  1797  went  from  Conewago  to  Livingston's,  and  spent  three  months  in 
examining  into  the  circumstances.  "  My  view  in  coming'  to  Virginia," 
says  he,  "  and  remaining  there  three  months,  was  to  investigate  those  extra- 
ordinary facts  of  which  I  had  heard  so  much,  and  which  I  could  not  prevail 
upon  myself  to  believe;  but  I  was  soon  converted  to  the  full  belief  of  them. 
No  lawyer  in  a  court  of  justice  ever  did  examine  or  cross-examine  witnesses 
more  strictly  than  I  did  all  the  witnesses  I  could  procure.  I  spent  several 
days  in  penning  down  the  whole  account."  The  very  name  of  Cliptown,  pre- 
served to  this  day,  is  a  proof  of  the  facts  which  gave  rise  to  the  name. 

Bishop  Carroll  was  always  alive  to  the  wants  of  this  early  field  of  his 
labors,  and  as  religion  began  to  be  free  in  Virginia,  employed  one  or  two 
priests  "delusively  on  the  mission  in   that   state;  but  they  often  met  severe 


148  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

trials,  and  in  1S16,  Rev.  James  Lucas,  a  French  ecclesiastic,  was  sent  to  Nor- 
folk to  restore  the  peace  of  the  Church,  troubled  by  the  revolt  of  the  trustees, 
who,  having  the  Church  property  in  their  hands,  had  called  in  a  bad  priest  to 
officiate.  Mr.  Lucas  hired  a  room,  which  he  transformed  into  a  chapel.  By 
his  prudent  firmness  he  soon  drew  around  him  the  Catholics,  who  left  the 
interdicted  church;  and  the  trustees,  left  to  themselves,  at  last  returned  to  the 
path  of  duty. 

When  the  sovereign  pontiff  erected  the  see  of  Charleston,  in  1820,  for 
South  Carolina,  he  at  the  same  time  founded  that  of  Richmond  for  Virginia, 
and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly  was  appointed;  but  this  prelate  never  went 
to  Richmond,  where  he  would  not  have  found  means  of  subsistance,  so  few 
and  so  poor  were  the  Catholics  then.  Bishop  Kelly  remained  at  Norfolk, 
and  had  to  open  a  school  to  support  himself.  A  year  after,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  see  of  Waterford,  in  Ireland,  and  the  administration  of  the 
diocese  of  Richmond  was  confided  to  the  archbishop  of  Baltimore.  In  1829, 
Archbishop  Whitfield  visited  Richmond  and  Norfolk,  and  in  a  letter,  dated 
January  28,  1830,  gives  an  account  of  his  journey  through  Virginia.  Only 
four  priests  then  resided  in  that  state,  which  was  unable  to  support  more.  At 
Richmond,  amid  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  city,  the  Catholics  had  only  an 
humble  wooden  chapel.  At  Norfolk,  where  the  Church  was  more  decent, 
the  prelate  confirmed  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  persons,  and  learned  that 
the  faithful  numbered  over  six  hundred.  In  his  letter  of  September  16, 
1S32,  Archbishop  Whitfield  announced  that  he  had  sent  to  Virginia  a  zealous 
missionary.  "This  priest  has  traversed  the  state;  he  has  everywhere  found 
the  Protestants  ready  to  hear  him;  they  offered  him  their  churches,  town- 
halls,  and  other  public  buildings,  inviting  him  to  preach  there,  and  this  is  not 
surprising.  The  mass  of  the  people,  divided  into  almost  countless  sects,  now 
knows  not  what  to  believe;  and  by  dint  of  wishing  to  judge  for  themselves, 
end  by  no  longer  having  any  idea  what  to  believe  of  the  contradictory  doc- 
trines taught  them;  the  rich  become  athiests,  deists,  philosophers.  How 
unhappy  it  is  to  be  unable  to  send  missionaries  into  this  state,  which  is  as  large 
as  England!  There  is  no  doubt  that  if  we  had  laborers  and  means,  prodigies 
would  be  effected  in  that  vast  and  uncultivated  field." 

This  progress,  though  slow,  was  real;  and  in  1838  Archbishop  Eccles- 
ton  was  able  to  announce  that  there  were  nine  thousand  Catholics  in  the 
state,  and  that  they  possessed  eight  churches.  It  was  still  a  very  feeble  religious 
establishment;  but  no  more  is  needed  in  America   to   begin  a  diocese,   and   in 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  149 

consequence  of  the  bulls  of  the  holy  father,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Vincent 
Whelan,  born  at  Baltimore  on  the  28th  of  January,  1809,  was  consecrated  in 
his  native  city  bishop  of  Richmond  on  the  21st  of  March,  1841.  The  new 
prelate  made  great  sacrifices  to  open  a  diocesan  seminary;  and  the  commence- 
ment seemed  to  justify  his  hopes.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1S42,  he  conferred 
minor  orders  at  Richmond,  and  the  following  year  six  pious  young  men 
received  the  tonsure  at  his  hands.  But  in  spite  of  the  services  rendered  to  the 
diocese  by  this  seminary,  the  expense  was  too  great  for  the  prelate's  feeble 
resources,  and  in  1846  Bishop  Whelan  resolved  to  close  it,  and  send  the  young 
levites,  destined  to  the  priesthood,  to  Ireland  or  Baltimore. 

Before  his  consecration  the  bishop  of  Richmond  had  installed  three 
Sisters  of  Charity,  from  Emmitsburg,  in  his  parish  of  Martinsburg.  He 
soon  confided  to  them  an  orphan  asylum  at  Richmond  and  a  school  at  Norfolk ; 
this  last  city  especially  consoled  him,  and  he  several  times  visited  it  to  confirm 
new  converts  to  the  faith.  Richmond  did  not,  however,  offer  the  same 
resources,  and  in  1846  Bishop  Whelan  resolved  to  fix  his  residence  at  Wheel- 
ing, where  the  Catholic  population  was  becoming  more  important.  The 
great  distance  of  the  two  cities  from  each  other  made  it,  however,  desirable 
that  Richmond  should  not  be  deprived  of  the  presence  of  a  bishop.  The 
fathers  of  the  seventh  council  of  Baltimore  accordingly,  in  1S49,  asked  that 
Virginia  should  be  divided  into  two  dioceses.  The  Holy  See  consented,  and 
by  a  bull  of  July  23,  1850,  transferred  Bishop  Whelan  to  the  see  of 
Wheeling,  as  he  had  wished,  and  called  the  Rev.  John  McGill  to  the  see  of 
Richmond,  which  now  comprised  all  the  eastern  portion  of  the  state.  This 
prelate  is  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  and  acquired  a  reputation  for  science  and 
eloquence  at  Louisville,  where  he  was  long  pastor,  and  where  he  published 
several  controversial  and  theological  works.  At  the  present  time  (1855)  the 
diocese  of  Richmond  contains  eleven  churches,  ten  ecclesiastics,  and  a  popu- 
lation of  about  nine  thousand  Catholics.  Wheeling  was  so  called  after  a 
Catholic  priest  of  the  name  of  Whelan,  who,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
officiated  in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and  who  having  by  baptism 
relieved  a  child  whom  all  regarded  as  possessed,  the  father  of  the  child  gave 
the  name  of  Whelan  to  the  town. 

But  we  cannot  close  this  brief  notice  of  Catholicity  in  the  diocese  of 
Richmond  without  alluding  to  the  labors  and  services  of  some  of  the  more 
eminent  clergymen  who  have  toiled  in  extending  Catholicity  in  the  old 
dominion,  and  whom  we  have  not  yet  had  occasion  to  name.     From  1839  to 


^o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

1836,  though  the  cholera  twice  ravaged  his  extended  parish  and  thrice 
prostrated  him,  the  Rev.  John  B.  Gildea  labored  with  the  most  commendable 
zeal  and  beneficial  results  in  Martinsburg,  Harper's  Ferry,  and  other  places, 
completing  two  churches  and  erecting  one  other.  Zealous,  especially  for  the 
diffusion  of  a  knowledge  of  our  doctrines,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  dissemi- 
nate short  popular  explanations,  and  subsequently  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Catholic  Tract  Society. 

But  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Virginian  clergy  was  the  Rev.  Francis 
Devlin,  a  martyr  of  charity  during  the  yellow  fever  which  made  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth  a  desert  in  1S55.  Mr.  Devlin  had  just  been  assailed  by  a  slanderer 
in  the  public  papers,  and  Catholicity,  in  the  persons  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
had  been  assailed  by  a  romantic  girl  and  her  crafty  advisers.  An  example  was 
needed  of  what  Catholicity  was  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Mr.  Devlin  refuted  the 
slanders  of  the  enemies  of  truth  by  his  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  a 
good  shepherd,  who,  when  the  hireling  flieth  because  he  is  a  hireling,  remains 
and  lays  down  his  life  for  his  flock.  From  the  first  moment  of  the  appearance 
of  the  epidemic,  he  was  unwearied  in  his  exertions,  bearing  alike  temporal 
and  spiritual  succor  to  the  poor.  By  his  appeals  he  stimulated  the  charity  of 
Catholics  in  other  parts,  and  drew  several  Jesuit  fathers  from  Georgetown  to 
aid  him.  Night  and  day  he  was  beside  the  sick,  especially  the  poorest  and 
most  deserted.  When  no  other  was  there  to  relieve  them,  he  performed  all 
the  duties  of  a  nurse,  arranging  their  beds,  bringing  from  his  dwelling  soups 
and  drinks  which  he  had  made.  At  length  he  was  himself  stricken  down,  but 
though  timely  aid  broke  the  fever,  he  could  not  bear  to  lie  on  his  couch  while 
others  were  dying;  before  he  had  recovered  he  was  again  by  the  bedside  of 
the  sick,  and  laid  down  his  life  on  the  9th  of  October,  in  the  fortieth  year  of 
his  age. 

In  the  same  month  the  rights  of  the  confessional  were  brought  before 
the  tribunals  of  Virginia,  as  they  had  nearly  fifty  years  previously  before 
those  of  New  York,  and  with  a  like  result.  A  man  named  John  Cronin, 
impelled  by  jealousy,  gave  his  wife  a  deadly  wound.  The  Very  Rev.  John 
Teeling,  a  Catholic  clergyman  of  Richmond,  who  attended  her  on  her  death- 
bed was  called  as  a  witness  on  the  trial  before  the  Superior  Court,  and  asked 
the  substance  of  her  sacramental  confession  to  him.  This  he  modestly  but 
firmly  declined.  "Any  statement  made  in  her  sacramental  confession, 
whether  inculpatory  or  exculpatory  of  the  prisoner,  I  am  not  at  liberty  to 
reveal."     The  question  was  again  and   again  put  in   various  forms,  but   the 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  ,  ^ , 

Rev.  Mr.  Teeling  refused  as  before,  and  at  last  in  a  short  address  explained 
to  the  Court  his  motives  and  the  obligation  of  secrecy  which  the  Church 
imposes  on  confessors.  His  statement  was  listened  to  with  the  utmost  atten- 
tion, and  made  an  evident  impression  on  all  present.  The  question  then  came 
up  whether  a  proper  foundation  had  been  laid  for  the  introduction  of  the 
woman's  declaration  in  confession  as  a  dying  declaration.  Judge  John  A. 
Meredith,  who  presided,  decided  in  the  negative;  but  as  the  question  had  been 
raised,  gave  his  opinion  on  the  admissibility  of  the  confession,  and  decided 
against  it.  "  I  regard,"  says  the  judge,  «  any  infringement  upon  the  tenets 
of  any  denomination  as  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law,  which  guarantees 
perfect  freedom  to  all  classes  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion.  To  encroach 
upon  the  confessional,  which  is  well  understood  to  be  regarded  as  a  funda- 
mental tenet  in  the  Catholic  Church,  would  be  to  ignore  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
so  far  as  it  is  applicable  to  that  Church.  In  view  of  these  circumstances,  as 
well  as  of  other  considerations  connected  with  the  subject,  I  feel  no  hesitation 
in  ruling  that  a  priest  enjoys  a  privilege  of  exemption  from  revealing  what  is 
communicated  to  him  in  the  confessional." 

Under  the  care  of  the  learned  Bishop  McGill  religion  progressed,  though 
surrounded  by  difficulties.  The  ancient  Order  of  St.  Benedict  entered  the 
diocese  and  began  to  assume  the  care  of  the  German  congregations;  new 
churches  were  erected  in  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  Fairfax  Station,  Mar- 
tinsburg,  and  Norfolk,  and  others  began  at  Old  Point  Comfort  and  Staunton, 
and  in  the  early  part  of  1861  there  were  twelve  priests  and  fifteen  churches, 
with  two  academies,  as  many  asylums,  an  hospital,  an  infirmary,  and  several 
parochial  schools. 

In  1855  he  assembled  in  his  Cathedral,  which  he  had  just  enlarged  and 
beautified,  the  first  diocesan  synod  ever  held  in  Virginia.  It  met  on  the 
13th  of  October,  and  included  ten  priests. 

About  the  same  time  the  bishop  carried  on  an  able  controversy  with  the 
editor  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  and  soon  after  published  "Our  Faith,  the 
Victory,"  a  treatise  on  the  Catholic  faith. 

The  terrible  Civil  War  which  Providence  permitted  to  scourge  the 
country  made  the  diocese  of  Richmond  a  battle-field,  and  more  Catholics  died 
on  its  soil  than  had  ever  previously  lived  within  its  limits. 

When  peace  at  last  came  all  was  desolation;  churches  had  been  destroyed 
or  were  racked  and  shattered ;  the  Catholics  were  scattered  and  impoverished. 
At  Bath   and  Winchester,  the  little  flock  could   not  hope  to  rebuild    their 


!^2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

ruined  churches;  but  the  bishop  went  to  work  full  of  hope;  a  theological 
seminary,  academies,  and  schools  were  opened;  Catholics  began  to  settle  in 
Virginia,  and  new  churches  were  erected  or  begun.  In  1S66  a  community 
of  Visitation  Nuns  was  established  in  the  Ellet  mansion,  Church  Hill,  Rich- 
mond, purchased  for  them  by  Bishop  McGill,  and  their  academy  has  been  of 
the  highest  character.  When  Bishop  McGill  died,  January  14,  1872,  a 
happier  future  seemed  in  store  for  his  diocese. 

On  the  30th  of  July  the  Holy  See  translated  to  Richmond  the  Rt.  Rev. 
James  Gibbons,  bishop  of  Adramyttum,  who,  as  vicar-apostolic  of  North 
Carolina,  had  given  the  Church  a  new  life  in  that  State. 

A  fresh  impulse  was  given  to  the  Church;  Harrisonburg,  Lexington, 
Liberty  Falls  Church,  were  soon  possessed  of  suitable  edifices  for  worship; 
Buckner's  Station,  Pawpaw,  and  Culpepper  hastened  to  follow  the  example. 
Parochial  schools  sprang  up  in  all  parts  of  the  diocese;  the  Little  Sisters  of 
the  Poor  opened  an  asylum  for  the  aged  in  a  house  given  by  a  generous 
Catholic,  W.  S.  Caldwell. 

The  cathedral  school,  a  fine  building,  was  erected  at  the  cost  of  $21,000 
in  1872,  and  a  fine  new  orphan  asylum  at  Richmond  in  1874. 

But  the  diocese  did  not  long  enjoy  the  presence  of  Bishop  Gibbons,  who 
was  called  to  Baltimore  in  1877.  The  Holy  See  then  raised  to  the  position 
the  Rev.  John  J.  Keane,  of  Baltimore,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Rich- 
mond, but  in  1888  was  translated  to  become  rector  of  the  Catholic  University 
at  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  diocese  of  Wheeling,  including  the  rest  of  Virginia,  had  its  progress. 
In  1848  eight  Sisters  of  the  Visitation  proceeded  from  Maryland  to  Wheeling, 
and  opened  an  academy  in  that  city;  and  in  1S53  an  hospital  was  established 
under  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph.  The  high  standard  of  the  academy  was  a 
point  dear  to  the  bishop,  and  it  soon  attained  the  most  flattering  reputation  as 
a  seat  of  learning. 

In  1861  the  diocese  contained  thirteen  priests,  who  ministered  to  twenty 
churches  and  forty  stations,  two  academies,  and  six  parochial  schools.  In  the 
Civil  War  this  diocese  suffered  less  than  that  of  Richmond ;  it  had  not  to  deplore 
the  ruin  of  sanctuaries;  on  the  contrary,  the  influx  of  a  new  population  seemed 
to  give  strength  to  the  Church,  for,  after  three  years  of  war,  we  find,  in  1864, 
more  priests,  more  churches,  and  others  begun. 

The  progress  was  not  illusory ;  year  by  year  the  Catholic  body  increased, 
a  college  was  opened  in  Wheeling  in  1866;  a  classical  academy  for  boys  and 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  153 

a  visitation  academy  for  girls  were  begun  at  Parkersburg,  and  the  parish 
schools  contained  more  than  a  thousand  pupils.  In  1871  the  number  of  priests 
had  risen  to  twenty-six,  the  churches  had  more  than  doubled  in  a  decade,  and 
now  numbered  forty-two,  while  the  Catholics  of  West  Virginia  had  greatly 
increased. 

Bishop  Whelan  saw  still  greater  increase  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
July  7,  1874,  after  having,  as  bishop  of  Richmond  and  Wheeling,  for  thirty- 
three  years  given  an  example  of  piety,  zeal  and  energy.  The  diocese,  during 
the  vacancy,  was  administered  by  the  Very  Rev.  H.  F.  Parke,  of  Parkers- 
burg, until  May  23,  1875,  when  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Joseph  Kain,  who  had 
been  appointed  to  the  see,  was  consecrated.  Known  as  a  priest  of  learning, 
decision,  and  ability,  he  was  welcomed  by  the  diocese. 

In  1868  the  diocese  of  Wilmington  was  formed,  comprising  Delaware, 
with  Maryland  and  Virginia  east  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 

The  Right  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Becker,  D.D.,  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Wilmington,  August  16,  1S68.  The  new  diocese  contained  fourteen  churches 
and  thirteen  priests.  Bishop  Becker  introduced  the  Visitation  Nuns,  the 
Benedictine  Fathers,  with  nuns  of  the  same  order,  and  Sisters  of  St.  Francis 
directing  schools. 


mtcivux  mix. 


IN  THE  KEySTONE  STATE. 


Those  Maryland  Jesuits  Again. — William  Penn  and  His  Colony. — Toleration 
by  the  Quakers.— An  Irishwoman's  House  the  First  Catholic  Chapel. — 
How  Mr.  Doyle  Introduced  a  Missionary. — Old  St.  Joseph's  at  Philadel- 
phia.—Famous  Father  Farmer. —  The  Mission  of  Goshenhoppen. —  The 
Friendly  Mennonites. — Days  of  the  Revolution. —  Liberality  Becomes 
Expedient. — Father  Fleming's  Witty  Controversy.— Priests  During  an 
Old  Epidemic— Philadelphia  Receives  a  Bishop. — Troubles  of  Trusteeism. 
— The  Virus  of  Bigotry. — Expedients  of  the  Sects. — Rampant  Nativism. 
— Riots  and  Destruction. — Hatred  of  the  Cross. — A  Protestant  Denun- 
ciation.—  Bishop  Kenrick's  Success. —  Rev.  Daniel  Barber. —  Sister 
Allen's  Conversion. — Scholarship  of  the  Pastors. — Under  Late  Arch- 
bishops. 

HE  English  Jesuits  ia  Maryland  did  not  limit  their  care  to  the  mis- 
sions regularly  assigned  to  them.  We  have  seen  them,  in  the 
ardor  of  their  zeal,  brave  persecution  and  death  in  the  neighboring 
colony  of  Virginia,  seeking  the  few  Catholics  scattered  over  its 
vast  surface.  The  same  apostolic  spirit  led  to  Pennsylvania  the 
missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  They  extended  their  sphere 
of  action  to  the  north  as  well  as  to  the  south  of  their  residences;  hence,  after 
sketching  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  diocese  of  Baltimore,  we  naturally 
pass  to  the  relation  of  the  commencement  of  the  faith  in  the  province  which 
formed  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia. 

The  peaceful  sect  of  Friends  reveres  as  its  founder  the  shoemaker,  George 
Fox,  who  began  his  preaching  at  Nottingham  in  1649.  Persecuted  by  the 
partisans  of  Anglicanism,  the  Quakers  resolved  to  seek  a  refuge  in  America, 
as  the  Puritans  had  resolved  to  do  in  1620;  and  in  1675  a  company  of  Friends 
purchased  of  Lord  Berkeley  the  western  part  of  New  Jersey,  lying  on  the 

154 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE.  1 55 

Delaware  River.  In  1680  William  Penn  obtained  a  grant  of  the  right  bank 
of  the  same  river,  and  King  Charles  II,  in  his  charter,  gave  the  new  colon y 
the  name  of  Pennsylvania. 

Notwithstanding  his  distinguished  birth  and  vast  fortune,  Penn,  who  had 
been  educated  at  the  Calvinist  College  at  Saumur  in  France,  was  seduced  by 
the  philanthropical  ideas  of  the  innovators.  A  son  of  the  brave  Admiral 
Penn  who  had  wrested  Jamaica  from  the  Spaniards,  he  had  inherited,  as  part 
of  his  patrimony,  a  large  claim  against  the  crown.  Charles  II,  who  spent  his 
money  in  other  pursuits  than  the  payment  of  his  debts  or  those  of  the  nation, 
discharged  this  by  giving  William  Penn  a  colony,  and  the  latter,  wishing  to 
take  possession,  landed  in  America  in  October,  16S2. 

The  new  proprietor  explored  the  country  on  the  Delaware,  in  order  to 
select  a  spot  suitable  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  colony,  and  in  the 
month  of  January,  16S3,  he  laid  out  the  plan  of  Philadelphia,  the  city  of 
brotherly  love.  The  preceding  month,  the  principal  settlers  had  met  in  con- 
vention at  Chester,  and  under  the  guidcuice  of  Penn,  had  enacted  as  the  law 
of  Pennsylvania,  that  as  God  is  the  only  judge  of  man's  conscience,  everv 
Christian,  without  distinction  of  sect,  should  be  eligible  to  public  employments. 
The  only  restriction  on  individual  liberty  established  by  the  rigid  Quakers 
was  the  prohibition  of  all  balls,  theaters,  masquerades,  cock  and  bull  fights; 
and  we  cannot  blame  them  for  endeavoring  to  banish  these  occasions  of  vice 
and  disorder.  The  toleration  of  William  Penn,  an  imitation  of  Lord  Balti- 
more's, is  a  striking  contrast  to  the  Protestant  fanaticism  which  then  obtained 
in  New  England  and  Virginia.  The  colony  increased  rapidly,  and  the  immi- 
gration was  not  confined  to  the  natives  of  England  and  Germany,  where  the 
doctrines  of  Quakerism  had  made  progress.  Irish  Catholics  hoped  to  find 
liberty  of  worship  in  Pennsylvania,  nor  were  they  deceived  by  the  intentions 
of  the  honored  founder  of  that  colony. 

It  is  stated  that  in  1729  a  Catholic  chapel  existed  at  a  short  distance  from 
Philadelphia,  on  the  road  from  Nicetown  to  Frankford,  and  that  it  was  built 
by  Miss  Elizabeth  McGawley,a  young  Irish  lady,  who  had  settled  in  that  part 
with  a  number  of  her  tenants.  It  is  probable  that  this  chapel  was  considered 
as  forming  part  of  Miss  McGawley's  house,  which  enabled  the  Catholics  to 
meet  there  under  the  protection  of  a  private  house.  Watson  remarks  that  111 
a  field  near  the  site  of  this  ancient  chapel,  a  marble  tombstone  bears  a  cross, 
with  the  inscription — "John  Michael  Brown  ob.  15  Dec.  A.  D.  1790. 
R.  I.  P."     This  gentleman  perhaps  married  Miss  McGawley,  and  his  tomb 


I $6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

did  not  escape  the  fury  of  the  fanatics  who,  in  1844,  set  fire  to  two  of  the 
Catholic  churches  in  Philadelphia.  The  gravestone  was  broken  by  these  mis- 
creants, who  sought  to  glut  on  the  memory  of  the  dead  their  hatred  of  the  living. 

In  the  year  1730,  Father  Josiah  Greaton,  a  Jesuit,  was  sent  from  Mary- 
land to  Philadelphia,  and  according  to  a  tradition  preserved  by  Archbishop 
Neale,  he  entered  on  his  duties  in  the  following  interesting  way:  Father 
Greaton  knew  a  Catholic  at  Lancaster,  named  Doyle,  and  applied  to  him  for 
the  names  of  some  of  the  faithful  in  Philadelphia.  Doyle  named  a  wealthy 
old  lady,  remarkable  for  her  attachment  to  the  faith,  and  the  missionary  soon 
called  upon  the  lady,  attired  in  the  grave,  staid  dress  of  a  Quaker.  After 
various  questions  as  to  the  number  of  Christian  sects  in  the  city,  Father 
Greaton  made  himself  known,  to  the  lady's  great  joy.  She  immediately 
informed  her  Catholic  neighbors  that  she  had  a  priest  in  the  house.  He  first 
exercised  his  ministry  in  the  humble  chapel  at  the  corner  of  Front  and  Wal- 
nut streets,  and  in  1733,  aided  by  the  liberality  of  his  hostess,  he  bought  a  lot 
in  Fourth  street,  and  erected  the  little  chapel  of  St.  Joseph,  where  he  minis- 
tered until  about  the  year  1750. 

He  was  succeeded  in  turn  by  Fathers  Harding  and  Farmer,  S.  J.,  and  in 
1 77 1,  Father  Robert  Molyneux,  also  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  was  attached  to 
St  Joseph's  Church,  and  directed  it  till  1787,  when  he  was  recalled  to  Mary- 
land. Father  Farmer  and  he  contracted  a  most  intimate  friendship,  and  they 
used  this  harmony  for  the  good  of  religion.  Both  learned,  pious,  untiring, 
they  shared  the  labors  of  the  ministry;  and  although  Father  Farmer  was 
eighteen  years  older  than  his  friend,  he  always  undertook  the  distant  missions 
as  Father  Molyneux's  corpulance  rendered  traveling  very  difficult  for  him, 
while  the  former,  by  his  sermons,  produced  a  great  effect  among  the  Ger- 
mans and  Irish. 

While  the  Jesuits  of  Maryland  thus  zealously  occupied  the  capital  of 
Pennsylvania,  they  did  not  neglect  the  country  parts;  and  in  1741,  two  Ger- 
man fathers  were  sent  there  to  instruct  and  convert  the  numerous  immigrants 
who  arrived  from  all  parts  of  Germany.  In  that  year,  Father  Theodore 
Schneider,  a  native  of  Bavaria,  founded  the  mission  of  Goshenhoppen,  forty- 
five  miles  from  Philadelphia.  He  lived  there  in  the  utmost  poverty  for  more 
than  twenty  years;  he  built  a  church  there  in  1745,  and  ministered  to  a  very 
extensive  district,  going  once  a  month  to  Philadelphia  to  hear  the  confessions 
of  the  Germans,  till  Father  Farmer  was  stationed  in  the  residence  in  that  city. 
So  respected  was  Father  Schneider  among  the  Germans,  even  the  Protestant 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE. 


*57 


part,  that  the  Mennonites  and  Hernhutters  generously  aided  him  to  build  his 
church  at  Goshenhoppen.  His  apostolic  journeys  led  him  to  the  interior  of 
New  Jersey,  where  fanaticism  at  first  sought  his  life.  He  was  several  times 
shot  at;  but  these  attempts  to  shorten  his  days  diminished  nothing  of  his  zeal, 
and  he  at  last  made  his  visits  objects  of  desire,  even  to  Protestants,  towards 
whom,  with  infinite  charity,  he  fulfilled  the  functions  of  bodily  physician, 
when  he  could  not  become  the  physi- 
cian of  their  souls.  A  relic  of  this 
venerable  missionary  is  preserved, 
which  attests  alike  his  poverty  and 
his  industry.  It  is  a  complete  copy 
of  the  Roman  Missal,  in  his  hand- 
writing, stoutly  bound ;  and  the  holy 
Jesuit  must  have  been  destitute  of 
everything  to  copy  so  patiently  a 
quarto  volume  of  seven  hundred 
pages  of  print.  Father  Schneider 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  on  the- 
ioth  of  July,  1764,  having  been  visi- 
ted in  his  illness  the  previous  month 
by  Father  Farmer. 

Shortly  after  this  time  a  mission 
was  established  at  Conewago,  and 
in  1784  the  French  troops  landed  at 
Boston,  and  amid  the  ridicule  of  the 
English  party  the  selectmen  of  the  capital  of  New  England  followed  a 
crucifix  through  the  streets!  "A  French  fleet  enters  Narragansett  Bay,  and 
a  law  excluding  Catholics  from  civil  rights  is  repealed !  French  troops  are  at 
Philadelphia,  and  Congress  goes  to  Mass!  Necessity  compelled  this  adapta- 
tion of  the  outer  appearance  and,  perhaps,  to  some  extent  calmed  the  rampant 
prejudice  of  former  days.  With  a  Catholic  ally  the  government  could  not 
denounce  Catholicity.  In  the  constitution  adopted  it  washed  its  hands  of 
the  matter,  and  Congress  refused  to  assume,  as  one  of  its  powers,  a  right  to 
enter  the  sphere  of  religion.  It  was  left  to  the  several  states  to  have  any 
religion  or  none;  but  the  general  government,  the  only  medium  of  commu- 
nication with  foreign  states,  could  always  profess  its  tolerance,  even  though 
twelve  of  the  thirteen  should  proscribe  the  faith  of  Columbus." 


THE    MISSIONARY    AS    A    PHYSICIAN. 


5S 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


In  1784  at  the  time  of  Father  John  Carroll's  visit  to  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania probably  numbered  seven  thousand  Catholics,  and  this  is  the  esti- 
mate given  by  the  superior  to  Cardinal  Antonelli  in  the  following  year.  In 
a  letter  dated  July  22,  17SS,  and  addressed  to  some  citizens  of  Philadelphia, 
Father  Carroll  expressed  his  opinion  that  an  episcopal  see  would  soon  be 
required  for  the  United  States,  and  that  Philadelphia  would  be  the  favored 
city:  "  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  bishop  will  be  granted  to  us  in  a 
few  months,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Philadelphia  will  be  the  epis- 
copal see."  This  conjecture  was  probably  based  on  the  fact  that  Congress 
then  held  its  sessions  in  that  city,  and  that  Philadelphia  was  considered  as  the 
capital  of  the  United  States;  but,  as  we  have  elsewhere  seen,  the  clergy  sum- 
moned to  deliberate  on  the  choice  of  the  episcopal  city,  gave  the  preference 
to  Baltimore.  Himself  created  bishop  in  1790,  Dr.  Carroll  governed  Phila- 
delphia by  a  vicar-general,  Father  Francis  Anthony  Fleming,  an  able  contro- 
vertist  who  was  succeeded  in  his  important  post  by  Father  Leonard  Neale. 
Father  Fleming  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Catholic  clergy  to  defend 
the  Catholic  cause  when  assailed.  In  1782  Mr.  Miers  Fisher,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  assembly,  having  remarked  in  a  discussion  that  lotteries  were  like 
the  pope's  indulgences,  "  forgiving  and  permitting  sins  to  raise  money,"  Mr. 
Fleming  called  attention  to  it  as  unworthy  of  a  man  of  standing;  and  the 
member,  with  a  degree  of  courtesy  rare  in  our  days,  apologized  for  any  unin- 
tentional offense  which  he  might  have  given  the  Catholic  body;  but  a  new 
assailant  having  come  forward  with  the  oft-repeated  tale  of  the  pope's  chan- 
cery, Father  Fleming  replied  by  citing  an  equally  authentic  Pi'otestant  tariff, 
in  which  the  crime  of  "  inventing  any  lies,  however  abominable  or  atrocious, 
to  blacken  the  Papists,"  is  forgiven  for  the  moderate  sum  of  one  penny ;  and 
"  setting  fire  to  a  popish  church,"  two  pence ;  which  has  since  proved  a  higher 
rate  than  the  witty  father  set  down.  The  anonymous  assailant  renewed  the 
attack,  and  unable  to  produce  any  evidence  in  favor  of  the  pretended  list, 
attempted  to  raise  new  issues,  charging  Catholics  with  idolatry,  persecution, 
etc.;  but  Father  Fleming  held  him  to  his  assertion,  and  after  refuting  that 
disposed  of  his  other  charges,  completely  silencing  the  accuser.  To  remove 
prejudice  still  more,  he  published  the  letters  in  book  form,  for  wider  and 
permanent  circulation.  In  reply  to  the  charge  of  persecution  and  intolerance, 
he  cited  the  penal  laws  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  and  adds:  "But 
the  greatest  wonder  of  all  remains  to  be  mentioned.  Tell  it  not  in  Gath — 
publish   it   not  in   the  streets  of   Askalon — lest  the  bigots  rejoice   and    the 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE. 


59 


daughters  of  popery  triumph.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  among 
the  enlightened,  talented,  and  liberal  Protestants  of  America,  at  the  very 
instant  when  the  American  soil  was  drinking  up  the  best  blood  of  Catholics, 
shed  in  defense  of  her  freedom;  when  the  Gallic  flag  was  flying  in  her  ports 
and  the  Gallic  soldiers  fighting  her  battles,  then  were  constitutions  framed  in 
several  states  degrading  those  very  Catholics,  and  excluding  them  from  cer- 
tain offices.  O  shame,  where  is  thy  blush!  O  gratitude!  if  thou  hast  a  tear, 
let  it  fall  to  deplore  this  indelible  stigma!" 

Father  Fleming  and  Father  Gressel,  his  companion,  gave  a  still  better 
proof  of  the  claims  of  Catholicity  in  the  yellow  fever  which  desolated  Phila- 
delphia in  1793.  While  that  epidemic  was  making  its  fearful  ravages  in 
that  city,  these  two  Catholic  priests,  as  usual,  braved  the  disease,  and  devoted 
themselves  to  the  care  and  consolation  of  the  sick  and  dying,  and  both  laid 
down  their  lives  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties — true  martyrs  of  charity. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Egan,  an  Irish  Franciscan,  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  Philadelphia  on  October  2S,  1810,  in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral,  Baltimore. 
The  new  prelate  had  been  recommended  for  this  see  to  the  Congregation  of 
the  Propaganda,  and  was  selected  by  Archbishop  Carroll  "as  a  truly  pious 
and  learned  religious,  remarkable  for  his  great  humility,  but  deficient,  per- 
haps, in  firmness,  and  without  great  experience  in  the  direction  of  affairs.'' 
For  these  reasons  the  name  of  Father  Egan  was  only  second  on  the  list  sent 
to  Rome,  although  at  the  close  of  the  letter,  the  prelate  declared  that  he  pre- 
ferred him  to  the  others.  And  Archbishop  Carroll  expressed  himself  still 
more  categorically  in  a  letter  of  June  17,  1S07,  where  he  said  of  Father 
Egan:  "  He  is  a  man  of  about  fifty,  who  seems  endowed  with  all  the  quali- 
ties to  discharge  with  perfection  the  functions  of  the  episcopacy  except  that 
he  lacks  robust  health,  greater  experience  and  a  greater  degree  of  firmness  in 
his  disposition.  He  is  a  learned,  modest,  humble  priest,  who  maintains  the 
spirit  of  his  order  in  his  whole  conduct." 

Bishop  Egan  governed  his  diocese  with  zeal  and  piety;  but,  according 
to  the  prognostic  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  he  was  deficient  in  necessary  firm- 
ness, as  he  showed  in  a  very  serious  controversy  with  the  trustees  of  St. 
Mary's  Church,  his  cathedral.  These  trustees  thus  preluded  the  deplorable 
schism  which,  at  a  later  date,  was  to  desolate  the  diocese. 

This  began  in  1S21,  under  Bishop  Con  well,  his  successor,  and  was  only 
satisfactorily  terminated  on  the  appointment  to  the  diocese,  in  1S29,  of  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Francis  Patrick  Kenrick,  as  coadjutor  bishop.    The  great  prudence 


jgo  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  the  firm  yet  paternal  determination  of  Bishop  Kenrick,  restored  peace  to 
St.  Mary's.  Difficulties  again  arose  in  183: ,  and  this  is  no  wonder,  for  the 
very  vice  of  American  legislation  is  by  the  trustee  system  forced  into  the 
affairs  of  the  Church.  They  say  in  France,  that  the  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment would  be  a  very  good  one  for  angels.  We  may  say  the  same  of 
trusteeism:  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  it  would  be  the  best  temporal 
administration  for  saints.  Unfortunately,  however,  all  the  laity  are  not 
saints  as  we  see  in  the  many  schisms  the  system  has  caused,  and  especially 
that  of  St.  Mary's,  the  most  celebrated  and  scandalous  of  all.  The  Right 
Rev.  Henry  Conwell  lived  in  retirement  at  Philadelphia  till  April  21,  1842, 
when  he  expired,  at  the  age  of  ninety-four.  Overwhelmed  with  infirmities 
and  struck  with  blindness,  the  prelate  supported  with  courageous  resignation 
the  fearful  burden  of  a  long  old  age,  in  the  midst  of  the  difficulties  which 
have  assailed  him.  Bishop  England  says:  "The  bishop  has  been  the  great- 
est sufferer  in  his  feelings,  in  his  income,  and  under  God,  he  may  thank  his 
virtue  alone  that  he  has  not  been  in  his  character.  That,  however,  has  been 
but  burnished  in  the  collision:  were  he  a  hypocrite,  the  thin  washing  would 
have  long  since  been  rubbed  away,  for,  indeed,  the  applications  have  been 
roughly  used.  What  do  the  Catholics  of  Philadelphia  desire,  better  than  a 
bishop  whose  character  will  outlive  the  test  of  four  years'  assailing  such  as 
he  has  met  with,  and  whose  firmness  for  the  preservation  of  principle  has 
been  tested  as  his  has  been?  These  are  qualities  not  to  be  every  day  or 
easily  found." 

By  the  death  of  Bishop  Conwell  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Kenrick  became  titu- 
lar bishop  of  the  diocese  of  which  he  had  been  for  upwards  of  twelve  years 
the  administrator. 

Bishop  Kenrick's  episcopate  was  not  distinguished  only  by  the  admirable 
development  given  in  his  diocese  in  Catholic  institutions,  by  the  construction 
of  numerous  churches,  and  the  remarkable  increase  of  the  clergy;  the  cele- 
brated prelate  had  also  to  exercise  his  zeal  in  rebuilding  the  shrines  which  a 
misled  people  ftiid  in  ashes,  and  in  preaching  patience  and  religion  to  his  flock, 
while  he  endeavored  to  protect  them  against  the  fanaticism  of  the  vile 
multitude. 

The  anti-Catholic  agitation  breaks  out  periodically  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  symptoms  of  the  malady  are  the  same  from  the  colonial  times  down 
to  our  own.  It  is  a  sort  of  intermittent  fever,  which  has  its  deep-seated 
principle  in  the  hereditary  hatred  transmitted  for  three  centuries  to  Protestant 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE.  I(Jv 

generations,  and  inoculated  by  the  incendiary  writings  of  the  first  reformers. 
At  certain  intervals,  political  quackery  succeeds  in  temporarily  breaking  the 
fever,  and  the  good  disposition  given  by  Providence  to  nations  helps  these 
intervals  of  passing  calm.  Man  cannot  be  kept  in  a  state  of  constant  fury 
against  his  fellow-man,  especially  when  the  latter  is  inoffensive  and  innocent, 
and  when  the  passions  are  no  longer  excited  by  the  leaders  of  the  movement, 
natural  benevolence  resumes  its  course.  There  are  moments  when  apostles 
of  error  stop  from  weariness,  and  others,  when  political  reasons  make  it 
prudent  to  wheedle  Catholics  by  presenting  toleration  as  a  real  reality  and 
not  a  sham.  And  lastly,  God  wishes  to  give  his  Church  some  days  of  repose 
amid  the  trials  of  the  crucible,  in  which  the  faithful  are  purified. 

The  ministers  of  the  popular  sects  of  Protestantism — the  Presbyterians, 
Methodists,  and  Baptists — cannot  bear  to  see  their  flocks  ravaged  by  infidelity. 
Interest  and  self-love  induce  them  to  make  every  effort  to  retain  around  their 
pulpits  the  thousands  in  whom  unbridled  examination  and  unguided  judg- 
ment have  destroyed  faith,  and  as  the  exposition  of  doctrine  has  no  longer  any 
attraction  for  their  heresy,  they  hope  to  keep  them  Protestants  by  filling 
them  with  a  hatred  of  Catholicity.  The  false  pastors  then  put  their  imagina- 
tion on  the  rack  to  vary  their  calumnies  against  our  dogmas,  and  season 
them  to  the  public  taste.  The  public  mind  must  be  always  kept  in  suspense 
by  dangling  in  its  eyes  the  bugbear  of  Romanism,  ready  to  glut  itself  with 
the  blood  of  honest  Protestants.  When  a  fact  cannot  be  travestied  or  success- 
fully represented,  they  invent  without  the  slightest  scruple  or  fear  of  public 
exposure,  a  fact  which  in  itself  is  a  strange  commentary  on  a  public  com- 
munity. This  deplorable  system  can  be  compared  only  to  the  maneuvers  of 
a  Merry  Andrew,  announcing  that  he  will  exhibit  in  his  tent  a  series  of  pro- 
digies outdoing  each  other  in  the  maiwelous;  or  else  to  the  course  of  famous 
novelists,  stimulating  the  curiosity  of  their  readers  by  complications  of 
intrigue  and  crime,  on  which  they  then  weave  the  web  of  mystery. 

The  period  from  1834  to  J^44  Delield  this  anti-Catholic  agitation  extend 
through  several  dioceses,  in  a  most  frightful  manner,  and  at  last  result  in 
Philadelphia  in  civil  war.  The  incidents  of  that  frightful  time,  however,  are 
reserved  for  a  general  chapter  on  the  subject.  Suffice  it  here  to  state  that 
they  were  thus  grouped  and  stigmatized  by  Rev.  Mr.  Goodman,  a  Protestant 
minister  of  Philadelphia  in  those  days:  "Nativism  has  existed  for  a  period 
hardly  reaching  five   months,  and  in  that  time  of   its  being,  what  has  been 

seen?       Two   Catholic  churches  burned,  one  twice  fired  and  desecrated,  a 
12 


1 62  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Catholic  seminary  and  retreat  consumed  by  the  torches  of  an  incendiary  mob, 
two  rectories  and  a  most  valuable  library  destroyed,  forty  dwellings  in  ruins, 
about  forty  human  lives  sacrificed,  and  sixty  of  our  fellow-citizens  wounded; 
riot,  and  rebellion,  and  treason  rampant  on  two  occasions  in  our  midst;  the 
laws  boldly  set  at  defiance,  and  peace  and  order  prostrated  by  ruffian  violence! 
These  are  the  horrid  events  which  have  taken  place  among  us  since  the 
organization ;  and  they  are  mentioned  for  no  other  purpose,  than  that  reflec- 
tion be  entered  upon  by  the  community,  which  has  been  so  immeasurably 
disgraced  by  these  terrible  acts." 

The  two  churches  here  referred  to  were  St.  Augustine's  and  St. 
Michael's. 

After  the  conflagration  of  St.  Augustine's,  the  congregation  of  that 
church  were  hospitably  received  by  old  St.  Joseph's,  where  they  had  Mass 
and  Vespers  at  special  hours,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  usual  services  of 
that  parish.  In?  1845  the  Hermits  of  St.  Augustine  built  a  school-house  on 
the  site  of  their  old  rectory,  and  used  it  as  a  temporary  chapel  till  the  county 
allowed  them  damages  for  their  loss,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  rebufld  their  church. 
The  amount  claimed  was  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  for  three  years 
the  county  officers  kept  the  affair  before  the  courts  and  exhausted  every  sub- 
terfuge to  escape  payment.  Among  the  objections  put  forward  by  the  counsel 
was  one  which  should  be  given  as  a  proof  of  the  intense  stupidity,  ignorance, 
or  bad  faith  of  the  Pennsylvania  bar.  In  order  to  envelop  the  missionaries 
in  the  prejudice  against  the  negroes,  and  so  array  the  jury  against  them,  it 
was  stated  that  the  Augustinians  had  been  founded  by  an  African  negro !  In 
spite  of  all,  however,  forty-five  thousand  dollars  were  allowed,  and  in  1847 
the  new  Church  of  St.  Augustine  was  opened  for  service. 

At  St.  Michael's  a  shed  was  raised  among  the  ruins,  and  served  as  a  tem- 
porary chapel  for  some  years,  till  they  obtained  of  the  county  the  indemnity 
which  the  law  imposed,  and  applied  it  to  build  the  church.  Thus,  loth  indeed 
and  reluctantly,  Pennsylvania  repaired,  at  least  in  part,  the  material  losses 
caused  by  the  riots  of  1844,  while  Massachusetts,  with  all  her  boasted  superi- 
ority, has  constantly  refused  from  1834  to  the  present  moment  to  indemnify 
the  bishop  of  Boston  for  the  frightful  destruction  of  the  Ursuline  convent 
of  Mt.  St.  Benedict. 

As  the  number  of  the  faithful  increased  in  Philadelphia,  the  extent  of 
the  State  rendered  the  episcopal  charge  too  heavy  for  one  prelate. 

The  third  and  fifth  councils  of  Baltimore  had  asked  the  division  of  the 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE.  163 

diocese,  and  the  sovereign  pontiff  effected  it  in  1S43  by  electing  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Michael  O'Connor  to  the  see  of  Pittsburg.  This  new  diocese  comprised 
under  its  jurisdiction  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and  we  shall  speak  of 
it  in  the  ensuing  chapter.  The  diocese  of  Philadelphia  retained  the  eastern 
part  of  Pennsylvania,  the  state  of  Delaware,  and  Western  New  Jersey. 
The  last  portion  was  detached  from  it  in  1853,  and  the  whole  state  of  New 
Jersey  was  formed  into  the  diocese  of  Newark ;  and  at  a  later  date  Delaware 
was  taken  to  form  part  of  the  new  diocese  of  Wilmington. 

Under  the  able  and  vigilant  administration  of  Bishop  Kenrick,  the  relig- 
ious estalishments  extended  rapidly  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese.  In  1838 
the  Seminary  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo  at  Philadelphia  was  incorporated  by 
the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and  from  1841  to  1853  it  was  directed  by 
Lazarists,  who  were  succeeded  by  secular  priests,  on  the  transfer  of  Bishop 
Kenrick  to  the  metropolitan  see  of  Baltimore.  In  1842  the  Hermits  of  St. 
Augustine  opened  a  college  at  Villanova,  but  the  destruction  of  their  church 
and  library  at  Philadelphia  exhausted  their  resources  and  deranged  all  their 
plans;  still,  they  successfully  resumed  the  college  exercises  in  1846,  and  the 
Augustinians  now  also  possess  at  Villanova  a  beautiful  monastery  and  novitiate. 

In  1 85 1  the  Jesuits  founded  St.  Joseph's  College  in  Philadelphia,  which 
was  removed  to  a  more  spacious  building  four  years  later;  and  in  1852  the 
Rev.  J.  Vincent  O'Reilly  opened  in  Susquehanna  county  another  college 
under  the  name  of  St.  Joseph.  With  most  admirable  zeal,  also,  Bishop 
Kenrick  labored  to  afford  his  diocese  the  benefits  of  numerous  religious  com- 
munities; and  the  venerable  prelate  was  not  less  successful  in  increasing  the 
number  of  his  parochial  clergy.  When  he  became  coadjutor  of  Philadelphia 
in  1830,  the  diocese  contained  only  thirty  priests.  When  the  confidence  of 
the  Holy  See  called  him,  in  1 851,  to  the  archbishopric  of  Baltimore,  he  left  to 
his  successor  ninety-four  churches  and  eight  chapels,  with  one  hundred  and 
one  priests  in  the  diocese,  besides  forty-six  seminaries,  although  half  of  Penn- 
sylvania had  been  erected  into  the  new  diocese  of  Pittsburg. 

But  we  owe  a  special  mention  to  a  holy  religious,  who  exercised  the 
ministry  in  Pennsylvania  for  several  years — in  1836  at  Conewago,  and  in 
1834  at  Philadelphia.  In  1807,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Barber,  Congregationalist 
minister  in  New  England,  had  baptised  in  his  sect  Miss  Allen,  daughter  of 
the  celebrated  American  general,  Ethan  Allen,  so  renowned  in  Vermont,  his 
native  state.  The  young  lady  was  then  twenty-one  years  of  age;  she  soon 
after   proceeded   to   Montreal,  where,  entering  the  academy  of  the  Sisters  of 


164  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame,  she  became  a  Catholic,  and  devoting  her- 
self to  God,  joined  the  community  of  hospital  nuns  at  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where 
she  died  piously  in  18 19,  having  induced  the  Protestant  physician  who 
attended  her  to  embrace  Catholicity  by  the  mere  spectacle  of  her  last 
moments.  The  conversion  of  Sister  Allen  produced  other  fruits  of  grace  on 
her  co-religionists,  and  her  former  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barber,  after  becom- 
ing a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  sect,  halted  not  in  the  way  of 
truth,  but  abjured  the  errors  of  the  pretended  Reformation,  in  1S16.  The 
son  of  this  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Virgil  Barber,  born  on  the  9th  of  May, 
1782,  was  also  a  minister.  He,  too,  had  been  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
joining  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  entered  it  with  his  father.  Mrs.  Virgil 
Barber  followed  their  example,  and  she  and  her  husband  resolved  to  abandon 
all  and  separate  from  each  other,  for  God's  service.  Mr.  Virgil  Barber,  in 
consequence,  went  to  Rome  in  1S17,  and  obtained  of  the  sovereign  pontiff 
the  authority  necessary  for  the  step.  He  entered  the  ecclesiastical  state,  was 
ordained  in  that  city,  and  after  spending  two  years  there,  returned  from 
Europe,  bringing  his  wife  authorization  to  embrace  the  religious  state.  She 
had  entered  the  Visitation  Nuns  at  Georgetown,  and  for  two  years  followed 
the  novitiate.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barber  had  five  children,  four  daughters  and 
one  son.  The  last  was  placed  at  the  Jesuit  College  at  Georgetown,  while 
the  daughters  were  at  the  Academy  of  the  Visitation,  yet  without  knowing 
that  their  mother  was  a  novice  in  the  house.  The  time  of  her  probation 
having  expired,  the  five  children  were  brought  to  the  chapel  to  witness  their 
mother's  profession,  and  at  the  same  time,  on  the  steps  of  the  altar,  their 
father  devoted  himself  to  God  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus!  At 
this  touching  and  unexpected  sight,  the  poor  children  burst  into  sobs,  believ- 
ing themselves  forsaken  on  earth.  But  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven  watched 
over  them ;  he  inspired  the  four  daughters  with  the  desire  of  embracing  the 
religious  state,  and  three  of  them  entered  the  Ursulines:  one  at  Quebec,  one 
at  Boston,  and  one  at  Three  Rivers.  The  fourth  made  her  profession  among 
the  Visitandines  of  Georgetown;  their  brother  Samuel  was  received  into  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

Father  Virgil  Barber,  after  filling  with  general  edification  several  posts 
in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  became  professor  of  Hebrew  in  Georgetown 
College,  and  died  there  March  27,  1S47,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  Sister 
Barber  long  resided  at  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  where  she  founded  a  Monastery 
of  the  Visitation.     The  grace  of  conversion  extended  also  to  other  members 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE.  ^5 

of  the  family,  and  a  nephew  and  pupil  of  Father  Virgil  Barber,  William 
Tyler,  born  in  Protestantism  at  Derby,  Vermont,  in  1S04,  became  in  1844 
first  Catholic  bishop  of  Hartford,  and  died  in  his  diocese  in  1849. 

This  is  not  the  only  example  which  the  United  States  presents  of  married 
persons,  who,  on  embracing  Catholicity,  have  carried  the  sacrifice  to  its  utmost 
limits,  and  asked  as  a  signal  favor  to  devote  themselves  to  the  religious  state. 
Father  John  Austin  Hall,  a  Dominican  and  apostle  of  Ohio  from  1822  to 
1828,  was  an  English  officer  of  many  years'  standing,  who,  touched  by  the 
spectacle  offered  by  religion  in  Italy  and  France,  adjured  heresy  and  converted 
his  family  and  his  sister.  The  latter  and  his  wife  entered  a  community  of 
English  Augustinian  nuns  in  Belgium,  while  Father  Hall  assumed  the  habit 
of  St.  Dominic;  and  this  zealous  missionary,  dying  at  Canton,  Ohio,  in  1828, 
left  to  the  United  States  the  reputation  of  the  most  eminent  virtues. 

The  vigilant  bishop  of  Philadelphia,  whose  numerous  labors  we  have 
mentioned,  found,  moreover,  time  to  write  and  publish  several  works  which 
enjoy  a  merited  reputation  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken.  His 
Dogmatic  and  Moral  Theology,  in  seven  volumes,  is  a  complete  treatise  on  the 
sacred  science,  adapted  to  the  general  wants  of  the  country. 

"The  appearance  of  so  large  a  work  written  in  good  Latin,  and  intended 
really  for  use,  was  a  source  of  wonder  to -the  Protestant  public  and  clergy, 
few  of  whom  could  even  read  it  without  some  difficulty,  and  none,  perhaps, 
with  ease.  Considered  in  a  literary  point  of  view,  it  marks  the  classic  char- 
acter of  our  writers,  a  familiarity  with  Roman  literature,  which  is  unequaled 
in  the  country.  The  canons  and  decrees  of  the  councils  held  at  Baltimore, 
which  England's  first  Orientalist,  Cardinal  Wiseman,  ranks  with  those  of 
Milan,  display  an  equally  correct  taste.  Even  in  the  back  woods,  with  rough 
work  and  rough  men,  Badin,  the  first  priest  ordained  in  our  land,  sings  in 
Latin  verse  the  praises  of  the  Trinity." 

The  Church,  by  preserving  Latin  as  the  liturgical  language,  saved  that 
noble  language  from  oblivion,  and  through  it  saved  the  Greek ;  and  Protest- 
antism, with  its  love  for  the  vernacular,  devoted  the  highest  classes  of  society 
to  ignorance  of  the  authors  of  ancient  Rome.  A  few  years  since,  the  United 
States  regarded  as  a  wonder  a  Latin  life  of  Washington,  and  vaunted  it 
beyond  all  conception  by  the  thousand-tongued  press.  There  is  not  a  Catholic 
country  curate  that  could  not  have  done  as  much,  and  yet  public  opinion  in 
America  will  long  preserve  the  prejudice  that  ignorance  is  the  necessary 
condition  of  Catholics.       In    the    United    States,    an    author  need  only    be 


!66  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

suspected  of  not  being  a  Protestant,  for  his  work  to  be  prejudged  and  precon- 
demned;  and  it  is  the  same  in  England.  Yet  Americans  should  remember 
that  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Canada  taught  the  children  of  the  Mohawks  to 
read  and  write,  within  twenty  miles  of  Albany,  at  a  time  when  there  was  not  a 
Latin  school  in  the  whole  colony  of  New  York.  Quebec  had  a  college 
before  New  England  could  boast  of  one;  and  so  completely  was  the  idea  of 
Catholicity  then  blended  with  that  of  classical  studies,  that  in  1685,  when  a 
Latin  school  was  opened  at  New  York,  the  master  was  ipso  facto  suspected 
of  being  a  Jesuit. 

On  the  death  of  the  Most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston,  fifth  archbishop  of 
Baltimore,  the  distinguished  merit  of  Bishop  Kenrick  marked  him  as  the 
fittest  to  occupy  the  metropolitan  see,  and  he  was  in  fact  called  to  that  dig- 
nity by  bull  of  August  3,  1S51.  His  successor  at  Philadelphia  was  the  Right 
Rev.  John  Nepomucen  Neumann,  of  the  Order  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer, 
a  native  of  the  Austrian  States.  At  the  time  of  his  election,  the  new  prelate 
was  rector  of  the  Redemptorist  house  at  Baltimore;  he  was  consecrated  on 
the  28th  of  March,  1S52. 

Bishop  Neumann  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  development  of  Catholic 
schools  and,  instead  of  the  two  parochial  schools  he  found,  left  at  his  death 
nearly  one  hundred  in  Philadelphia  alone.  In  1854  ne  repaired  to  Rome  on 
the  occasion  of  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
and  while  in  Europe  visited  his  native  place,  Srachatic,  in  Bohemia,  where  he 
was  received  in  triumph. 

On  his  return  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  good  of  his  people.  In 
his  eight  years'  episcopate  he  increased  his  priests  from  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two;  encouraged  the  erection  of  new  churches,  advanced 
the  cathedral,  erected  a  temporary  chapel  to  be  used  afterwards  as  a  school, 
and  increased  all  the  literary  and  benevolent  institutions  of  his  diocese. 

This  most  learned,  humble,  and  pious  bishop  died  suddenly  January  5, 
i860,  in  the  street,  while  returning  from  some  diocesan  business.  Feeling 
the  stroke  of  death  he  sat  down  on  the  steps  of  a  house,  and  immediately  fell 
over  and  expired.  He  was  born  in  Bohemia,  March  20,  181 1;  and  left  his 
seminary  to  come  to  New  York,  where  he  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Dubois, 
in  1836.  After  being  on  the  mission  in  Western  New  York,  he  joined  the 
Redemptorists,  and  had  been  a  most  successful  missionary. 

Some  years  before  his  death  Bishop  Neumann  felt  the  need  of  assistance, 
and  the  Holy  See  gave  him  as  coadjutor  the  Right  Rev.  James  Frederick 


IN  THE  KEYSTONE  STATE. 


167 


Wood,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  who,  while  holding  a  high  financial  position, 
received  the  gift  of  faith,  and  renounced  worldly  position  and  all  its  associations 
to  devote  his  life  to  the  ministry  in  the  Church  of  God.  He  was  consecrated 
bishop  of  Antigonia  April  26,  1S57,  and  became  bishop  of  Philadelphia  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Neumann. 

In  1862  he  obtained  special  indulgences  for  St.  Patrick's  day,  to  induce 
the  faithful  to  sanctify  the  feast  of  that  great  apostle,  by  approaching  the 
sacraments,  and  avoiding  the  dissipation  so  prevalent  on  that  occasion. 

In  1 868  the  Holy  See  divided  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia,  establishing  a 
new  see  at  Scranton  and  another  at  Harrisburg;  and,  on  the  12th  of  February, 
1 S75,  erected  Philadelphia  into  an 
archiepiscopal  see.  Philadelphia 
thus  became  the  metropolitan  of  a 
province,  having  as  suffragans  the 
bishops  of  Allegheny,  Erie,  Har- 
risburg, Pittsburg,  and  Scranton. 

When  the  diocese  of  Scranton 
was  established,  March  3,  1868,  the 
miter  wras  conferred  on  the  Right 
Rev.  William  O'Hara,  who  was 
consecrated  July  12,  186S. 

He  devoted  himself  zealously 
to  increase  the  facilities  and  exter- 
nal means  of  grace  for  his  scattered 
flock,  his  diocese  containing  no 
large  cities,  but  mainly  a  rural  and 
mining  population.  Secret  socie- 
ties .were  the  great  bane,  and  led 
many  into  disobedience  to  the  rules 
of  the  Church,  and  the  consequent 

...  MOST    REV.    P.   J.    RYAN,    ARCHBISHOP   OF 

neglect  of   their   Christian   duties,  Philadelphia. 

until  they  became  a  scourge  of  the  commonwealth.  Never,  perhaps,  has 
there  been  a  clearer  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Church,  or  more  convincing 
evidence  that  her  rules  lead  to  the  well-being  of  a  country. 

The  death  of  Archbishop  Wood  took  place  in  1S83,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Most  Rev.  Patrick  John  Ryan,  who  as  bishop  of  Tricomia  had 
been  coadjutor  to  the  archbishop  of   St.  Louis  for  several  years. 


t&lmptzx  Xg. 


TH6  R6IGN  OF  lJIGOTRy. 


Epidemics  of  Hate. — Evidence  of  Slavishness  and  Ignorance. — Dawn  of  Free 
Worship. — Views  of  the  Constitution. — The  Ursulines  at  Charlestown. 
— Slanders  Against  the  Nuns. — Plots  of  the  Bigots. — Scenes  of  Fury 
and  Destruction.— The  Ruin  on  Mt.  St.  Benedict. — Cowardly  Nun-Haters. 
— Damages  Never  Paid. — An  Infamous  Book. — More  Lies  and  Obscenity. 
— Publishers  Who  Hid  Their  Names. — The  Friends  of  Maria  Monk. — 
Politicians  Working  the  Sentiment. — The  Philadelphia  Riots. — Burn- 
ing Churches  and  Rectories. — Connivance  of  Civil  Authority.  —  New 
York  Takes  the  Fever. — The  Mendacious  Know-Nothings. — Riots  in 
Providence  and  Brooklyn.— Terrorism  Throughout  the  Country.— A 
Venerable  Priest  Assaulted.— In  the  Halls  of  Congress. — Disbanding 
Irish  Regiments. — Speculations  on  the  Epidemic. — Clouds  Still  on  thf 
Horizon. 


'IKE  commercial  panics,  periodical  outbursts  of  irreligious  fanati- 
cism seem  to  have  become  regular  incidents  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States — occurrences  to  be  looked  for  with  as  much  cer- 
tainty as  if  they  were  the  natural  outgrowth  of  our  civilization  and 
the  peculiarly-constituted  condition  of  American  society.  Though 
springing  from  widely  different  causes,  these  intermittent  spasms 
have  a  marked  resemblance  in  their  deleterious  effects  on  our  individual  wel- 
fare and  national  reputation.  Both  are  demoralizing  and  degrading  in  their 
tendencies,  and  each,  in  its  degree,  finally  results  in  the  temporary  gain  of  a 
few  to  the  lasting  injury  and  debasement  of  the  multitude.  In  other  respects 
they  differ  materially.  Great  mercantile  reverses  and  isolated  acts  of  pecula- 
tion, unfortunately,  are  not  limited  to  one  community  or  to  the  growth  of  any 
particular  system  of  polity,  but  are  as  common  and  as  frequent  in  despotic 
Asia  and  monarchical  Europe  as  in  republican  America. 

1 68 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY.  169 

Popular  ebullitions  of  bigotry,  on  the  contrary,  are,  or,  more  correctly, 
ought  to  be  confined  to  those  countries  where  ignorance  and  intolerance  usurp 
the  place  of  enlightened  philanthropy  and  wise  government.  They  are 
foreign  to  the  spirit  of  American  institutions,  hostile  to  the  best  interests  of 
society,  and  a  curse  to  those  who  tolerate  or  encourage  them.  The  brightest 
glory  of  the  fathers  of  the  republic  springs,  not  so  much  from  the  fact  that 
they  separated  the  colonies  from  the  mother  country  and  founded  a  new 
nation — for  that  is  nothing  strange  or  unheard-of  in  the  world's  history — but 
that  they  made  its  three  millions  of  inhabitants  free  as  well  as  independent: 
free  not  only  from  unjust  taxation  and  arbitrary  laws,  but  forever  free  to  wor- 
ship their  Creator  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  unawed  by. 
petty  authority  and  unaffected  by  the  shifting  counsels  of  subsequent 
legislators. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  revolution  appears  as  one  of  the  grandest 
moral  events  in  the  records  of  human  progress;  and  when  we  reflect  on  the 
numerous  pains,  penalties,  and  restrictions  prescribed  by  the  charters  and  by- 
laws of  the  colonies  from  whence  our  Union  has  sprung,  it  challenges  our 
most  profound  admiration  and  gratitude.  This  complete  religious  equality, 
guaranteed  by  our  fundamental  law,  has  ever  been  the  boast  of  every  true 
American  citizen,  at  home  and  abroad.  From  the  halls  of  congress  to  the 
far  western  stump-meeting  we  hear  it  again  and  again  enunciated ;  it  is 
repeated  by  a  thousand  eloquent  tongues  on  each  recurring  anniversary  of 
our  independence,  and  is  daily  and  weekly  trumpeted  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land  by  the  myriad-winged  Mercuries  of  the  press.  This 
freedom  of  worship,  freedom  of  conscience,  and  legal  equality,  as  declared 
and  confirmed  by  our  forefathers,  has  become,  in  fact,  not  only  the  written 
but  also  the  common  law  of  the  land — the  birthright  of  every  native-born 
American,  the  acquired,  but  no  less  sacred,  privilege  of  every  citizen  by 
adoption.  Whoever  now  attempts  to  disturb  or  question  it,  by  word  or  act, 
disgraces  his  country  in  the  eyes  of  all  mankind,  and  defiles  the  memory  of 
our  greatest  and  truest  heroes  and  statesmen. 

So  powerful,  indeed,  were  the  example  and  teachings  of  those  wise  men 
who  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  our  happy  country  that,  during 
the  first  half  century  of  our  national  existence,  scarcely  a  voice  was  raised  in 
opposition  or  protest  against  the  principle  of  religious  liberty  as  emphatically 
expressed  in  the  first  amendment  to  the  constitution.  A  whole  generation 
had  to  pass  away  ere  fanaticism   dared   to  raise  its  crest,  until  the  solemn 


170 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


guarantees  of  our  federal  compact  were  assailed  by  incendiary  mobs  and 
scouted  by  so-called  courts  of  justice.  The  first  flagrant  instance  of  this  fell 
spirit  of  bigotry  happened  in  Massachusetts,  and  naturally  was  directed 
against  an  institution  of  Catholic  learning. 

In  1820  four  Ursuline  nuns  arrived  in  Boston  and  established  there  a 
house  of  their  order.  Six  years  later  they  removed  to  the  neighboring  village 
of  Charlestown,  where  they  purchased  a  piece  of  ground,  and,  calling  it  Mt. 
St.  Benedict,  erected  a  suitable  building  and  reduced  the  hitherto  barren  hill- 
side to  a  state  of  beautiful  cultivation.  In  1834  the  community  had  increased 
to  ten,  all  ladies  of  thorough  education  and  refinement.  From  the  very 
beginning  their  success  as  teachers  was  acknowledged  and  applauded,  and 
their  average  attendance  of  pupils  was  computed  at  from  fifty  to  sixty.  Of 
these,  at  least  four-fifths  were  Protestants,  the  daughters  of  the  best  American 
families,  not  only  of  New  England,  but  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States. 
Though  it  was  well  known  that  the  nuns  had  ever  been  most  scrupulously 
careful  not  to  meddle  with  the  religious  opinions  of  their  scholars,  and  that 
not  one  conversion  to  the  Church  could  be  ascribed  to  their  influence,  the 
fact  that  a  school  conducted  by  Catholic  religious  should  have  acquired  so 
brilliant  a  reputation,  and  that  its  patrons  were  principally  Protestants  of 
high  social  and  political  standing,  was  considered  sufficient  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Puritan  fanatics  to  condemn  it. 

Its  destruction  was  therefore  resolved  on;  and  an  incident,  unimportant 
in  itself,  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1834  which  was  eagerly  seized  upon  by 
the  clerical  adventurers  who  then,  as  now,  disgraced  so  many  sectarian  pulpits. 
It  appears  that  an  inmate  of  the  convent,  a  Miss  Harrison,  had,  from  exces- 
sive application  to  music,  become  partially  demented,  and  during  one  of  her 
moments  of  hallucination  left  the  house  and  sought  refuge  with  some  friends. 
Her  brother,  a  Protestant,  having  heard  of  her  flight,  accompanied  by  Bishop 
Fenwick,  brought  her  back  to  the  nunnery,  to  her  own  great  satisfaction  and 
the  delight  of  the  sisterhood.  This  trifling  domestic  affair  was  eagerly  taken 
up  by  the  leaders  of  the  anti-Catholic  faction  and  magnified  into  monstrous 
proportions.  The  nuns,  it  was  said,  had  not  only  driven  an  American  lady 
to  madness,  but  had  immured  her  in  a  dungeon,  and,  upon  her  attempting  to 
escape,  had,  with  the  connivance  of  the  bishop  and  priests,  actually  tortured 
her  to  death.  Falsehoods  even  more  diabolical  were  invented  and  circulated 
throughout  Boston.  The  following  Sunday  the  Methodist  and  Congrega- 
tional churches  rang  again  with  denunciations  against  popery  and  nunneries, 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY. 


I71 


while  one  self-styled  divine,  a  Dr.  Beecher,  the  father  of  a  numerous  progeny 
of  male  and  female  evangelists,  some  of  whom  have  since  become  famous  in 
more  senses  than  one,  preached  no  less  than  three  sermons  in  as  many 
different  churches  on  the  abominations  of  Rome.  All  the  bigotry  of  Boston 
and  the  adjacent  towns  was  aroused  to  the  highest  pitch  of  frenzy,  and  threats 
against  the  convent  were  heard  on  every  side. 

To  pacify  the  public  mind  the  selectmen  of  Charlestown,  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  the  memorable  nth  of  August,  appointed  a  committee  to  examine 
into  the  truth  of  the  charges.  They  waited  on  the  nuns,  and  were  received 
by  Miss  Harrison,  who  was  alleged  to  have  been  foully  murdered.  Under 
her  personal  guidance  they  searched  every  part  of  the  convent  and  its  appur- 
tenances, till,  becoming  thoroughly  satisfied  with  the  falsity  of  the  reports, 
they  retired  to  draw  up  a  statement  to  that  effect  for  publication  in  the  news- 
papers. This  was  what  the  rabble  dreaded,  and,  as  soon  as  the  intention  of 
the  committee  became  known,  the  leaders  resolved  to  forestall  public  senti- 
ment by  acting  at  once. 

Accordingly,  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  a  mob  began  t(5  collect 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Mt,  St.  Benedict.  Bonfires  were  lit  and  exciting 
harangues  were  made,  but  still  there  were  many  persons  reluctant  to  believe 
that  the  rioters  were  in  earnest.  They  would  not  admit  that  any  great 
number  of  Americans  could  be  found  base  and  brutal  enough  to  attack  a 
house  filled  with  defenseless  and  delicate  women  and  children.  They  were 
mistaken,  however;  they  had  yet  to  learn  to  what  lengths  fanaticism  can  be 
carried  when  once  the  evil  passions  of  corrupt  human  nature  are  aroused. 
Towards  midnight  a  general  alarm  was  rung,  calling  out  the  engine  com- 
panies of  Boston,  not  to  quell  any  fire  or  disturbance,  but,  as  was  proved  by 
their  conduct,  to  reinforce  the  rioters,  if  necessary.  The  first  demonstration 
was  made  by  firing  shot  and  stones  against  the  windows  and  doors  of  the 
main  building,  to  ascertain  if  there  were  any  defenders  inside;  but,  upon 
becoming  satisfied  that  there  were  none,  the  cowardly  mob  burst  open  the 
gates  and  doors,  and  rushed  wildly  through  the  passages  and  rooms,  swearing 
vengeance  against  the  nuns. 

Trusting  to  the  protection  of  the  authorities,  the  gentle  sisters  were  taken 
by  surprise.  The  shots  of  their  assailants,  however,  awakened  them  to  a 
sense  of  danger.  Hastening  from  their  beds,  they  rushed  to  the  dormitories, 
aroused  the  sleeping  children,  and  had  barely  time  to  a,wa  the  fury  of  the 
mob  by  escaping  through  a  back  entrance  in  their  night-clothes.     Everything 


172 


THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


portable,  including  money  and  jewelry  belonging  to  the  pupils,  was  laid  hold 
of  by  the  intruders,  the  furniture  and  valuable  musical  instruments  were 
hacked  in  pieces,  and  then  the  convent  was  given  to  the  flames  amid  tne 
frantic  cheers  of  assembled  thousands.  "  Not  content  with  all  this,"  savs 
the  report  of  Mr.  Loring's  committee,  "they  burst  open  the  tomb  of  the 
establishment,  rifled  it  of  the  sacred  vessels  there  deposited,  wrested  the  plates 
from  the  coffins,  and  exposed  to  view  the  mouldering  remains  of  their  tenants. 
Nor  is  it  the  least  humiliating  feature,  in  this  scene  of  cowardly  and  audacious 
violation  of  all  that  man  ought  to  hold  sacred,  that  it  was  perpetrated  in  the 
presence  of  men  vested  with  authority  and  of  multitudes  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  while  not  one  arm  was  lifted  in  the  defense  of  helpless  women  and 
children,  or  in  vindication  of  the  violated  laws  of  God  and  man.  The  spirit 
of  violence,  sacrilege,  and  plunder  reigned  triumphant." 

The  morning  of  the  12th  of  August  saw  what  for  years  had  been  the 
quiet  retreat  of  Christian  learning  and  feminine  holiness  a  mass  of  blackened 
ruins;  but  the  character  of  Massachusetts  had  received  even  a  darker  stain,  a 
foul  blot  not  yet  wiped  from  her  escutcheon.  It  was  felt  by  the  most  respect- 
able portion  of  the  citizens  that  some  step  should  be  taken  to  vindicate  the 
reputation  of  the  State,  and  to  place  the  odium  of  the  outrage  on  those  who 
alone  were  guilty.  Accordingly,  a  committee  of  thirty-eight  leading  Protest- 
ant gentlemen,  with  Charles  G.  Loring  as  chairman,  was  appointed  to  inves- 
tigate and  report  on  the  origin  and  results  of  the  disgraceful  proceeding.  It 
met  in  Faneuil  Hall  from  day  to  day,  examined  a  great  number  of  witnesses. 
and  made  the  most  minute  inquiries  from  all  sources.  Its  final  report  was 
long,  eloquent,  and  convincing.  After  the  most  thorough  examination,  it 
was  found,  those  Protestant  gentlemen  said,  that  all  the  wild  and  malicious 
assertions  put  forth  in  the  sectarian  pulpits  and  repeated  in  the  newspapers, 
regarding  the  Ursulines,  were  without  a  shadow  of  truth  or  probability ;  they 
eulogized  in  the  most  glowing  language  the  conduct  of  the  nuns,  their  quali 
fications  as  teachers,  their  Christian  piety  and  meekness,  and  their  careful 
regard  for  the  morals  as  well  as  for  the  religious  scruples  of  their  pupils. 
They  also  attributed  the  wanton  attack  upon  the  nunnery  to  the  fell  spirit  of 
bigotry  evoked  by  the  false  reports  of  the  New  England  press  and  the  unmit- 
igated slanders  of  the  anti-Catholic  preachers,  and  called  upon  the  legislative 
authorities  to  indemnify,  in  the  most  ample  manner,  the  victims  of  mob  law 
and  official  connivance. 

But  the  most  significant  fact  brought  to  light  by  this  committee  was  that 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY. 


r73 


the  fanatics,  in  their  attack  on  Mt.  St.  Benedict,  were  not  a  mere  heteroge- 
neous crowd  of  ignorant  men  acting  upon  momentary  impulse,  but  a  regular 
band  of  lawless  miscreants  directed  and  aided  by  persons  of  influence  and 
standing  in  society.  "  There  is  no  doubt,"  says  the  report,  "  that  a  conspiracy 
had  been  formed,  extending  into  many  of  the  neighboring  towns;  but  the 
committee  are  of  opinion  that  it  embraced  very  few  of  respectable  character 
in  society,  though  some  such  may,  perhaps,  be  actually  guilty  of  an  offense 
no  less  heinous,  morally  considered,  in  having  excited  the  feelings  which  led 
to  the  design,  or  countenanced  and  instigated  those  engaged  in  its  execution." 
Here  we  find  laid  down,  on  the  most  unquestionable  authority,  the  origin  and 
birth-place  of  all  subsequent  native  American  movements  against  Catholicity. 

But  the  sequel  to  the  destruction  of  the  Charlestown  convent  was  even 
more  shameful  than  the  crime  itself.  Thirteen  men  had  been  arrested,  eight 
of  whom  were  charged  with  arson.  The  first  tried  was  the  ringleader,  an 
ex-convict,  named  Buzzell.  The  scenes  which  were  enacted  on  that 
occasion  are  without  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  our  jurisprudence.  The 
mother-superior,  sev- 
eral of  the  sisters,  and 
Bishop  Fenwick,  nec- 
essary witnesses  for 
the  prosecution,  were 
received  in  court  with 
half -suppressed  jibes 
and  sneers,  subjected 
to  every  species  of  in- 
sult by  the  lawyers  for 
the  defense,  and  were 
frowned  upon  even  by 
the  judge  who  presided.  Though  the  evidence  against  the  prisoner  was 
conclusive,  the  jury,  without  shame  or  hesitation,  acquitted  him,  and  he 
walked  out  of  court  amid  the  wildest  cheers  of  the  bystanders.  Similar 
demonstrations  of  popular  sympathy  attended  the  trials  of  the  other  rioters, 
who  were  all,  with  the  exception  of  a  young  boy,  permitted  to  escape  the 
penalty  of  their  gross  crimes. 

Even  the  state  legislature,  though  urged  to  do  so  by  many  of  the  lead- 
ing public  men  of  the  commonwealth,  refused  to  vote  anything  like  an  ade- 
quate sum  to  indemnify  the  nuns  and  pupils   for  .their   losses,  amounting  to 


RUINS    OF    CHARLESTOWN    CONVENT. 


^4  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

over  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  pitiful  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
was  offered,  and  of  course  rejected ;  and  to  this  day  the  ruins  of  the  convent 
stand  as  an  eloquent  monument  of  Protestant  perfidy  and  puritanical  meanness 
and  injustice. 

The  impunity  thus  legally  and  officially  guaranteed  to  mohs  and  sacri- 
legious plunderers  soon  bore  fruit  in  other  acts  of  lawlessness  in  various  parts 
of  Massachusetts.  A  Catholic  graveyard  in  Lowell  was  shortly  after  entered 
and  desecrated  by  an  armed  rabble,  and  a  house  in  Wareham,  in  which  Mass 
was  being  celebrated,  was  set  upon  by  a  gang  of  ruffians  known  as  the  "Con- 
vent Boys."  A  couple  of  years  later  the  Montgomery  Guards,  a  regular 
militia  company,  composed  principally  of  Catholic  free-holders  of  Boston, 
were  openly  insulted  by  their  comrades  on  parade,  and  actually  stoned  through 
the  streets  by  a  mob  of  over  three  thousand  persons. 

As  there  were  no  more  convents  to  be  plundered  and  burned  in  the  strong- 
hold of  Puritanism,  the  war  on  those  glories  of  religion  was  kept  up  in  a  differ- 
ent manner,  but  with  no  less  rancor  and  audacity.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
excitement  created  by  such  men  as  Lyman  Beecher  and  Buzzell,  a  mercenary 
publisher  issued  a  book  entitled,  "  Six  Months  in  a  Convent,"  which  was  put 
together  by  some  contemptible  preacher  in  the  name  of  an  illiterate  girl 
named  Reed,  who,  the  better  to  mislead  the  public,  assumed  the  title  of 
"  Sister  Mary  Agnes."  "  We  earnestly  hope  and  believe,"  said  the  preface  to 
this  embodiment  of  falsehood,  "that  this  little  work,  if  universally  diffused, 
will  do  more,  by  its  unaffected  simplicity,  in  deterring  Protestant  parents 
from  educating  their  daughters  in  Catholic  nunneries  than  could  the  most 
labored  and  learned  discourses  on  the  dangers  of  popery." 

Though  the  book  was  replete  with  stupid  fabrications  and  silly  blunders, 
so  grossly  had  the  popular  taste  been  perverted  that  fifty  thousand  copies 
were  sold  within  a  year  after  its  publication.  The  demand  was  still  increas- 
ing, when  another  contribution  to  Protestant  literature  appeared,  before  the 
broad,  disgusting,  and  obscene  fabrications  of  which  the  mendacity  of  "Sis- 
ter Mary  Agnes"  paled  its  ineffectual  fires.  This  latter  candidate  for  popu- 
lar favor,  though  it  bore  the  name,  destined  for  an  immortality  of  infamy,  of 
Maria  Monk — a  notoriously  dissolute  woman — was  actually  compiled  by  a  few 
needy  and  unscrupulous  adventurers,  reverend  and  irreverend,  who  found  a 
distinguished  Methodist  publishing  house,  not  quite  so  needy,  though  still 
more  unscrupulous,  to  publish  the  work  for  them,  though  very  shame  com- 
pelled even  them  to  withhold  their  names  from  the  publication.     And  it  was 


THE  RE  ION  OF  BIGOTRY.  xy5 

only  owing  to  a  legal  suit  arising  from  this  infamous  transaction  many  years 
after  that  the  fact  was  revealed  that  the  publishers  of  this  vilest  of  assaults  on 
one  of  the  holiest  institutions  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  the  firm  of  Harper 
Brothers.  True  to  their  character,  they  saw  that  the  times  were  favorable 
for  an  assault  on  Catholicity,  even  so  vile  as  this  one ;  and  true  to  their  nature 
again,  they  refused  to  their  wretched  accomplice  her  adequate  share  in  the 
wages  of  sin.  Though  bearing  on  its  face  all  the  evidences  of  diabolical 
malice  and  falsehood,  condemned  by  the  better  portion  of  the  press  and  by 
all  reputable  Protestants,  the  work  had  an  unparalleled  sale  for  some  time. 
The  demand  might  have  continued  to  go  on  increasing  indefinitely,  but, 
in  an  evil  hour  for  the  speculators,  its  authors,  under  the  impression  that  the 
prurient  taste  of  the  public  was  not  sufficiently  satiated  with  imaginary  hor- 
rors, issued  a  continuation  under  the  title  of  "Additional  Awful  Disclosures." 
This  composition  proved  an  efficient  antidote  to  the  malignant  poison  of  the 
first.  Its  impurity  and  falsehoods  were  so  palpable  that  its  originators  were 
glad  to  slink  into  obscurity  and  their  patrons  into  silence,  followed  by  the 
contempt  of  all  honest  men. 

Just  ten  years  after  the  Charlestown  outrage  the  spirit  of  Protestant 
persecution  began  to  revive.  Premonitory  symptoms  of  political  proscrip- 
tion appeared  in  1842,  in  the  constitutional  conventions  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Louisiana,  and  in  the  local  legislatures  of  other  states ;  but  it  was  not  till  the 
early  part  of  1844  that  it  became  evident  that  secret  measures  were  being 
taken  to  arouse  the  dormant  feeling  of  antipathy  to  the  rights  of  Catholics, 
so  rife  in  the  hearts  of  the  ignorant  Protestant  masses.  New  York,  at  first, 
was  the  principal  seat  of  the  disorder.  Most  of  the  newspapers  of  that 
period  teemed  with  eulogistic  reviews  of  books  written  against  the  faith, 
cheap  periodicals, such  as  the  Rev. Mr.  Sparry 's  "American  Anti-papist,"  were 
thrust  into  the  hands  of  all  who  would  read  them  by  the  agents  of  the  bible 
and  proselytizing  societies;  and  a  cohort  of  what  were  called  anti-papal  lec- 
turers, of  which  a  reverend  individual  named  Cheever  was  the  leader,  was 
employed  to  attack  the  Catholic  Church  with  evQry  conceivable  weapon  that 
the  arsenal  of  Protestantism  afforded. 

The  popular  mind  being  thus  prepared  for  a  change,  the  various  elements 
of  political  and  social  life  opposed  to  Catholicity  were  crystallized  into  the 
"American  Republican"  party,  better  known  as  the  Native  Americans.  On 
the  19th  of  March,  1844,  the  new  faction  nominated  James  Harper  for  mayor 
of  the  city  of  New   York,  and   about  the  same  time  William  Rockwell  was 


1^6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

named  for  a  similar  office  in  Brooklyn.  The  platform  upon  which  these 
gentlemen  stood  was  simple  but  comprehensive:  the  retention  of  the  Pro- 
testant bible  and  Protestant  books  in  the  public  schools;  the  exclusion  of 
Catholics  of  all  nationalities  from  office;  and  the  amendment  of  the  naturali- 
zation laws  so  as  to  extend  the  probationary  term  of  citizenship  to  twenty- 
one  years.  The  canvass  in  New  York  was  conducted  with  some  regard  to 
decency;  but  in  the  sister  city  the  Nativists  threw  off  all  respect  for  law, 
their  processions  invaded  the  districts  inhabited  mainly  by  adopted  citizens, 
assailed  all  who  did  not  sympathize  with  them,  and  riot  and  bloodshed  were 
the  consequence.  In  Brooklyn  the  Nativist  candidate  was  defeated,  but  Har- 
per was  elected  triumphantly  by  about  twenty-four  thousand  votes.  The 
ballots  that  placed  such  a  man  at  the  head  of  the  municipality  of  the  Ameri- 
can metropolis  were  deposited  by  both  Whigs  and  Democrats,  though  each 
party  had  a  candidate  in  the  field.  The  former  contributed  upwards  of  four- 
teen thousand,  or  three-fourths  of  their  strength;  their  opponents  somewhat 
less  than  ten  thousand. 

But  the  action  of  the  city  politicians  was  quickly  repudiated  and  con- 
demned throughout  the  state.  On  the  13th  of  April,  the  Whigs  assembled 
in  Albany  and  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  denouncing  in  unequivocal 
terms  the  tenets  of  the  Native  Americans;  and  in  two  days  after,  at  the  same 
place,  and  in,  if  possible,  a  more  forcible  manner,  the  Democracy  entered  their 
protest  against  the  heresies  and  evil  tendencies  of  the  persecuting  faction.  Still, 
the  "  American  Republicans"  showed  such  signs  of  popular  strength  in  various 
municipal  elections  that  year,  that  the  lower  classes  of  politicians,  of  all  shades 
of  opinion,  who  dared  not  openly  support  them,  were  suspected  of  secretly 
courting  their  friendship.  The  nomination  of  Frelinghuysen  with  Henry 
Clay  at  the  Whig  presidential  convention  of  May  1,  1844,  was  well  under- 
stood at  the  time  to  be  a  bid  for  Nativist  support,  and  eventually  defeated 
the  distinguished  Kentucky  orator. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  far  the  madness  of  the  hour  might  have 
carried  ambitious  political  leaders  and  timid  conventions,  had  not  the  scenes  of 
sacrilege  and  murder  which  soon  after  disgraced  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
and  stained  the  streets  with  innocent  blood,  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout 
the  entire  country. 

Philadelphia  had  followed,  if  not  anticipated,  the  example  of  New  York 
in  sowing  broadcast  the  seeds  of  civil  strife.  Early  in  the  year  secret  Nativ- 
ist societies  were   formed;  sensational   preachers  like   Tyng,  in  and   out  of 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY.  177 

place,  harangued  congregations  and  meetings;  cheap  newspapers  were 
started  for  the  sole  purpose  of  viiifying  Catholics,  and  working  upon  the 
baser  passions  of  the  sectarian  population  of  the  country.  The  motives  of 
those  engineers  of  discord  were  the  same  as  those  of  their  New  York  breth- 
ren, and  their  method  of  attack  equally  treacherous  and  cowardly. 

One  of  the  principal  charges  against  their  Catholic  fellow-citizens  was 
that  they  were  hostile  to  free  schools  and  education  generally.  To  this  unjust 
aspersion  Bishop  Kenrick,  on  the  12th  of  March,  publicly  replied  in  a  short 
but  lucid  letter,  in  which  he  said: 

"  Catholics  have  not  asked  that  the  bible  be  excluded  from  the  public 
schools.  They  have  merely  desired  for  their  children  the  liberty  of  using 
the  Catholic  version,  in  case  the  reading  of  the  bible  be  prescribed  by  the  con- 
trollers or  directors  of  the  schools.  They  only  desire  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of 
the  constitution  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  which  guarantees  the  rights  of 
conscience  and  precludes  any  preference  of  sectarian  modes  of  worship.  They 
ask  that  the  school  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  that  the  religious  predi- 
lections of  the  parents  be  respected  .  .  .  They  desire  that  the  public 
schools  be  preserved  from  all  sectarian  influence,  and  that  education  be  con- 
ducted in  a  way  that  may  enable  all  citizens  equally  to  share  its  benefits,  with- 
out any  violence  being  offered  to  their  conscientious  convictions." 

So  deliberate  and  emphatic  a  denial  had  no  effect  on  the  wretched  men 
who  tyrannized  over  the  second  city  in  the  union,  except  that  it  was  resolved 
to  substitute  brute  force  for  reason,  and  to  precipitate  a  collision  with  their 
comparatively  weak  victims.  Accordingly,  on  the  5th  of  May,  a  Nativist 
meeting  was  held  in  Kensington.  The  design  of  the  managers  of  the  meet- 
ing was  evidently  to  provoke  an  attack;  for,  finding  the  place  first  selected 
for  the  gathering  unmolested,  they  deliberately  moved  to  the  market-house, 
in  the  actual  presence  of  several  adopted  citizens.  This  trick  and  the  insult- 
ing speeches  that  followed  had  the  desired  effect.  A  riot  took  place,  several 
shots  were  fired  on  both  sides,  and  four  or  five  persons  were  more  or  less  seri- 
ously wounded.  The  Nativists  retreated  and  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  burn  a  nunnery. 

The  most  exaggerated  reports  of  this  affair  were  immediately  circulated 

through  Philadelphia.     The   next  day,  the  Nativists,  fully   armed,  assembled 

and  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  of  the  most  violent  character.     Preceded  by 

an  American  flag,   which   bore   an  inscription  as  malicious  as  it   was    untrue, 

they   attacked   the  Hibernian   Hose   company,  destroyed  the  apparatus,  and 
13 


17&  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

broke  the  fire-bell  in  pieces  Twenty-nine  dwellings  were  burned  to  the 
ground,  their  hapless  occupants,  mostly  women  and  children,  fleeing  in  all 
directions  amid  the  insults  and  shots  of  their  savage  assailants.  The  citizens 
were  now  thoroughly  aroused,  the  military,  under  Gen.  Cadwalader,  was 
called  out,  and  Bishop  Kenrick  addressed  a  public  admonition  to  his  flock  to 
preserve  peace,  and,  notwithstanding  the  provocation,  to  exercise  forbearance. 
But  the  demon  of  fanaticism,  once  let  loose,  could  not  be  easily  laid.  Riot- 
ing continued  throughout  the  day  and  far  into  the  night.  Early  on  Wednes- 
day morning,  St.  Michael's  Church,  the  female  seminary  attached  to  it,  and 
a  number  of  private  houses  in  the  neighborhood  were  ruthlessly  plundered 
and  destroyed.  "During  the  burning  of  the  Church,"  said  one  of  the  Phila- 
delphia papers,  "the  mob  continued  to  shout;  and  when  the  cross  at  the  peak 
of  the  roof  fell,  they  gave  three  cheers  and  a  drum  and  fife  played  the  'Boyne 
Water.'" 

The  burning  of  St.  Augustine's  Church  took  place  on  the  evening  of  the 
same  day.  This  building,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  city,  was  peculiarly  endeared 
to  the  Catholic  inhabitants  as  having  been  one  of  their  oldest  churches  in 
Philadelphia.  Many  of  the  contributors  to  its  building  fund  were  men  of 
historic  fame,  such  as  Washington,  Montgomery,  Barry,  Meade,  Carey,  and 
Girard.  It  had  adjoining  it  extensive  school-houses  and  a  commodious  par- 
sonage, and  the  clock  in  its  tower  was  the  one  which  had  struck  the  first 
tones  of  new-born  American  liberty.  But  the  sacred  character  of  the  build- 
ing itself,  and  the  patriotic  memories  which  surrounded  it,  could  not  save  it 
from  the  torch  of  the  Philadelphia  mob.  "The  clock  struck  ten,"  wrote  an 
eye-witness,  "  while  the  fire  was  raging  with  the  greatest  fury.  At  twenty 
minutes  past  ten  the  cross  which  surmounted  the  steeple,  and  which  remained 
unhurt,  fell  with  a  loud  crash,  amid  the  plaudits  of  a  large  portion  of  the  spec- 
tators. A  very  valuable  library  and  several  splendid  paintings  shared  the 
fate  of  the  Church." 

But  bad  as  was  the  conduct  of  the  rioters,  that  of  the  authorities  was  even 
worse.  The  militia,  when  ordered  out,  did  not  muster  for  several  hours  after 
the  time  appointed,  and  when  they  did  arrive  they  were  only  passive,  if  not 
gratified,  spectators  of  the  lawless  scenes  before  them.  When  St.  Michael's 
was  threatened,  the  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Donohue,  placed  it  under  the  charge  of 
Capt.  Fairlamb,  giving  him  the  keys;  yet  the  mob  was  allowed  to  wreak  its 
vengeance  on  it  undisturbed.  The  basement  of  St.  Augustine's  was  occupied 
by  some  armed  men  who  had  resolved  to  defend  it  at  all  hazards ;  but  on  the 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY. 


179 


assurance  of  Mayor  Scott  and  the  sheriff  that  they  had  troops  and  police 
enough  to  protect  it,  it  was  agreed,  in  the  interest  of  peace,  to  evacuate  it. 
This  had  scarcely  been  done  when  the  militia  and  civic  guard  fell  back  before 
a  thousand  or  more  armed  ruffians  and  left  the  Church  to  its  fate.  For  nearly 
sixty  hours  the  rioters  were  left  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  city;  every- 
thing the  Catholics  held  sacred  was  violated ;  men  were  dragged  out  of  their 
homes,  half  hanged  and  brutally  maltreated,  when  not  murdered  outright;  the 
houses  of  adopted  citizens  were  everywhere  plundered,  an  immense  amount 
of  property  was  destroyed,  and  over  two  hundred  families  left  desolate  and 
homeless,  without  the  slightest  attempt  being  made  to  enforce  the  law.  How 
many  fell  victims  to  Nativists'  hate  and  rage  on  this  occasion  has  never  been 
known,  but  the  killed  and  wounded  were  counted  by  scores. 

An  attempt  to  outrival  Philadelphia  in  atrocity  was  made  in  New  York 
a  few  days  after,  but  the  precautionary  steps  of  the  authorities,  the  firm  atti- 
tude assumed  by  the  late  Archbishop  Hughes,  and  the  resolute  stand  taken  by 
the  Catholic  population,  headed  by  Eugene  Casserly — who  was  at  that  time 
editor  of  the  Freeman's  Journal — together  with  some  young  Irish-Ameri- 
can Catholic  gentlemen,  so  impressed  the  leaders  of  the  Nativists  that  all 
attempts  of  an  incendiary  nature  and  all  public  efforts  to  sympathize  with  the 
Philadelphia  mob,  were  abandoned.  Nativism  staggered  under  the  blow 
given  it  by  its  adherents  in  Philadelphia,  and  soon  sank  into  utter  insignifi- 
cance as  a  political  power. 

Another  decade,  however,  passed,  and  we  find  it  again  rejuvenated. 
This  time  it  assumed  the  name  of  the  Know-nothing  party,  and  extended  its 
ramifications  through  every  state  in  the  union.  Its  declaration  of  principles 
contained  sixteen  clauses,  as  laid  down  by  its  organs,  of  which  the  following 
were  regarded  as  the  most  vital:  1st.  The  repeal  of  all  naturalization  laws.  2d. 
None  but  native  Americans  for  office.  3d.  A  Protestant  common-school 
system.  4th.  Perpetual  war  on  "  Romanism."  5th.  Opposition  to  the  forma- 
tion of  military  companies  composed  of  "  foreigners."  6th.  Stringent  laws 
against  immigration.  7th.  Ample  protection  to  Protestant  interests.  Though 
partly  directed,  apparently,  against  all  persons  of  foreign  birth,  this  new  secret 
society  was  actually  only  opposed  to  Catholics;  for  many  of  the  prominent 
members  in  its  lodges  were  Irish  Orangemen  and  Welsh,  Scotch,  and  English 
unnaturalized  adventurers  who  professed  no  form  of  belief. 

Like  their  predecessors  of  1844,  tne  Know-nothings  employed  a  host  of 
mendacious    ministers    and    subsidized  a   number  of    obscure    newspapers   to 


xSo  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

circulate  their  slanders  against  Catholics,  native  as  well  as  adopted  citizens; 
but  they  also  added  a  new  feature  to  the  crusade  against  morality  and  civil 
rights.  This  was  street-preaching — a  device  for  creating  riots  and  bloodshed, 
for  provoking  quarrels  and  setting  neighbor  against  neighbor,  worthy  the 
fiend  of  darkness  himself.  Wretched  creatures,  drawn  from  the  very  dregs 
of  society,  were  hired  to  travel  from  town  to  town,  to  post  themselves  at 
conspicuous  street-corners,  if  possible  before  Catholic  Churches,  and  to  pour 
forth,  in  ribald  and  blasphemous  language,the  most  unheard-of  slanders  against 
the  Church.  As  those  outcasts  generally  attracted  a  crowd  of  idle  persons, 
and  were  usually  sustained  by  the  presence  of  the  members  of  the  local  lodge, 
the  merest  interruption  of  their  foul  diatribes  was  the  signal  for  a  riot,  ending 
not  unfrequently  in  loss  of  life  or  limb. 

The  first  outrage  that  marked  the  career  of  the  Know-nothings  of  1854 
was  the  attack  on  the  Convent  of  Mercy,  Providence,  R.I.,  in  April  of  that 
year.  Instigated  by  the  newspaper  attacks  of  a  notorious  criminal,  who 
then  figured  as  a  Nativist  leader,  the  rowdy  elements  of  that  usually  quiet 
city  surrounded  the  convent,  pelted  the  doors  and  windows  with  stones,  to  the 
great  alarm  of  the  ladies  and  pupils  within,  and  would  doubtless  have  pro- 
ceeded to  extremities  were  it  not  that  the  Catholics,  fearing  a  repetition  of 
the  Charlestown  affair,  rallied  for  its  protection  and  repeatedly  drove  them 
off.  In  June.  Brooklyn  was  the  scene  of  some  street-preaching  riots,  but  in 
the  following  August  St.  Louis,  founded  by  Catholics  and  up  to  that  time 
enjoying  an  enviable  reputation  for  refinement  and  love  of  order,  acquired 
a  pre-eminence  in  the  southwest  for  ferocious  bigotry.  For  two  days,* 
August  7th  and  8th,  riot  reigned  supreme  in  that  city;  ten  persons  were  shot 
down  in  the  streets,  many  more  were  seriously  wounded,  and  a  number  of 
houses  of  Catholics  were  wrecked. 

On  the  3d  of  September  of  the  same  year  the  American  Protestant 
Association  of  New  York,  an  auxiliary  of  the  Know-nothings,  composed  of 
Orangemen,  went  to  Newark,  N.J.,  to  join  with  similar  lodges  of  New  Jersey 
in  some  celebration.  In  marching  through  the  streets  of  that  city  they  hap- 
pened to  pass  the  German  Catholic  Church,  and,  being  in  a  sportive  mood, 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  it.  A  melee  occurred,  during  which,  one  man, 
a  Catholic,  was  killed  and  several  were  seriously  injured.  The  evidence  taken 
by  the  coroner's  jury  showed  that  the  admirers  of  King  William  were  well 
armed,  generally  intoxicated,  and  that  the  assault  and  partial  destruction  of 
the   Church  were   altogether  wanton  and  unprovoked.     Early  in  the  same 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY.  l8i 

month  news  was  received  of  a  succession  of  riots  in  New  Orleans,  the  victims, 
as  usual,  being  Catholics. 

But  the  spirit  of  terrorism  was  not  confined  to  one  section  or  particulav 
state.  The  virus  of  bigotry  had  inoculated  the  whole  body  politic.  In 
October  people  of  all  shades  of  religious  opinion  were  astounded  to  hear  from 
Maine  that  the  Rev.  John  Bapst,  S.J.,  a  clergyman  of  exemplary  piety  and 
mildness,  had  actually  been  dragged  forcibly  from  the  house  of  a  friend  by  a 
drunken  Ellsworth  mob,  ridden  on  a  rail,  stripped  naked,  tarred  and  feathered, 
and  left  for  dead.  His  money  and  watch  were  likewise  stolen  by  the  mis- 
creants. Father  Bapst's  crime  was  that,  when  a  resident  of  Ellsworth  some 
time  previously,  he  had  entered  into  a  controversy  about  public  schools. 

Yet,  in  the  face  of  all  these  lawless  proceedings,  the  Know-nothing  party 
increased  with  amazing  rapidity.  "  Without  presses,  without  electioneering," 
said  the  New  York  Times,  "  with  no  prestige  or  power,  it  has  completely 
overthrown  and  swamped  the  two  old  historic  parties  of  the  country."  This 
was  certainly  true  of  New  England,  and  notably  so  of  Massachusetts,  where, 
in  the  autumn  of  1854,  the  Know-nothings  elected  their  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor and  nearly  every  member  of  the  legislature.  In  the  state  of  New  York 
Ullman,  the  standard-bearer  of  the  new  army  of  persecution,  received  over 
122,000  votes,  and,  though  defeated  in  the  city,  it  was  more  than  suspected 
that  the  democrat  who  was  chosen  as  mayor  had  been  a  member  of  the 
organization.  In  many  other  states  and  cities  the  power  of  the  sworn  secret 
combination  was  felt  and  acknowledged. 

Its  influence  and  unseen  grasp  on  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the 
lower  classes  of  Protestants  were  plainly  perceptible  in  the  halls  of  congress 
and  in  the  executive  cabinet.  In  the  senate  William  H.  Seward  was  the  first 
and  foremost  to  denounce  the  so-called  American  party.  As  early  as  July, 
1854,  in  a  speech  on  the  Homestead  Bill,  he  took  occasion  to  remark: 

"  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  everything  is 
un-American  which  makes  a  distinction,  of  whatever  kind,  in  this  country 
between  the  native-born  American  and  him  whose  lot  is  directed  to  be  cast  here 
by  an  overruling  Providence,  and  who  renounces  his  allegiance  to  a  foreign 
land  and  swears  fealty  to  the  country  which  adopts  him." 

The  example  of  the  great  statesman  was  followed  by  such  men  as 
Douglas,  Cass,  Keitt,  Chandler,  and  Seymour,  while  Senators  Dayton  and 
Houston,  Wilson,  the  late  vice-president,  N.  P.  Banks,  and  a  number  of  other 
politicians  championed  the  cause  of  intolerance   as  has  since  been  confessed, 


M2 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


for  their  own  selfish  aggrandizement  as  much  as  from  inherent  littleness 
of  soul. 

Meanwhile,  Massachusetts  was  completely  controlled  by  the  Know- 
nothings.  Their  governor,  Gardner,  had  not  been  well  in  the  chair  of  state 
when  he  disbanded  all  the  Irish  military  companies  within  his  jurisdiction. 
These  were  the  Columbian,  Webster,  Shields,  and  Sarsfield  Guards  of  Boston, 
the  Jackson  Musketeers  of  Lowell,  the  Union  Guard  of  Lawrence,  and  the 
Jackson  Guard  of  Worcester.  The  General  Court,  too,  not  to  be  outdone  in 
bigotry  by  the  executive,  passed  a  law  for  the  inspection  of  nunneries,  convents, 
and  schools,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  its  provisions.  The 
first — and  last — domiciliary  visit  of  this  body  was  made  to  the  school  of  the 
sisters  of  Notre  Dame  in  Roxbury.  It  is  thus  graphically  described  by  the 
Boston  Advertiser,  an  eminently  Protestant  authority:  "The  gentlemen — we 
presume  we  must  call  members  of  the  legislature  by  this  name — roamed  over 
the  whole  house  from  attic  to  cellar.  No  chamber,  no  passage,  no  closet,  no 
cupboard,  escaped  their  vigilant  search.  No  part  of  the  house  was  enough 
protected  by  respect  for  the  common  courtesies  of  civilized  life  to  be  spared 
in  the  examination.  The  ladies1  dresses  hanging  in  their  wardrobes  were 
tossed  over.  The  party  invaded  the  chapel  and  showed  their  respect — as 
Protestants,  we  presume — for  the  One  God  whom  all  Christians  worship,  by 
talking  loudly  with  their  hats  on;  while  the  ladies  shrank  in  terror  at  the 
desecration  of  a  spot  which  they  hallowed." 

Still,  the  work  of  proscription  and  outrage  went  on  in  other  directions. 
Fifteen  school-teachers  had  been  dismissed  in  Philadelphia  because  they  were 
Catholics;  the  Rev.  F.  Nachon,  of  Mobile,  was  assaulted  and  nearly  killed 
while  pursuing  his  sacred  avocations;  a  military  company  in  Cincinnati,  and 
another  in  Milwaukee,  composed  of  adopted  citizens,  were  disbanded,  and  on 
the  6th  and  7th  of  August,  1855,  the  streets  of  Louisville  ran  red  with  the 
blood  of  adopted  citizens.  In  this  last  and  culminating  Know-nothing  outrage 
eleven  hundred  voters  were  driven  from  the  polls,  numbers  of  men,  and  even 
women,  were  shot  down  in  the  public  thoroughfares,  houses  were  sacked  and 
burned,  and  at  least  five  persons  are  known  to  have  been  literally  roasted  alive. 

A  reaction,  however,  had  already  set  in.  Men  of  moderate  views  and 
unbiased  judgments  began  to  tire  of  the  scenes  of  strife,  murder,  and 
rapine  that  accompanied  the  victories  of  the  Know-nothings.  The  first 
to  deal  it  a  deadly  blow,  as  a  political  party,  was  Henry  A.  Wise,  of 
Virginia,  in  his  noble  canvass  of   that  state  against  the  combined  Whig  and 


THE  REIGN  OF  BIGOTRY.  183 

Nativist  elements  in  1855;  and  to  the  late  archbishop  of  New  York,  in  his 
utter  discomfiture  of  State  Senator  Brooks,  is  justly  due  the  merit  of  having 
first  convinced  the  American  people  that  the  so-called  American  party  was 
actually  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  American  laws  and  institutions,  the 
advocate  of  spoliation  and  persecution  under  the  guise  of  patriotism  and 
reform. 

The  decline  of  Nativism,  though  not  so  rapid  as  its  growth,  was  equally 
significant,  and  its  history  as  instructive.  In  1856  a  national  convention  was 
called  by  the  wreck  of  the  party  to  nominate  Fillmore  for  the  presidency, 
after  overtures  had  been  made  in  vain  to  the  Republicans  and  Democrats. 
Fillmore  was  so  badly  defeated  that  he  retired  into  private  life  and  lost  what- 
ever little  fame  he  had  acquired  in  national  affairs  as  Taylor's  successor. 
Four  years  later  Bell  and  Everett  appeared  on  the  Know-nothing  ticket,  but 
so  far  behind  were  they  in  the  race  with  their  presidential  competitors  that 
very  few  persons  cared  to  remember  the  paucity  of  their  votes.  Gradually, 
silently,  but  steadily,  like  vermin  from  a  sinking  ship,  the  leaders  slunk  away 
from  the  already  doomed  faction,  and,  by  a  hypocritical  display  of  zeal, 
endeavored  to  obtain  recognition  in  one  or  other  of  the  great  parties,  but 
generally  without  success.  Disappointed  ambition,  impotent  rage,  and,  let  us 
hope,  remorse  of  conscience  occasionally  seized  upon  them,  and  the  charity 
of  silence  became  to  them  the  most  desired  of  blessings.  Perhaps,  if  the  late 
Civil  War  had  not  occurred,  to  swallow  in  the  immensity  of  its  operations  all 
minor  interests,  we  might  have  beheld  in  1864  the  specter  of  Nativism  arising 
from  its  uneasy  slumber,  to  be  again  subjected  to  its  periodical  blights  and 
curses. 

From  present  appearances  many  far-seeing  persons  apprehend  the  recu:" 
rence  of  the  wild  exhibitions  of  anti-Catholic  and  anti-American  fanaticism 
which  have  so  often  blotted  and  blurred  the  otherwise  stainless  pages  of  our 
short  history.  But  if  such  is  to  be  the  case;  if  we  Catholics  are  doomed 
once  more  to  be  subjected  to  the  abuse  of  the  vile,  the  slander  of  the 
hireling,  and  the  violence  of  an  armed  mob,  the  sooner  we  are  prepared 
the  better.  If  the  scenes  which  have  indelibly  disgraced  Boston  and 
Philadelphia,  Ellsworth  and  Louisville,  are  to  be  again  rehearsed  by  the 
half-dozen  sworn  secret  societies,  whose  cabalistic  letters  disfigure  the  columns 
of  so  many  of  our  newspapers,  we  must  be  prepared  to  meet  the  danger  with 
firmness  and  composure.  As  Catholics,  demanding  nothing  but  what  is  justly 
our  due  under  the  laws,  our  position  will  ever  be  one  of  forbearance,  charity, 


184  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  conciliation;  but  as  American  citizens,  proud  of  our  country  and  zealous 
for  the  maintenance  of  her  institutions,  our  place  shall  be  beside  the  executors 
of  those  grand  enactments  which  have  made  this  republic  the  paragon  and 
exemplar  of  all  civil  and  natural  virtues,  no  matter  how  imminent  the  dan- 
ger or  how  great  the  sacrifice.  In  lands  less  favored  Catholic  rights  may  be 
violated  by  prince  or  mob  with  impunity,  but  we  would  be  unworthy  of  our 
country  and  its  founders,  were  we  to  shrink  for  a  moment  from  the  perform- 
ance of  our  trust  as  the  custodians  of  the  fundamental  ordinance  which  guar- 
antees full  and  absolute  religious  liberty  to  all  citizens  of  the  republic. 


f&UnpUv  ££. 


CROSSING  THE  AfcbEGHANIES. 


Lonely  Father  Brauers. — A  Curious  Will  Contest. — Old  Fort  Duquesne. — 
Fate  of  the  Reform  Franciscans.— Retirement  of  Priestly  Help. — 
Advent  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smith. — A  Born  Russian  Prince. — Disappointing  a 
Father's  Ambition. — A  Youth  Amid  Unbelief.— Conversion  of  a  Good 
Mother. — A  Son  Rescued  for  God.  —  Retired  From  the  Army.  —  An 
American  Trip. — Saved  From  a  Watery  Grave.—  Bishop  Carroll's  Good 
Influence.  —  The  Prince  Becomes  Priest. — The  Diabolism  at  Living- 
ston's.— Some  Ignorant  Catholics.— Brave  Captain  McGuire. — A  Lodge- 
ment in  the  Mountains. — Planting  a  Church  and  Village. — Rebuke  of 
an  Irreverent  Visitor. — A  Long  and  Holy  Pastorate. — Arrival  of  an 
Assistant. — A  True  Child  of  Mary. — Giving  Alms  to  God. — A  Saint's 
Death. — The  Church  at  Pittsburg. 

'N  the  year  1798,  the  Rev.  Theodore  Brauers,  a  Dutch  Franciscan, 
settled  at  Youngstown,  Pa.,  where  he  bought  a  farm  and  built  a 
chapel.  This  village  is  not  far  from  Pittsburg,  and  it  was  then 
the  only  spot  where  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  offered  for  the  salva- 
tion of  men  in  the  vast  territory  which  was  erected  in  1843  into 
the  diocese  of  Pittsburg.  From  Lake  Erie  to  Conewago,  from 
the  hills  of  the  Alleghany  to  the  Ohio,  there  existed  no  church,  no  priest, 
except  the  humble  oratory  of  Father  Brauers. 

It  appears,  indeed,  that  the  first  Catholics  in  that  part  of  Pennsylvania 
came  from  Goshenhoppen,  and  that  the  missionary  who  served  that  parish 
promised  that  they  should  be  visited  in  the  new  settlement  by  another  priest. 
It  was  in  fulfillment  of  this  promise  that  Father  Brauers  settled  at  Youngs- 
town. His  death  gave  rise  to  a  curious  lawsuit,  in  which  the  Pennsylvania 
judges  showed  themselves  the  enlightened  protectors  of  the  rights  of  the 
Church;  and  such  a  spirit  of  justice  is  more  deserving  of  mention,  as  it  is  not 

i«5 


l56  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

always  found  in  the  law  courts  of  the  United  States.  By  his  will,  dated  at 
Greensburg,  Westmoreland  county,  October  24,  1789,  Father  Theodore 
Brauers  had  left  his  property  to  his  successor,  on  condition  of  his  saying 
Masses  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.  A  wandering  priest  named  Francis  Fromm, 
took  possession  of  the  parsonage  and  church;  and  as  he  said  the  Masses 
claimed  the  property  against  the  lawful  priest  sent  by  his  bishop.  Father 
Brauers'  executors  had  recourse  to  law,  and  the  judge  decided  that  a  Catholic 
priest  must  be  sent  by  his  bishop,  although  he  expressed  his  astonishment 
that  a  man  of  Father  Brauers'  good  sense  should  order  Masses  to  be  said  for 
the  repose  of  his  soul !  The  first  talent  in  Pennsylvania  was  employed  in  the 
suit,  in  which  Judges  Baldwin  and  Breckenridge  both  spoke.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Fromm  proved  that  he  was  a  regular  priest,  and  exhibited  the  certificate  of 
the  bishop  of  Mentz,  as  well  as  the  consent  of  Father  Brauers'  congregation. 
These  considerations  might  have  influenced  the  judges;  but  their  decision 
upheld  the  bishop,  and  this  case  has  been  repeatedly  cited  as  an  authority  in 
eases  of  a  similar  nature. 

Father  Brauers  was  not  the  first  priest,  nor  even  the  first  Franciscan,  who 
offered  the  Sacred  Victim  in  the  soil  of  Western  Pennsylvania;  and  as  early 
as  1755,  that  is,  just  a  century  since,  we  find  French  Recollects  attached  as 
chaplains  to  the  French  forts  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  That  part  of  Penn- 
sylvania was  then  claimed  by  France,  and  in  fact  the  whole  valley  of  the  Ohio 
is  comprised  in  the  letters  patent  of  Louisiana,  in  1712.  The  actual  taking 
of  possession  is  not  more  undoubted  than  the  discovery,  and  the  Canadians 
had  launched  their  canoes  on  the  beautiful  river  years  before  the  Pennsyl- 
vania settlers  knew  of  its  existence.  To  unite  the  establishments  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  with  those  on  the  Mississippi,  France  first  reared  a  line  of  defenses 
along  the  lakes,  the  Wabash  and  Illinois ;  but  the  Ohio  valley  had  been  left 
exposed  to  the  enterprise  of  the  English  colonies.  To  close  it,  the  governors 
of  Canada,  in  1753  and  1754,  built  between  Lake  Erie  on  the  Ohio,  Fort  Pres- 
qu'ile,  now  the  city  of  Erie,  Fort  Leboeuf,  or  "  de  la  Riviere  aux  Bceufs," 
at  Waterf  ord,  the  post  of  Venango,  Fort  Machault,  and  where  Pittsburg  now 
stands,  the  celebrated  Fort  Duquesne.  For  four  years  the  French  valiantly 
defended  these  posts  against  far  superior  forces,  and  Washington  made  his 
first  campaign  near  Fort  Duquesne  against  his  future  allies.  At  the  close  of 
1758,  however,  the  garrison  fired  the  fort  and  retired,  and  in  the  following 
year  the  other  forts  were  similarly  abandoned.  Although  these  forts  had 
trifling  garrisons,  not  exceeding,  in  general,  two   hundred  men,  they  had  a 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEQHANIES.  187 

regular  chaplain,  a  proof  how  important  a  place  religion  held  in  the  ancient 
organization  of  France. 

By  this  we  learn  that  Father  Denis  Baron,  Recollect,  was  at  that  time 
chaplain  at  Fort  Duquesne;  and  on  the  30th  of  July,  1755,  an  entry  of  a 
burial  is  signed  by  Father  Luke  Collet,  chaplain  of  the  king.  This  Francis- 
can was  merely  on  a  visit  at  Fort  Duquesne,  as  he  officiated  in  the  presence 
of  the  regular  chaplain,  Father  Baron.  The  latter  was  probably  a  deacon  at 
the  time,  for  the  register  of  ordinations  at  Quebec  mentions  him  as  ordained 
priest  there  on  the  23d  of  September,  1741.  Father  Denis  Baron  was  sent 
successively  to  Three  Rivers,  Montreal,  Niagara,  Cape  Breton,  and  to  Acadia. 

Father  Luke  Collet,  a  Canadian  by  birth,  was  ordained  at  Quebec  in 
1 753'  and  after  remaining  in  his  convent  till  1754  was  sent  to  the  forts  in  the 
valley  of  the  Ohio.  These  fathers  belonged  to  the  reform  of  the  Franciscan 
order  called  Recollects,  the  first  of  whom  arrived  in  Canada  in  1615,  with 
Samuel  Champlain.  Sent  back  to  France  in  1629  on  the  capture  of  Quebec 
by  the  English,  they  returned  only  in  1670,  and  from  that  time  never  left 
Canada;  but  as  the  English  government  seized  their  property  and  prevented 
their  receiving  novices,  their  order  is  now  extinct  in  that  province,  the  last 
survivor,  a  lay  brother,  having  died  a  few  years  ago. 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  amid  the  privations  of  a  frontier  post,  and 
the  vicissitudes  of  war,  the  Recollects  of  Fort  Duquesne  and  Fort  Machault 
could  make  no  effort  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Indians  by  whom  they  were 
surrounded:  Delawares,  among  whom  the  Moravians  were  beginning  to  toil; 
Senecas,  whom  the  Jesuits  had  so  long  taught;  if  they  ministered  to  any  it 
was  to  the  wandering  Catholic  Huron  from  Sandusky,  or  Miami  from  St. 
Joseph's,  the  men  whom  Beaujeu  led  to  victory  over  the  disciplined  troops  of 
Braddock.  Their  functions  were  those  of  military  chaplains;  and  when  they 
disappeared  with  the  regiments  of  France,  thirty  years  rolled  by  without  the 
cross  reappearing  in  Western  Pennsylvania;  but  in  1799  a  young  priest  took 
up  his  abode  among  the  most  rugged  summits  of  the  Alleghanies;  there  he 
built  churches,  founded  villages,  attracted  a  Catholic  population  by  advanta- 
geous grants  of  land,  and  the  superior  spiritual  advantages  enjoyed  at  Loretto; 
and  after  an  apostolic  career  of  forty-one  years,  after  expending  $150,000  of 
his  fortune  in  this  admirable  work,  he  died,  leaving  ten  thousand  Catholics  in 
the  mountains,  where  he  had  found  only  twelve  families.  This  holy  priest, 
who  in  his  humility  called  himself  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  deserves  to  be  known 
by  his  true  name,  and  to  have  his  history  recorded  for  more  lasting  edification. 


jg§  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Demetrius  Gallitzin  was  born  on  the  22d  of  December,  1770,  at  the 
Hao-ue,  his  father,  Prince  Gallitzin,  being,  at  the  time,  ambassador  to  Hol- 
land from  the  court.of  Russia.  In  the  history  of  Russia  there  are  few  names 
more  illustrious  than  that  of  Gallitzin.  The  gifted  mother  of  the  prince-priest 
belonged  to  a  noble  German  family.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Field-Marshal 
Count  de  Schmettau,  one  of  the  favorite  generals  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

By  his  worldly  and  ambitious  father,  the  young  Demetrius  was  destined 
for  the  profession  of  arms.  His  whole  education  was  therefore  of  the  most 
complete  military  cast.  He  scarcely  ever  heard  of  religion.  In  his  boyhood, 
he  was,  in  truth,  more  familiar  with  the  names  of  Voltaire  and  Diderot  than 
with  the  sacred  names  of  Jesus  and  Mary.  His  father  was  an  unbeliever; 
and  an  infidel  education  had  darkened,  if  not  destroyed,  the  faith  that 
lighted  up  his  mother's  early  years. 

The  Princess  Gallitzin  was,  in  the  highest  sense,  a  lady  of  rare  gifts,  one 
whose  personal  attractions  were  only  surpassed  by  her  beauties  of  mind  and 
heart;  and  the  Almighty  in  his  own  good  time  mercifully  led  her  back  to  his 
Holy  Church.  In  1786,  after  a  severe  sickness,  and  years  of  study  and 
examination,  a  light  broke  in  upon  her  troubled  soul — she  again  became  a 
Catholic. 

As  this  good  and  noble  mother  became  more  religious,  her  deep  anxiety 
for  the  welfare  of  her  only  son  increased.  His  lot  was  cast  in  wild  times. 
Men  laughed  at  religion.  Infidelity  was  daily  growing  in  boldness,  and  the 
rumble  of  the  French  Revolution  began  to  be  heard  over  Europe.  On  the 
fourteenth  birthday  of  Demetrius,  December  22,  1784,  she  wrote  to  her  child: 

"At  times,  during  the  last  months  I  have  been  filled  with  better  hopes, 
and  these,  I  freely  admit,  have  not  now  altogether  deserted  me,  only 
they  are  depressed  and  clouded  by  the  worse  times  of  late,  and  by  the  ever- 
recurring  signs  of  the  slavish  submission,  with  which  you  again  give  your- 
self up  to  your  frightful  laziness  and  inactivity. 

"Beloved  Mitri,  oh!  would  to  God  that  to-day,  being  your  birthday, 
reading  this  letter,  you  would  begin  anew  with  this — that,  feeling  for  your 
slavish,  effeminate,  and  indolent  inertness,  the  disgust  which  it  merits,  because 
of  its  ruin  of  your  happiness,  you  might  be  filled  with  dread  in  reviewing  the 
past,  and  fall  on  your  knees  to  invoke  Him  for  the  coming  time,  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  you  have  now  at  least  resolved  with  your  whole  soul  to  act  in 
future  as  a  free  being,  who  knows  that  though  no  man  sees  him,  God  sees 
him,  and  calls  him  to  an  eternal  destiny. 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES.  189 

"  O  my  Mitri,  in  this  expectation,  dearest  child,  I  throw  myself  with  you 
at  the  feet  of  our  Father — kneeling  I  write  it — and  cry  from  the  depths  of 
my  heart,  Have  mercy  on  him  and  me!" 

The  grace  of  God  and  the  labors  of  an  able,  pious,  and  earnest  mother, 
soon  brought  about  the  desired  result.  Three  years  after  the  foregoing  letter 
was  penned  young  Demetrius  Gallitzin  entered  the  Church  of  ages.  The 
princess  was  more  than  happy.  He  took  the  name  of  Augustine  in  confirma- 
tion, to  please  his  mother,  who  was  especially  devoted  to  that  great  doctor  of 
the  Church,  because  of  the  similarity  of  the  maternal  love  with  which  she 
wept  and  prayed  for  her  son  to  that  of  St.  Monica,  of  which  her  friends 
delighted  to  remind  her. 

Referring  to  his  own  conversion,  Father  Gallitzin  afterwards  wrote:  "I 
lived  during  fifteen  years  in  a  Catholic  country,  under  a  Catholic  government. 
.  .  .  During  a  great  part  of  this  time  I  was  not  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  An  intimacy  which  existed  between  our  family  and  a  cer- 
tain celebrated  French  philosopher  had  produced  a  contempt  for  religion. 
Raised  in  prejudice  against  revelation,  I  felt  every  disposition  to  ridicule  those 
very  principles  and  practices  which  I  have  since  adopted. 

"  During  these  unfortunate  years  of  my  infidelity,  particular  care  was 
taken  not  to  permit  any  clergymen  to  come  near  me.  Thanks  to  the  God  of 
infinite  mercy,  the  clouds  of  infidelity  were  dispersed,  and  revelation  adopted 
in  our  family.  I  soon  felt  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  investigating  the  dif- 
ferent religious  systems,  in  order  to  find  the  true  one.  Although  I  was  born 
a  member  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  although  all  my  male  relatives,  without 
any  exception,  were  either  Greeks  or  Protestants,  yet  did  I  resolve  to 
embrace  that  religion  only  which  upon  impartial  inquiry  should  appear  to  me 
to  be  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  My  choice  fell  upon  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  at  the  age  of  about  seventeen  I  became  a  member  of  that 
Church." 

The  sudden  death  of  the  Emperor  Leopold,  and  the  assassination  of  the 
king  of  Sweden — acts  considered  as  the  infamous  work  of  the  Jacobins — 
induced  Austria  and  Prussia  to  dismiss  all  the  foreigners  from  their  armies. 
The  young  Prince  Gallitzin  was  thus  suddenly  deprived  of  his  military  posi- 
tion; and  his  father  and  mother  advised  him  to  travel  in  order  to  finish  his 
education.  It  was  decided  that  he  should  visit  America,  study  its  institutions^ 
and  make  the  personal  acquaintance  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  other 
famous  men  of  that  day. 


,90  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

A  guide  for  the  noble  young  traveler  was  found  in  the  person  of  Rev. 
Felix  Brosius,  a  young  priest  and  professor  of  mathematics,  who  had  formed 
the  resolution  of  going  to  the  United  States,  for  which  purpose  he  had  spent 
two  years  studying  English.  He  was  to  act  the  part  of  a  friendly  tutor.  It 
was  the  wish  of  the  princess  that  Demetrius  should  continue  his  study  of  the 
sciences,  and  make  use  of  them  in  his  observations  in  the  New  World. 

Letters  of  introduction  to  Washington  and  Bishop  Carroll  were  at  once 
procured.  It  was  decided  that  the  prince  should  travel  as  a  simple  gentleman — 
in  fact,  under  the  name  of  Mr.  Augustine  Schmet.  Before  sailing  a  grand 
ball  was  given,  and  the  young  traveler  it  is  told  "  danced  from  dark  till  day- 
light." It  was  his  last  dance.  The  hour  came  to  say  adieu,  and  his  boyish 
heart  fluttered.  As  he  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  pier,  a  misstep  sent  him 
plunging  into  the  briny  deep,  in  his  mother's  presence.  But  he  was  a  good 
swimmer  and  was  soon  picked  up  by  the  boat  which  carried  him  to  the  vessel — 
a  sailing-vessel.  Old  ocean  began  to  develop  unknown  powers  in  the  soul  of 
Demetrius  Augustine  Gallitzin,  even  as  he  gazed  on  the  fading  shores  of 
Europe,  in  August,  1792. 

Two  months  and  a  half  after  bidding  adieu  to  his  mother  on  the  piers  of 
Rotterdam,  young  Prince  Gallitzin  was  in  Baltimore.  In  company  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Brosius,  he  presented  his  letters  of  introduction  to  Bishop  Carroll. 
The  prelate  received  him  with  every  mark  of  kindness,  and  procured  him 
cordial  welcome  in  many  of  the  most  charming  Baltimore  homes. 

The  kind-hearted  bishop  also  offered  the  young  traveler  letters  to  families 
in  Philadelphia  and  other  cities.  Demetrius  remained  a  little  while  looking 
about  Baltimore,  "having,"  as  he  said  himself,  "nothing  in  view  but  to  pursue 
his  journey  through  the  States,  and  to  qualify  himself  for  his  original  voca- 
tion." He  met  with  nothing  but  kindness.  He  saw  an  active,  energetic 
people  full  of  frankness.  Nor  did  he  fail  to  appreciate  the  American  charac- 
ter, and  the  circumstances  of  the  new  country.  He  beheld  a  land  of  peace 
and  plenty — with  a  vast  spiritual  field,  and  few  laborers.  A  new  light  shed 
its  rays  on  his  mind.  It  was  from  heaven.  He  no  longer  thought  of  his 
traveling  tour.  The  work  of  his  life  took  form  in  his  manly  soul,  and  he 
offered  his  services  to  Bishop  Carroll. 

Without  delay,  the  young  prince  began  his  theological  studies  in  the  but 
recently  founded  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  at  Baltimore;  and  after  nearly 
three  years  of  diligent  study  and  the  most  exemplary  conduct,  the  great  day 
came  around.     It  was  the   18th  of   March,  1795.     The  candidate  was  in  his 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES. 


191 


twenty-fifth  year.     Bishop  Carroll,  with  inexpressible  emotion,  raised  him  to 
that  holy  dignity  in  which  he  was  to  be  a  priest  forever  and  forever. 

The  young  priest  desired  to  remain  in  the  quiet,  happy  seclusion  of  the 
seminary,  and,  at  his  own  earnest  request,  obtained  admission  as  a  member  of 
the  priests  of  St.  Sulpice.  Bishop  Carroll,  however,  could  not  dispense  with 
his  services.  After  laboring  in  Baltimore  and  various  country  places  in  Mary- 
land, Father  Gallitzin,  in  the  summer  of  1797,  was  sent  on  a  singular  mission 
to  Virginia.  Reports  of  mysterious  events  occurring  there,  had  spread  over 
the  country,  and  he  was  deputed  to  hold  an  investigation  as  to  their  truth. 
He  spent  from  September  to  Christmas  in  making  a  rigid  examination.  "No 
lawyer  in  a  court  of  justice,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "did  ever  examine  and 
cross-examine  witnesses  more  than  I  did."  At  first,  the  young  prince-priest 
placed  no  faith  in  the  reports ;  but  the  more  he  investigated,  the  more  he  soon 
came  to  a  full  belief  in  the  truth  of  what  he  saw  and  heard.  These  singular 
events  at  the  home  of  the  Livingstones'  have  been  detailed  in  another 
place. 

Having  concluded  his  Virginia  investigations,  the  youthful  Father  Gal- 
litzin once  more  began  his  zealous  labors  in  the  missions  of  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania.  Full  of  zeal,  and  intensely  Catholic  in  heart  and  soul,  the 
prince-priest  was  shocked  at  the  un-Catholic  spirit  that  reigned  among  his 
congregations.  If  these  people  believed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  they 
would  gladly  have  her  authority  reduced  to  zero — if  not  further!  A  vulgar 
arrogance,  based  on  ignorance,  had  possession  of  not  a  few  minds.  Almost 
too  presumptuous  to  receive  instruction,  and  too  ignorant  to  be  humble,  they 
had  lost  that  grand  and  simple  Faith  which  enables  man  to  yield  a  noble 
obedience  to  God  and  religion.  What  they  lacked  in  solid  knowledge,  how- 
ever, was  abundantly  supplied  by  loose  fancies  and  religious  whims,  derived 
from  their  heretical  neighbors.  For  them  liberty  meant  license,  and  all  law 
was  oppression.  The  continual  interference  of  such  men,  and  their  dic- 
tation in  Church  matters,  were  an  abomination  to  the  apostolic  Gallitzin. 

But  not  one  of  these  mental  curiosities  and  moral  dwarfs  was  the  brave 
Captain  McGuire,  a  good  Irish  Catholic,  and  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
Revolution.  After  the  war  of  Independence,  he  resided  in  Maryland;  and 
being  a  great  hunter,  he  often  penetrated  into  the  primeval  forests  of  Western 
Pennsylvania.  The  sound  of  his  rifle  was  frequently  echoed  by  the  most 
distant  of  the  Alleghanies.  On  the  very  summit  of  this  lofty  range,  in  what 
is  now  Cambria  county,  he  bought  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  went  there  with 


j ^2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

his  family  to  reside,  in  1788.     The  pious  captain  lost  no  time  in  providing  for 

the   Church for  which  his  wonderful   faith  alone  could    have  given   him 

hopes — and  generously  made  over  four  hundred  acres  of  land  to  Bishop 
Carroll,  who  had  just  then  returned  to  the  United  States,  after  his  consecra- 
tion. Here  a  Catholic  settlement  soon  began  to  form,  and  its  members 
became  urgent  in  their  requests  for  a  resident  priest. 

Marvelous  are  the  ways  of  Almighty  God!  Father  Gallitzin  had  long 
cherished  the  idea  of  founding  a  community  of  Catholic  settlers  in  some 
remote  spot,  far  removed  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men  and  the  contagion 
of  warring  sects;  where  they  could  live  in  primitive  peace  and  simplicity; 
where  the  stream  of  knowledge  would  not  be  infected  by  the  putrid  waters  of 
vice;  and  where  religion  could  reign  as  queen! 

He  had  once  visited  McGuire's  settlement  on  a  mission  of  charity.  The 
thought  struck  him  that  this  would  be  the  place  to  carry  out  his  admirable 
design;  and  when  the  good  people  petitioned  Bishop  Carroll  for  a  priest, 
they  sent  the  letter  through  Father  Gallitzin,  begging  for  him  to  use  his 
influence  in  getting  them  one — if  possible,  to  come  himself  among  them.  He 
made  their  petition  his  own.  "Your  request,"  writes  Bishop  Carroll  to  him, 
"is  granted.  I  readily  consent  to  your  proposal  to  take  charge  of  the  con- 
gregations detailed  in  your  letter;  and  hope  that  you  will  have  a  house  built 
on  the  land  granted  by  Mr.  McGuire,  and  already  settled;  or  if  more  con- 
venient, on  your  own,  if  you  intend  to  keep  it." 

In  the  wishes  of  these  devoted  people,  and  the  sanction  of  his  venerable 
bishop,  Father  Gallitzin  recognized  the  call  of  God.  He  resolved,  in  the 
midst  of  this  Catholic  nucleus,  to  establish  a  permanent  colony,  which  he  des- 
tined in  his  mind  as  the  center  of  his  missions.  Several  poor  Maryland 
families,  whose  affections  he  had  won,  determined  to  follow  him ;  and,  in  the 
summer  of  1799,  he  took  up  his  line  of  march.  From  Maryland  they 
traveled  with  their  faces  turned  to  the  ranges  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
It  was  a  rough  and  trying  journey.  The  patient  travelers  hewed  their  way 
through  the  primitive  forests,  burdened  at  the  same  time  with  all  their  worldly 
goods.  As  soon  as  the  small  caravan  had  reached  its  new  home,  Gallitzin 
took  possession  of  this,  as  it  were,  conquered  land.  Without  loss  of  time  all 
the  settlers  addressed  themselves  to  the  work  before  them,  and  toiled  so 
zealously  that  before  the  end  of  the  year  they  had  a  little  church  erected. 

Out  of  the  clearings  of  these  untrodden  forests  rose  up  two  buildings, 
constructed   out   of  the    trunks    of    roughly-hewn   trees;    of    these   one  was 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES. 


*93 


intended  for  a  church — the  other  a  presbytery  for  their  pastor.  On 
Christmas  eve  of  the  year  of  1799,  there  was  not  a  winking  eye  in  the 
little  colony.  And  well  there  might  not  be!  The  new  church,  decked  with 
pine,  and  laurel,  and  ivy  leaves,  and  blazing  with  such  lights  as  the  scant 
means  of  the  faithful  could  afford,  was  awaiting  its  consecration  to  the 
worship  of  God! 

There  Gallitzin  offered  up  the  first  Mass,  to  the  great  edification  of  his 
flock,  that, although  made  up  of  Catholics,  had  never  witnessed  such  a  solem- 
nity; and  to  the  great  astonishment  of  a  few  Indians,  who  had  never  in  their 
lives  dreamed  of  such  a  wonderful  ceremony.  Thus  it  was,  that  on  a  spot 
in  which,  scarcely  a  year  previous,  silence  had  reigned  over  vast  solitudes,  a 
prince,  thenceforward  cut  off  from  every  other  country,  had  opened  a  new  one 
to  pilgrims  from  all  nations,  and  that  from  the  wastes  which  echoed  no  sounds 
but  the  howlings  of  the  wild  beasts,  there  went  up  the  divine  song,  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  Deo.  Thus  began  that  glorious  Catholic  settlement  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  which  was  destined  to  grow  and  flourish  like  a  beautiful  mount- 
ain-flower in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness! 

In  the  spring  of  1800,  Father  Gallitzin's  congregation  consisted  of  about 
forty  families,  and  the  number  was  rapidly  increasing.  "  I  have  now,  thanks 
be  to  God,"  he  said,  "a  little  home  of  my  own,  for  the  first  time  since  I  came 
to  this  country,  and  God  grant  that  I  may  be  able  to  keep  it." 

The  whole  cost  of  his  colonization — spiritual  and  material — was  borne 
by  the  princely  pastor.  He  lived  on  the  farm  which  the  generous  Captain 
McGuire  had  given  for  the  service  of  the  Church.  But  in  order  to  attract 
immigration  around  him  he  bought  vast  tracts  of  land,  which  he  sold  in  farms 
at  a  low  rate,  or  even  gave  to  the  poor,  relying  on  his  patrimony  to  meet  his 
engagements.  The  wilderness  soon  put  on  a  new  aspect.  The  settlers  fol- 
lowed the  impulses  of  the  great  missionary,  who  kept  steadfastly  in  view  the 
improvement  of  his  work.  His  first  care  was  to  get  up  a  grist-mill;  then 
arose  numerous  out-buildings;  additional  property  was  purchased,  and  in  a 
short  time  the  colony  grew  in  extent  and  prosperity.  A  large  part  of  his 
own  land  he  laid  out  for  a  town,  and  named  it  Loretto;  the  remainder  he 
cleared  for  the  use  of  the  Church,  the  priests  who  should  succeed  him,  and 
such  institutions  as  should  in  time  arise. 

In  carrying  out  his   work,  the  prince-priest  received   material  assistance 

from  Europe.     At  first,  sums  of  money  were  regularly  remitted  to   him  by 

his  mother.     With  her  he  kept   up   a  fond  correspondence,  which   his  great 
14 


I9  ,  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

love  for  her  rendered  one   of  the  consolations   of  his  life.     But   he  lost  this 
good  and  tender  parent  in  1806. 

The  emperor  of  Russia  could  not  pardon  the  son  of  a  Russian  prince 
for  becoming  a  Catholic  priest,  and  in  180S  the  noble  misssionary  received 
from  a  friend  in  Europe  a  letter,  saying: 

"  The  question  of  your  rights,  and  those  of  the  princess,  your  sister,  as 
to  your  father's  property  in  Russia,  has  been  examined  by  the  senate  of  St. 
Petersburg,  and  it  has  decided  that  by  reason  of  your  Catholic  faith,  and 
your  ecclesiastical  profession,  you  cannot  be  admitted  to  a  share  of  your  late 
father's  property.  Your  sister  is  consequently  sole  heiress  of  the  property, 
and  is  soon  to  be  put  in  possession  of  it.  The  Council  of  State  has  confirmed 
the  decision  of  the  senate,  and  the  emperor  by  his  sanction  has  given  it  the 
force  of  law." 

Writing  to  her  brother,  the  Princess  Maria  said:  "You  maybe  perfectly 
easy.  I  shall  divide  with  you  faithfully,  as  I  am  certain  you  would  with  me. 
Such  was  the  will  of  our  deceased  father,  and  of  our  dearest  mother;  and  such 
also  will  be  the  desire  of  my  affectionate  love  and  devotedness  towards  you, 
my  dearest  brother." 

When  the  princess  married  the  insolvent  prince  of  Salm,  she  said  no  more 
about  remittances.  Father  Gallitzin,  however,  cared  not  for  wealth,  save  to 
aid  the  poor,  the  unfortunate,  or  the  Church.  "  If  he  had  possessed  a  heart 
of  gold,"  said  one  who  knew  him  well,  "  he  would  have  given  it  to  the 
unfortunate." 

He  was  up  before  the  sun.  Fasting,  he  rode  along  the  wild  pathways 
of  the  forest,  that  were  oftener  pressed  by  the  wolf  and  the  bear  than  by  the 
steps  of  any  human  being.  The  wrath  of  the  storm  often  broke  over  his 
devoted  head.  Then,  when  he  reached  some  out-of-the-way  church,  came 
the  same  round  of  duties  as  before — confession,  Mass,  baptisms,  marriages, 
funerals,  exhortations,  and,  last  of  all,  another  long  journey. 

In  his  church  at  Loretto  everything  moved  with  the  nicest  exactness. 
He  was  a  lover  of  order.  At  his  Sunday  Mass  he  preached  two  sermons — 
one  in  English,  another  in  German.  French,  however,  was  his  mother- 
tongue.  He  was  a  master  of  English,  but  he  did  not  speak  German  very 
well.  His  sermons  were  simplicity  itself,  ever  suited  to  the  times,  circum- 
stances, and  needs  of  his  people.  In  a  letter  dated  1806,  Father  Gallitzin 
states  that,  "  the  greatest  part  of  the  congregation"  was  Irish. 

He  was  very  severe  on  anything    that   savored  of  irreverence  in  church. 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES.  195 

It  was  the  house  of  God,  and  it  must  be  respected.  Once  a  Protestant  stood 
in  the  crowded  edifice,  gazed  around,  and  seemingly  viewed  the  prayerful 
congregation  with  disgust.  A  hand  gently  touched  his  shoulder  and  he  heard 
the  words:  "Every  one  kneels  here."  He  knelt  instantly,  for  it  was  the 
pastor  of  Loretto  that  spoke. 

On  one  occasion,  however,  he  did  not  meet  with  such  ready  obedience. 
A  member  of  his  congregation  had  married  a  Protestant  lady.  She  accom- 
panied her  husband  to  church,  but  did  not  kneel.  She  stood,  and  her  large 
figure  was  conspicuous.  Mass  went  on.  Many  good  people  trembled,  for 
they  felt  that  a  rebuke,  swift  and  terrible,  was  coming.  Father  Gallitzin  was 
silent  until  he  turned  around  to  give  Holy  Communion.  "Kneel  down, 
woman — kneel  down!"  he  said  in  a  low  voice.  But  she  did  not  kneel.  An 
instant  passed;  the  prince's  black  eyes  seemed  to  flash  fire,  and  in  a  voice  of 
thunder  he  exclaimed :  "  Woman,  kneel  down !  "  The  words  shook  the  very 
church,  and  it  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  lady  dropped  on  her  knees. 

Six  months  rolled  by.  One  day  a  lady  appeared  at  the  doer  of  Father 
Gallitzin's  house.  He  received  her  kindly,  and  she  told  him  she  was  the  per- 
son he  had  once  commanded  to  kneel.  He  smiled.  They  conversed  for 
awhile.  "  I  have  come  to  be  received  into  the  Church,"  she  observed  after  a 
pause.  "  I  have  told  nobody.  I  believed  the  Catholic  religion  to  be  the  true 
religion,  from  the  moment  you  told  me  to  kneel  that  day  in  church."  She 
became  a  good  Catholic. 

We  have  a  graphic  picture  of  the  venerable  missionary's  appearance  on 
one  of  his  forest  journeys,  when  he  had  reached  his  sixty-fourth  year.  For  it 
we  are  indebted  to  the  pen  of  Rev.  Father  Lemcke,  O.S.B.,  afterwards  his 
successor.  In  the  summer  of  1S34,  the  good  father  was  sent  from  Philadel- 
phia to  the  assistance  of  the  aged  prince-priest.  After  several  days  of  rough 
travel  he  reached  Munster,  a  village  some  miles  from  Loretto.  Here  Father 
Lemcke  procured  an  Irish  lad  to  pilot  him  on  his  way. 

"  As  we  had  gone,"  he  says,  "  a  couple  of  miles  through  the  woods,  I 
caught  sight  of  a  sled  drawn  by  a  pair  of  vigorous  horses,  and  in  the  sled  a 
half-recumbent  traveler,  in  every  lineament  of  whose  face  could  be  read  a 
character  of  distinction.  He  was  outwardly  dressed  in  a  thread-bare  over- 
coat, and  on  his  head  a  peasant's  hat,  so  worn  and  dilapidated  that  no  one 
would  have  rescued  it  from  the  garbage  of  the  streets.  It  occurred  to  me 
that  some  accident  had  happened  to  the  old  gentleman,  and  that  he  was  com- 
pelled  to  resort   to  this   singular  mode  of  conveyance.     While  I  was  taking 


196 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


my  brain  for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem,  Tom,  my  guide,  who 
was  trotting  ahead,  turned  round,  and  pointing  to  the  old  man,  said:  «  Here 
comes  the  priest.' 

"I  immediately   coaxed  up    my   nag  to  the  sled.     'Are  you  really  the 
pastor   of     Loretto?'    said   I.      'I   am,  sir.'     'Prince    Gallitzin?'     'At  your 


FATHER    LEMCKE    MEETS    FATHER    GALLITZIN. 

service,  sir,'  he  said,  with  a  hearty  laugh.  '  You  are  probably  astonished,' 
he  continued,  after  I  handed  him  a  letter  from  the  bishop  of  Philadelphia, 
'  at  the  strangeness  of  my  equipage.  But  there's  no  help  for  it.  You  have 
no  doubt  already  found  out  that  in  these  countries  you  need  not  dream  of  a 
carriage  road.  You  could  not  drive  ten  yards  without  danger  of  an  overturn. 
I  am  prevented,  since  a^fall  which  I  have  had,  from  riding  on  horseback,  and 
it  would  be  impossible  for  me  now  to  travel  on  foot.  Besides,  I  carry  along 
everything  required  for  the  celebration  of  Holy  Mass.  I  am  now  going  to  a 
spot  where  I  have  a  mission,  and  where  the  Holy  Sacrifice  has  been 
announced  for  to-day.  Go  to  Loretto,  and  make  yourself  at  home  till  my  return 
to-night;  unless,  indeed,  you  should  prefer  to  accompany  me.'"  Father 
Lemcke  was  only  too  happy  to  bear  him  company. 

For  forty-one  years  this  humble  man,  this  truly  great  and  good  priest, 
led  upon  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania  a  most  perfect  Christian  life.     When 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES.  197 

warned  to  take  more  care  of  himself,  he  would  answer,  in  his  own  energetic 
style:  "  As  the  days  have  gone  by  when  by  martyrdom  it  was  possible  for  us 
to  testify  to  God's  glory  upon  earth,  it  becomes  our  duty,  like  the  toil-worn 
ox,  to  remain  hitched  to  the  plow  in  the  field  of  the  Lord."  On  Easter 
Sunday,  1840,  Father  Gallitzin,  being  seventy  years  of  age,  had,  early  in  the 
morning,  taken  his  seat  in  the  confessional.  After  discharging  these  duties, 
he  bravely  braced  up  his  remaining  strength  to  ascend  the  altar  for  the 
celebration  of  Mass.  When  it  was  over  he  took  to  his  bed — the  bed  from 
which  he  was  destined  never  to. rise.  On  the  6th  of  May,  his  pure  and 
princely  spirit  passed  to  the  bosom  of  God. 

The  revered  Father  Gallitzin's  best  eulogy  is  his  work.  He  erected  the 
first  chapel  in  what  now  comprises  the  three  dioceses  of  Pittsburg,  Alleghany 
City,  and  Erie.  His  cherished  Loretto  is  the  most  Catholic  village  in  the 
United  States.  Not  till  the  traveler  has  pressed  the  soil  of  Cambria  county 
does  he  feel  that  he  is  in  a  truly  Christian  land,  as  he  catches  sight  of  the 
ten  Catholic  churches  and  three  monasteries — all  of  which  cropped  out  of 
Loretto,  under  the  creative  and  fostering  hands  of  this  apostolic  and  wonder- 
ful man.  What  share  he  had  in  its  material  prosperity  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  he  spent  over  $150,000  in  its  improvement.  Though  for  many 
years  vicar-general  of  the  bishop  of  Philadelphia,  he  firmly  refused  all  offers 
of  being  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity.  Having  renounced  the  dignities  of 
the  world,  he  did  not  aspire  to  those  of  the  Church. 

Long  before  his  death,  however,  he  was  held  in  universal  respect.  The 
name  Gallitzin  has  since  been  given  to  a  fine  village. 

His  love  of  books  was  remarkable.  He  had  collected  a  large  number, 
and  truthfully  inscribed  on  these  dear  companions  of  his  solitude  the  words: 
"  Gallitzin  and  his  friends." 

On  one  occasion  he  had  given  a  liberal  alms  to  a  poor  traveler,  who 
afterwards  squandered  the  money  at  a  tavern.  When  informed  of  the  decep- 
tion, the  good  and  noble  donor  replied,  "  I  gave  it  not  to  him,  but  to  God." 

In  an  age  of  pride  and  pretension,  the  humility  of  this  great  man  is  truly 
touching.  For  many  years  he  suppressed  the  illustrious  name  of  Gallitzin, 
and  was  known  simply  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
he  set  out  on  his  travels  as  Augustine  Schmet,  or,  in  English,  Smith.  At  the 
seminary,  when  pursuing  his  studies,  he  was  known  by  that  name.  He  was 
naturalized  as  Augustine  Smith,  and  it  was  only  many  years  after,  that,  for 
good  reasons,  he  resumed  his  family  name.     When  told  of  the  fame  of  his 


I9S  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

writings,  he  said  that  "he  was  glad  that  the  same  God  who  had  enabled  an 
ass  to  speak — who  had  enabled  the  unlettered  to  convert  the  universe,  had 
also  enabled  his  ignorance  to  say  something  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  Church." 

Over  thirteen  years  after  the  death  of  Father  Gallitzin,  his  loved 
Loretto  was  visited  by  the  apostolic  nuncio,  Mgr.  Bedini.  He  was  delighted. 
"  This  village,"  he  writes,  "  sanctified  by  the  apostleship  of  Prince  Demetrius 
Gallitzin,  is  situated  upon  the  highest  mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  inhab- 
ited by  Germans — all  Catholics  without  exception.  My  carriage  was  pre- 
ceded by  about  five  hundred  persons  on  horseback — men  and  women — and 
followed  by  fifty  vehicles.  This  peaceful  cortege,  defiling  joyously  around 
the  vast  mountains,  under  a  most  brilliant  sun,  was  to  us  as  solemn  as  it  was 
touching." 

"  As  he  had  taken  for  his  models,"  says  Very  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden,  the 
dear  friend  and  biographer  who  received  the  prince-priest's  last  breath,  "  the 
lives  of  the  saints,  the  Francis  of  Saleses,  the  Charles  Borromeos,  the  Vin- 
cents of  Paul,  so,  like  them,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  tender  and  lively 
devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  He  lost  no  opportunity  of  extolling  the  vir- 
tues of  Mary.  He  endeavored  to  be  an  imitator  of  her,  as  she  was  of  Christ. 
He  recited  the  Rosary  every  evening  among  his  household;  and  inculcated 
constantly  on  his  people  this  admirable  devotion,  and  all  the  other  pious  exer- 
cises in  honor  of  Mary. 

"  The  Church  in  which  he  said  daily  Mass,  he  had  dedicated  under  the 
invocation  of  this  ever-glorious  Virgin,  whom  all  nations  were  to  call  blessed. 
It  was  in  honor  of  Mary,  and  to  place  his  people  under  her  peculiar  patronage, 
that  he  gave  the  name  of  Loretto  to  the  town  he  founded  here,  after  the  far- 
famed  Loretto,  which,  towering  above  the  blue  wave  of  the  Adriatic,  on  the 
Italian  coast,  exhibits  to  the  Christian  pilgrim  the  hallowed  and  magnificent 
temple  which  contains  the  sainted  shrine  of  Mary's  humble  house  in  which 
she  at  Nazareth  heard  announced  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  and  which 
the  mariners,  as  they  pass  to  encounter  the  perils  of  the  deep,  or  return  in 
safety  from  them,  salute,  chanting  the  .joyous  hymn,  Ave  Alan's  Stella.  Foi, 
like  St.  John,  he  recognized  in  her  a  mother  recommended  to  him  by  the 
words  of  the  dying  Jesus:  '  He  said  to  the  disciple,  behold  thy  mother!'  And 
so,  when  his  frame  was  worn  out  in  her  service,  and  her  Son's,  he  went  up  to 
see  her  face  on  high." 

The  father  of  our  holy  missionary  died  at  Brunswick  in  1803,  st^l 
unreconciled   to  the  idea  of   having  his  son   a  priest,  and  his  wife  a  pious 


CROSSING  THE  ALLEGHANIES.  i99 

Catholic,  while  he  was  a  disciple  of  Diderot.  He  embittered  the  last  days 
of  the  princess  by  reproaching  her  with  causing  her  son's  conversion.  She 
bore  all  with  Christian  patience,  and  expired  in  1806,  fortified  with  all  the 
consolations  of  the  dying.  Her  example,  and  that  of  her  son,  doubtless, 
exercised  a  salutary  influence  on  the  family.  One  of  their  nephews,  the 
young  Prince  Alexander  Gallitzin,  openly  became  a  Catholic  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, in  18 '4,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  was  then  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
this  conversion  excited  so  much  attention  in  Russia,  and  so  irritated  his  uncle, 
then  minister  of  worship  to  the  emperor,  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  was 
immediately  banished  from  Russia.  Another  aunt  of  young  Alexander 
became  a  Catholic  in  Russia  under  Father  Ronsin,  and  her  daughter,  Princess 
Elizabeth  Gallitzin,  having  herself  abjured  the  Greek  schism,  entered  the 
community  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  at  Paris.  After  a  stay  at  Rome,  she  was 
sent  to  the  United  States  in  1S40,  where  she  founded  four  houses  of  her  order, 
and  died  of  the  yellow  fever  in  Louisiana,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  on  the 
8th  of  December,  1S43. 

Meanwhile  Pittsburg  had  grown  strong  in  the  faith.  In  the  first  years 
of  this  century,  the  Rev.  F.  X.  O'Brien  had  a  mission  at  Brownsville,  forty 
miles  south  of  Pittsburg,  which  latter  city  he  visited  every  month,  to  say 
Mass  for  the  few  Catholics  who  gathered  around  him  in  a  private  room. 
About  1807,  however,  he  made  Pittsburg  his  residence,  and  in  the  following 
year  erected  St.  Patrick's  Church,  so  apparently  large  for  the  wants  of  the 
faithful,  that  he  was  long  annoyed  with  reproaches  of  extravagance. 

Father  O'Brien  was  succeeded  at  Pittsburg  by  Father  Charles  B.  Maguire, 
an  Irish  Franciscan,  who  had  studied  at  St.  Isidore's  Convent,  Rome.  He 
was  even  a  professor  there,  when  the  French  invasion  compelled  him  to  retire 
to  Germany,  where  he  received  from  the  royal  family  of  Bourbon,  then 
exiled  from  France,  many  favors  and  marks  of  respect.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  about  181 2,  and  the  mission  of  Westmoreland  county,  com- 
prising Latrobe  and  Youngstown,  was  first  assigned  to  him.  There  Father 
Brauers  had  taken  up  his  abode  in  1789;  and  this  cradle  of  Catholicity  in 
the  diocese  of  Pittsburg  has  become,  since  1846,  the  cradle  of  the  Benedictine 
Order  in  the  United  States. 

Bishop  Kenrick,  in  1S34,  noted  the  existence  of  a  large  German  popula- 
tion at  Pittsburg.  To  take  care  of  the  Catholics  of  that  nation,  some 
Redemptorist  fathers  arrived  at  Pittsburg  in  1839,  an<^  immediately  began 
the   erection  of  the  church   of  St.    Philomena.       Two   years  previous,  four 


200  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Sisters  of  Charity  from  Emmitsburg  opened  a  school  at  Pittsburg,  and  soon 
took  charge  of  an  orphan  asylum.  But  it  is  chiefly  since  1843,  when  Dr. 
O'Connor,  instead  of  being  pastor,  became  bishop  of  Pittsburg,  that,  under 
the  influence  of  his  zeal,  the  new  diocese  saw  churches,  convents,  and  monas- 
teries rise  on  all  sides,  so  that  it  is  now  one  of  the  best  endowed  in  the 
United  States  in  the  resources  of  its  clergy  and  the  number  of  its  religious 
communities. 


(&Unptcv  <&i. 


ON  /MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


In  the  Steps  of  a  Historian. — Priests  Who  Called  at  Manhattan. —Ungrate- 
ful Dutch  Protestants. — Toleration  a  Myth. — The  Catholic  Governor 
Dongan— Ground  For  a  Jesuit  College. — A  Reign  of  Terror. —  Blank 
Pages  of  History. — The  Negro  Plot. — Hanging  a  Priest. — A  Warm 
Place  For  Catholics. — The  Indomitable  Jesuits. — Freedom  For  All  But 
Papists. — The  Traitor  Arnold.— Times  of  Toleration.— Purchase  of  a 
Church  Site.— Debilitated  Catholicity. — Old  St.  Peter's. — Rioters 
March  on  St.  Patrick's. — Frightened  Away  by  Defenders. — New  York 
During  the  Reign  of  Bigotry. — Converts  on  Manhattan  Island. — The 
Shepherdless  Flock. — A  Confessor  Before  the  Courts. — Dawn  of 
Catholic  Literature. — The  Trustee  Plague. — First  Bishop. — Epidemics 
of  Controversy. — Good  Works  of  the  Prelate.— His  Renowned  Suc- 
cessor. 


^HE  seed-time  of  the  Faith  on  Manhattan  Island — now  occupied  by 
the  huge  Empire  city — was  lovingly  and  competently  sketched  by 
the  late  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Bayley,  of  Baltimore,  while  he  was  yet  a 
simple  priest  and  secretary  to  the  illustrious  Archbishop  Hughes. 
Following  an  appreciative  review  of  that  work,  which  is  recognized 
as  standard  authority,  we  are  enabled  to  set  forth  here  the  more 
important  and  striking  facts. 

The  early  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  island  of  New  York 
is  indeed  an  attractive  and  interesting  theme.  It  opens  with  the  romantic 
story  of  the  early  Jesuit  missions;  for  of  the  visits  of  the  Catholic  navigators, 
Verrazani  and  Sebastian  Gomez,  we  have  too  little  detail  to  know  whether  a 
priest  actually  said  Mass  on  the  island. 

The  first  priest  who  is  known  to  have  set  his  foot  on  the  island  of  Man- 
hattan was  an  illustrious  missionary,  who,  while  on  his  way  from  Quebec  to  his 
mission  ground  on  the   upper  lakes,  was  in    1643  taken  by  the  Mohawks, 


203  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

tortured  almost  beyond  the  power  of  human  endurance,  spared  to  become  the 
slave  of  savages,  bearing  their  burdens  in  their  winter  hunts,  in  their  fishing 
trips  to  Saratoga  Lake  and  the  Hudson,  on  their  trading  visits  to  the  Dutch 
Fort  Orange,  where  Albany  now  stands,  bearing  all,  enduring  all,  with  a  soul 
ever  wrapped  in  prayer  and  union  with  God,  till  at  last  the  Dutch  overcame  his 
reluctance  and  saved  him  from  the  hands  of  his  savage  captors,  as  they  were 
about  to  put  him  to  death.  Covered  with  wounds  and  bruises,  mutilated, 
extenuated,  scarce  human  in  dress  or  outward  form,  such  was  Isaac  Jogues,  the 
first  Catholic  priest  to  enter  the  great  city,  then  in  its  infancy,  to  meet  with 
respect  and  kindness  from  the  Dutch,  with  the  reverence  due  to  a  martyr  from 
the  two  Catholics,  sole  children  of  the  ancient  Faith  then  in  New  Amsterdam. 

The  stay  of  this  illustrious  missionary  was  brief,  and  his  ministry  was 
limited  to  the  confessional,  his  chapel  and  vestments  having  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  Indians,  and  been  greedily  seized  as  trophies. 

Governor  Kieft  displayed  great  humanity  in  his  care  of  the  missionary, 
and  seized  the  first  opportunity  to  enable  him  to  return  to  Europe.  Panting 
for  martyrdom,  Father  Jogues  remained  in  his  native  land  only  to  obtain 
needed  dispensations  and  permission  to  return  to  his  labors.  On  reaching 
Canada,  he  found  peace  almost  made  with  the  Mohawks,  and,  proceeding  as 
envoy  to  their  territory,  concluded  a  treaty.  He  was  invited  to  plant  a  mis- 
sion among  them,  as  his  associates  had  done  among  their  kindred,  the  Hurons. 
But  when  he  returned  to  do  so,  prejudices  had  sprung  up,  a  hatred  of  Chris- 
tianity as  something  baneful  had  seized  them,  the  missionary  was  arrested, 
treated  as  a  prisoner,  and  in  a  few  days  put  to  death  on  the  banks  of  Caugh- 
nawaga  Creek,  on  the  iSth  of  October,  1646. 

The  next  priest  known  to  have  visited  New  York  was  the  Italian  Father 
Bressani,  who  underwent  a  similar  course  of  suffering,  was  captured,  tortured, 
enslaved,  and  ransomed  by  the  kindly  Dutch ;  and  by  them  sent  to  France. 
Although  he  subsequently  published  a  short  account  of  the  Huron  missions, 
he  is  entirely  silent  as  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  we  know  nothing  in  regard 
to  any  exercise  of  the  ministry  during  his  stay  on  the  island. 

The  first  priest  who  came  to  extend  his  ministry  to  any  Catholics  in  the 
place  was  the  Jesuit  Father  Simon  Le  Moyne,  the  discoverer  of  the  salt 
springs  at  Syracuse,  and  the  successful  founder  of  the  Mohawk  and 
Onondaga  missions.  His  visit  was  repeated,  and  there  would  seem 
to  be  a  probability  that  he  may  have  atually  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice. 
The   real   field   of    his  labors,  and  those   of    his    associates,    was,    however, 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  203 

the  castles  of  the  Five  Nations  of  Iroquois,  in  which,  for  many  years, 
regular  Catholic  chapels  subsisted,  winning  many  to  the  faith,  and  sav- 
ing many  by  baptism  in  infancy  or  in  fatal  illness.  The  converts  at  last 
began  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  where  three  villages  of  Catholic  Iroquois  still 
attest  the  power  of  the  gospel  as  preached  by  the  early  missionaries.  Polit- 
ical jealousies,  infused  by  the  English,  gradually  intensified  the  innate  dislike 
of  the  pagans  to  Catholicity,  and  prejudice,  debauchery,  and  penal  laws  at 
last  drove  the  Catholic  missionaries  from  a  field  in  which  they  had  labored 
with  such  courageous  and  unremitting  zeal. 

For  years  the  only  Catholic  missionary  in  their  territory  was  Father 
Milet,  held  at  Oneida  as  a  prisoner.  Flying  visits  alone  after  this  kept  up 
the  faith,  and  in  1709,  Father  Peter  Mareuil,  on  the  outbreak  of  war  retired 
to  Albany,  and  the  mission  in  the  Iroquois  country  virtually  closed.  The 
later  and  tardy  Protestant  efforts  were  in  a  measure  built  on  these  early  Cath- 
olic labors,  and  from  Dellius  to  Zeisberger  they  gladly  availed  themselves  of 
the  pupils  of  the  Jesuits  to  form  their  own  instructions. 

This  Iroquois  church  has  its  martyr  missionary  Jogues,  its  martyred  neo- 
phytes, who  died  at  the  hands  of  their  countrymen  rather  than  renounce  Jesus 
to  bow  the  knee  to  Aireskoi;  and  its  holy  virgin  in  Catherine  Tehgahkwita, 
the  Genevieve  of  New  France.  Then  came  the  growth  of  mustard-seed  in 
the  Dutch  colony.  We  hear  of  the  freedom  of  worship  achieved  and  estab- 
lished by  the  founders  of  the  Dutch  republic.  It  is  indeed  a  favorite  theme. 
Catholic  and  Protestant  alike  battled  with  Spain,  and  the  blood  of  both  won 
the  liberty  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces.  Then  as  now  Catholics  formed 
nearly  half  the  population  of  Holland.  But  as  soon  as  freedom  was  obtained, 
the  Protestants  turned  on  the  Catholics,  who  had  fought  by  their  sides, 
deprived  them  of  civil  rights,  put  their  religion  under  a  ban,  expelled  them 
from  their  ancient  churches.  In  fact,  they  halted  in  their  course  of  tyranny 
and  oppression  only  when  fear  dictated  a  little  prudence. 

The  very  church  given  to  the  English  Puritans  under  Robinson,  by  the 
Dutch  authorities,  was  the  church  of  the  Catholic  Beguines,  whose  residen- 
ces encircled  the  chapel  of  which  Dutch  laws  deprived  them,  in  order  to  give 
it  to  foreigners  who  reviled  the  creed  that  erected  it  and  the  worship  of  the 
Most  High  so  long  offered  within  its  walls. 

When  New  Netherland  was  colonized,  this  fierce  intolerance  of  the 
dominant  party  in  Holland  excluded  Catholics  from  the  new  settlement  as 
rigorously   as    Puritan   fanaticism    banished    them  from    the   shores  of  New 


204  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

England.  The  Catholic  Hollander  could  not  emigrate  to  the  new  land.  No 
worship  was  permitted  but  that  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  Holland.  It 
is  well  to  talk  of  Dutch  toleration,  but  it  is  the  veriest  myth  ever  concocted; 
and  in  New  Netherland,  though  men  were  received  who  had  denied  Christ 
and  been  pirates  or  Salee  rovers,  Catholicity  was  excluded. 

Gradually  a  few  Catholics  did  creep  into  the  colony.  Father  Jogues  on 
his  visit  in  1643  found  an  Irishman  and  a  Portuguese  woman,  forerunners  of 
the  four  hundred  thousand  now  on  Manhattan  Island.  Le  Moyne,  as  we 
have  stated,  subsequently  visited  the  island,  and  a  Dutch  domine  avers 
that  he  did  so  in  order  to  give  the  consolations  of  religion  to  some  Catholic 
sailors  and  residents;  but  the  fanaticism  of  Holland  was  here,  and  as  an 
•illustration  of  the  freedom  of  worship  supposed  to  exist,  we  find  that  in 
1658  a  Catholic  in  Brooklyn  was  punished  for  objecting  to  support  a 
reformed  minister. 

By  the  reduction  of  New  York,  in  1664,  to  the  English  sway,  restric- 
tions were  really  if  not  explicitly  removed.  James,  duke  of  York,  was  a 
Catholic,  and  his  province  of  New  York  was  for  a  time  governed  by  Colonel 
Thomas  Dongan,  also  a  Catholic.  Under  his  administration  Catholic  priests 
for  the  first  time  took  up  their  residence  on  the  island.  Unfortunately,  we 
have  little  more  than  the  names  of  three  clergymen  and  some  indication  of 
the  period  of  their  stay;  though  hostile  notices  tell  us  of  one  terrible  crime 
they  perpetrated — they  actually  did  erect  a  "Jesuit  college,"  and  taught  boys 
Latin.  The  king's  farm  was  assigned  as  the  place  for  this  institution  of  learn- 
ing; but  before  Catholicity  could  take  an  enduring  form,  James  II  was  hurled 
from  his  throne  for  trying  to  make  the  Anglican  bishops  speak  a  little  tole- 
ration. As  has  often  happened,  intolerance,  with  the  banner-cry  of  "liberty," 
became  the  order  of  the  day.  New  York  soon  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a  gov- 
ernor of  a  true  bigot  stamp,  grandson  of  one  of  the  bloodiest  butchers  in  the 
blood-stained  annals  of  Ireland,  Coote,  earl  of  Bellomont.  He  disgraced  the 
colonial  legislation  with  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  and  characteristically 
lied  in  the  preamble  of  his  act.  But  he  was  a  stanch  Protestant,  and  had 
some  curious  dealings  with  Captain  Kidd.  The  result  of  this  change  in  New 
York  affairs  was  that  the  king's  farm  slipped  into  the  hands  of  the  Episco- 
palians, and  they  built  Trinity  Church  on  it. 

Under  the  harrying  that  began  with  Leisler's  usurpation  of  authority  in 
the  province  on  the  fall  of  James,  and  his  mad  brain  full  of  plots  and  "dia- 
bolical designs  of  the  wicked  and  cruel  papists,"  such  Catholics  as  had  settled 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


205 


in  New  York  seem  gradually  to  have  moved  elsewhere;  or,  if  they  remained, 
reared  families  who  were  strangers  to  the  Faith. 

Thus  far  Catholicity  in  New  York  had  a  strange  history.  Is  it  a  dream? 
Fact  first:  Enlightened  Dutch  Protestants,  champions  of  liberty  of  con- 
science, exclude  Catholics,  and  when  they  creep  in,  tax  them  to  support  a 
church  against  the  dictates  of  their  conscience.  Fact  second:  Enlightened 
English  Protestants,  after  a  great  and  glorious  revolution,  and  of  course  full 
of  toleration,  passed  penal  laws  subjecting  Catholic  priests  to  imprisonment 
for  life  with  murderers  and  criminals.  Fact  third:  Catholics  during  the 
brief  period  of  their  influence  gave  the  colony  a  legislature,  a  bill  of  rights, 
freedom  of  worship  to  all  Christians,  and  a  college,  and  first  attempted  to  ele- 
vate and  Christianize  the  negro  slave.  Dr.  Bayley  thus  narrates  one  of  these 
glorious  works: 

"The  first  act  of  the  first  assembly  of  New  York  convened  by  Col.  Dongan  was 
the  'Charter  of  Liberty,'  passed  October  30,  1683,  which,  among  other  things,  declares 
that  'no  person  or  persons  which  profess  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  shall,  at  any 
time,  be  any  ways  molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question  for  any  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  or  matter  of  religious  concernment,  who  do  not  actually  disturb  the 
civil  peace  of  the  province;  but  that  all  and  every  such  person  or  persons  may,  from 
time  to  time  and  at  all  times,  freely  have,  and  fully  enjoy,  his  or  their  judgments  or 
consciences  in  matters  of  religion,  throughout  all  the  province — they  behaving  them- 
selves peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not  using  this  liberty  to  licentiousness,  nor  to  the 
civil  injury  or  outward  disturbance  of  others.'  By  another  enactment,  all  denomina- 
tions then  in  the  province  were  secured  in  their  liberty  and  discipline,  and  the  like 
privilege  was  granted  to  others  who  might  come  into  it." 

For  fifty  years  the  history  of  Catholicity  on  New  York  island  is  a  blank. 
A  priest  was  occasionally  brought  in  as  a  prisoner  on  some  Spanish  ship  taken 
by  a  privateer;  that  is  all.  Catholics  are  scarcely  alluded  to.  But  an  awak- 
ening came  in  1741  in  one  of  the  wildest  excitements  in  our  annals.  Cathol- 
ics had,  indeed,  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  for  a  long  time  no  breath  implicated 
the  few  Catholics  with  the  supposed  dangers,  till  a  silly  letter  of  General 
Oglethorpe  put  the  idea  into  the  heads  of  the  New  York  authorities.  Then 
the  negro  question  and  the  Catholic  question,  which  have  so  long  alternately 
afforded  a  topic  for  sensation,  and  have  at  times  been  so  oddly  combined,  met 
for  the  first  time  in  New  York  annals. 

Dr.  Bayley  thus  describes  the  negro  plot: 

"The  year  1741  was  made  memorable  by  one  of  those  popular  excitements  which 
shows  that  whole  communities  as  well  as  individuals  are  sometimes  liable  to  lose  their 
wits.  Upon  a  rumor  of  a  plot  made  by  the  negroes  to  burn  the  city  and  massacre  the 
inhabitants,  the  whole  body  of  the  people  were  carried  away  by  a  sudden  excitement. 
The  lieutenant-governor  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred  pounds  and  full  pardon  to 
any  free  white  person  who    would   make    known    the  author   or   authors    of   certain 


206  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

attempts  to  set  fire  to  houses  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  A  servant-girl,  named  Mary 
Burton,  living  with  a  man  named  Hughson,  who  had  been  previously  condemned  for 
receiving  stolen  goods,  came  forward  to  claim  the  reward,  declaring  that  certain 
negroes  who  frequented  her  master's  house  (he  kept  a  small  tavern)  had  made  a  plot; 
one  of  the  accused,  named  Cuffee,  she  declared  had  said  that  'a  great  many  people  had 
too  much,  and  others  too  little,'  and  that  such  an  unequal  state  of  things  should  not 
continue  long.  The  pretended  disclosures  increased  the  excitement,  and  the  lawyers 
of  the  city,  to  the  number  of  seven,  with  the  attorney-general,  were  called  together  to 
take  council  in  regard  to  the  matter.  They  certainly  manifested  very  little  coolness  or 
judgment,  and  may  be  said  to  have  led  on  the  unfair  and  unjust  trials  which  followed. 
The  accused  had  no  counsel  allowed  them;  the  attorney-general  and  the  whole  bar 
were  on  the  side  of  the  prosecution;  the  evidence  was  loose  and  inconclusive,  and 
came  without  exception  from  the  mouths  of  interested  persons  of  bad  character.  Yet, 
upon  such  evidence  as  this,  four  white  persons  were  hanged,  eleven  negroes  were 
burned  at  the  stake,  eighteen  hanged,  and  fifty  were  transported  and  sold,  principally 
in  the  West  Indies — the  city  of  New  York  at  this  time  containing  about  12,000  inhab- 
itants, of  which  one-sixth,  in  all  probability,  were  negro  slaves.  Among  those  hung  was 
the  unfortunate  Mr.  John  Ury.  Whether  he  was  really  a  Catholic  priest  or  not,  he  was 
certainly  condemned  and  hung  as  such.  The  most  conclusive  fact  in  favor  of  his  being 
a  priest  is  founded  upon  the  circumstance  that,  when  arraigned  as  a  priest,  tried  as  a 
priest,  and  condemned  as  a  priest,  he  never  formally  denied  it,  nor  exhibited  any  evi- 
dence of  his  being  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England. 

"  The  persons  most  to  blame  were  the  judges  and  lawyers.  The  speech  of  the 
attorney-general  on  the  trial  of  Ury,  the  sentence  given  by  Horsmanden  upon  certain 
of  the  negroes,  and  that  by  the  chief-justice  on  others,  are  so  harsh,  cruel,  and  abusive, 
that  we  could  hardly  believe  it  possible  that  they  had  uttered  them,  if  they  were  not 
published  with  the  authority  of  Horsmanden  himself.  It  is  evident,  however,  that 
their  '  holy  horror  of  popery  '  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  whole  matter  as  their  fear 
of  insurrection  among  the  blacks." 

Of  course  after  this  attack  of  insanity  New  York  was  scarcely  a  place 
for  a  Catholic  to  reside.  There  must  have  been  a  few;  but  evidently  they 
avoided  attracting  attention.  The  next  Catholic  sensation  was  that  of  a  poor 
creature  whose  life  had  been  a  sad  defiance  of  all  religion  and  morality,  but 
who,  at  her  death,  sent  some  money  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Inglis,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  with  a  request  that  she  should  be  buried  in  the  church.  She  was 
indeed  interred  there,  till  a  clamor  rose  fierce  and  loud.  She  was  not  only  a 
public  sinner  but  a  Catholic;  the  latter  too  terrible  a  sin  to  forgive,  so  6he  was 
taken  up;  but  Mr.  Inglis  never  recovered  from  the  stigma. 

Not  long  before  the  Revolution,  the  few  Catholics  in  New  York  were 
again  the  object  of  the  zeal  of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  with  whom  so  much  of  our 
history  is  connected.  The  mission  of  the  sons  of  St.  Ignatius,  which  in  Mary- 
land was  coeval  with  the  settlement  of  that  colony,  gradually  extended  to 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  aided  chiefly  by  the  bequest  of  Sir  John  James. 
The  mission  was  one  involving  some  danger,  and  hence  required  great 
caution ;  but  finally  a  Catholic  priest  stood  in  New  York  to  begin  to  gather 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


207 


the  faithful,  and  administer  the  sacraments  of  which  they  had  been  so  long 
deprived.  The  priest  who  formed  this  first  congregation,  the  nucleus  of  St. 
Peter's,  and  thus  of  all  the  Catholic  institutions  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan, 
was  a  German  Jesuit,  Father  Ferdinand  Steinmeyr,  known  on  the  American 
mission  as  Father  Farmer.  A  man  of  extensive  learning,  not  only  in  the 
theological  studies  of  his  Church,  but  in  the  natural  sciences,  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  had  been  glad  to  add  his  name  to  their  list  of  members. 
Here  he  would  have  been  a  fit  associate  for  Colden,  Franklin,  and  Barton, 
but  the  gratification  of  this  taste  would  have  made  him  too  conspicuous  in  a 
prejudiced  and  hostile  community ;  and  the  man  of  science  submitted  to  be  passed 
by  without  notice,  anxious  only  to  do  his  duty  as  a  missionary,  and  gather  the 
lost  sheep  of  Israel.  The  reticence  required  unfortunately  leaves  us  without 
any  direct  information  as  to  his  visits,  and  we  do  not  positively  know 
when  or  where  this  man,  whose  learning  would  have  adorned  the  colony 
of  New  York,  first  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice  for  the  pioneer  congregation 
of  Catholics  in  this  city.  Dr.  Bayley  has  collected  the  various  early  notes 
and  hints  on  this  interesting  point,  but  it  is  after  all  involved  in  great 
obscurity. 

Father  Farmer  came  undoubtedly  with  the  address  of  some  German 
Catholic,  and  his  visit  would  thus  be  less  likely  to  attract  attention,  as  German 
clergymen  of  various  denominations  often  passed  through  the  city.  Mr. 
Idley,  a  German  of  the  early  day,  claimed  that  Mass  was  first  said  in  his 
house  in  Wall  street,  and  the  claim  may  not  be  unfounded. 

Father  Farmer  continued  these  occasional  visits  until  the  breaking  out  of 
hostilities  with  England.  The  defeat  of  Washington  on  Long  Island  threw 
New  York  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  and  for  the  next  seven  years  his 
pastoral  visits  became  impossible. 

So  long  as  the  colonial  dependence  prevailed,  the  British  government 
stimulated  anti-Catholic  fanaticism,  because  while  this  spirit  was  fanned  the 
colonies  readily  gave  men  and  money  to  aid  in  the  reduction  of  Canada.  That 
French  colony,  after  many  fruitless  attempts,  at  last  fell,  under  the  combined 
efforts  of  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies;  but  Canada,  once  reduced, 
became  the  object  of  sounder  and  more  dispassionate  statesmanship.  By  the 
surrender,  the  Canadians  were  guaranteed  certain  rights,  as  fhe  Irish  were 
by  the  treaty  of  Limerick.  Protestant  governments  have  never  been  over- 
scrupulous on  such  points,  and  it  was  as  easy  to  break  faith  with  the  Cana- 
dians as  with  the  Irish,  but  this  time  England  was  honest.      The  Catholic 


3q8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Church  was  left  almost  intact  in  Canada;  nay,  its  clergy  continued  under 
British  rule  to  gather  tithes  and  receive  certain  traditional  honors. 

This  was  too  much  for  the  people  of  the  older  colonies  to  brook.  Thev 
had  not  lavished  blood  and  treasure  for  this.  The  very  bigotry  nurtured  by 
English  rule  now  turned  against  it.  And  what  wonder,  then,  that  the  first 
standard  of  revolt  reared  in  New  York  expressed  this  long-cherished  feeling, 
this  hatred  of  Catholics  so  long  encouraged  by  government,  what  wonder 
that  the  flag  of  American  freedom  that  first  floated  to  the  breeze  in  New 
York  bore  the  motto,  "  No  Popery"! 

How  little  we  can  fathom  the  designs  of  the  Almighty!  Who  look- 
ing on  that  flag  could  see  in  it  the  germ  of  a  freedom  of  the  Church 
which  she  then  nowhere  out  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  really  possessed  ? 
Yet  it  was  there.  Down  to  the  French  alliance,  this  anti-Catholic  feel- 
ing nerved  the  Whigs  and  discouraged  the  friends  of  British  rule.  Then 
it  changed,  and  the  Tory  papers  caught  up  every  occasion  to  show  how 
zealously  Protestant  the  British  party  was.  While  the  select  men  of  Bos- 
ton followed  a  Catholic  procession  through  the  streets,  and  congress  went 
to  Mass,  the  British  authorities  in  New  York  are  pointed  out  by  a  pam- 
phleteer of  the  day  as  beyond  reproach.  They  showed  their  anti-Catholic 
zeal  in  this  way : 

"  In  1778,  in  the  month  of  February,  a  large  French  ship  was  taken  by  the  British, 
near  the  Chesapeake,  and  sent  for  condemnation  into  New  York,  at  that  time  still  in 
possession  of  the  English.  Among  her  officers  was  a  priest,  of  the  name  of  De  la 
Motte,  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine,  who  was  chaplain  of  the  vessel.  Being  permitted 
to  go  at  large  in  the  city,  he  was  solicited  by  his  countrymen,  and  by  those  of  his  own 
faith,  to  celebrate  Mass.  Being  advised  of  the  existence  of  the  prohibitory  law,  he 
applied  to  the  commanding  officer  for  permission,  which  was  refused;  but  M.  de  la 
Motte,  not  knowing  the  language  very  well,  mistook  what  was  intended  for  a  refusal  as 
a  permission,  and  accordingly  celebrated  Mass.  For  this  he  was  arrested,  and  kept  in 
close  confinement  until  exchanged.    This  was  under  Governor  Tryon's  administration." 

Benedict  Arnold — for  even  this  precid"us  worthy  may  come  in  as  an  illus- 
tration— when  he  sat  down  in  New  York  in  his  uniform  of  a  British  brigadier, 
ro  write  his  address  to  his  countrymen  justifying  the  step  which  he  had  taken, 
and  which  we  are  accustomed  to  characterize  by  the  ugly  name  of  treason, 
made  his  strong  anti-Catholic  feeling  justify  his  course.  He  had  entered  the 
movement  as  a  thorough  Protestant  ;  but  when  congress  began  to  favor 
popery,  he  foresaw  the  ruin  of  his  country,  and  as  a  true  Protestant  made 
nis  peace  with  England.  Strong  as  the  anti-Catholic  feeling  had  been  in  the 
nearts  of  the  colonists,  we  do  not  find  that  this  appeal  of  Arnold  to  then- 
prejudices  induced  a  single  man  to  desert  the  American  ranks;  it  is  far  more 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


209 


likely  that  it  may  have  sent  some  Irish  soldiers  from  the  British  ranks  to 
swell  Washington's  regiments. 

We  are  apt  to  associate  our  republic  with  the  idea  of  unbounded  religious 
toleration.  As  we  have  shown,  hostility  to  Catholics  was  a  potent  element 
in  arousing  the  people  to  declare  against  Great  Britain,  and  the  state  govern- 
ments as  originally  framed  bear  deeply  impressed  the  traces  of  that  common 
feeling  which  once,  in  Lyons,  proclaimed  in  one  line  free  toleration  in  matters 
of  religion,  and  in  the  next  prohibited  the  Mass  under  terrible  penalties.  If 
freedom  was  dreamed  of,  it  was  to  be  one  which  we  were  not  to  enjoy. 

The  anti-Catholic  feeling  that  characterized  the  first  national  movement 
was  displayed  in  the  convention  which  in  1777  formed  a  constitution  for  the 
state  of  New  York.  There  no  less  a  personage  than  John  Jay,  subsequently 
minister  to  England  and  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States,  was  the  ardent,  fiery  advocate  of  intolerance.  Catholics  of  New  York 
owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Gouverneur  Morris  and  Philip  Livingston  for 
the  manliness  with  which  in  that  convention  they  fought  the  battle  of  human 
freedom  and  sought  to  check  the  onslaught  of  intolerance.  But  they  failed. 
Under  that  constitution  no  Catholic  could  be  naturalized,  and  the  liberty  of 
worship  granted  was  couched  in  such  terms  as  to  justify  the  legislature  at  any 
time  in  crushing  Catholicity,  and  in  point  of  fact  they  at  once  adopted  an 
iron-clad  oath  that  effectually  prevented  any  Catholic  from  holding  office. 

Dr.  Bayley  gives  the  debates  on  the  interesting  questions  before  the  con- 
vention; and  he  notes  how,  in  that  curious  system  of  language  so  common 
with  our  public  speakers  and  writers,  this  constitution  found  an  advocate  in 
the  late  polished  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  New  York,  who  praised  it  in  an 
address  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society  for  its  liberality  in  containing 
no  provision  repugnant  to  civil  and  religious  toleration,  as  though  laws 
excluding  Catholics   from  citizenship  and  office  were  not  slightly  repugnant. 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  hostile  feeling  of  the  earlier  days  was 
soon  neutralized,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  New  York  was  virtually  free  to 
receive  a  Catholic  Church. 

How,  then,  Catholicity  took   root  and   grew  under  the  protecting  work 

of  men  who 

"  Builded  better  than  they  knew," 

how  it  has  spread  and  done  its   work  of  struggle  and    triumph  under  the 

federal  government  we  shall  now  see. 

The  peace  opened  New  York  to  Catholic  immigration,  and  the  influence 
15 


2IO  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  the  French  officers,  of  both  army  and  navy,  had  done  much  to  dispel 
prejudice.  The  church  to  which  Rochambeau,  Lafayette,  De  Kalb,  Pulaski, 
De  Grasse,  Vandreuil  belonged  was  socially  and  politically  respectable — nay, 
it  was  not  antagonistic  to  American  freedom. 

The  founder  of  the  Catholic  congregation  had  looked  anxiously  forward 
to  this  moment.  The  venerable  Father  Farmer  came  on  to  resume  his  labors 
and  gather  such  Catholics  as  the  Seven  Years'  War  had  left  or  gathered.  His 
visits  and  pastoral  care,  then  resumed,  were  continued  till  the  arrival  of  the 
Rev.  Charles  Whelan,  an  Irish  Franciscan,  who  had  been  chaplain  on  one  of 
the  vessels  belonging  to  the  fleet  of  the  Count  De  Grasse.  He  was  the  first 
regularly  settled  priest  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Catholicity  thus  had  a 
priest,  but  as  yet  no  church.  Mass  was  said  near  Mr.  Stoughton's  house,  on 
Water  Street;  in  the  house  of  Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui,  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador; in  a  building  in  Vauxhall  Garden,  between  Chambers  and  Warren 
streets;  and  in  a  loft  over  a  carpenter  shop  on  Barclay  street.  An  Italian 
nobleman,  Count  Castiglioni,  mentions  his  attending  Mass  in  a  room  anything 
but  becoming  so  solemn  an  act  of  religious  worship.  The  use  of  a  court- 
room in  the  Exchange  was  solicited  from  the  city  authorities,  but  refused. 
Then  the  little  band  of  Catholics  took  heart  and  resolved  to  rear  an  edifice 
that  would  lift  its  cross-crowned  spire  in  the  land.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  good 
feeling  that  had  to  some  extent  obtained,  that  Trinity  Church  sold  the  Catho- 
lic body  the  five  lots  of  ground  they  desired  for  the  erection  of  their  Church. 
Here,  at  the  corner  of  Barclay  and  Church  streets,  the  corner-stone  of  St. 
Peter's  Church  was  laid  November  4,  17S6,  by  Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui,  as 
representative  of  Charles  III,  king  of  Spain,  whose  aid  to  the  work  entitles 
him  to  be  regarded  as  its  chief  benefactor. 

This  pioneer  Catholic  Church  was  a  modest  structure  forty-eight  feet  in 
front  by  eighty-one  in  depth.  Its  progress  was  slow;  and  divine  worship 
was  performed  in  it  for  some  years  before  the  vestry,  portico,  pews,  gallery, 
and  steeple  were  at  last  completed,  in  1792. 

The  congregation,  living  so  long  amid  a  Protestant  population  whose 
system  Halleck  describes  so  truly, 

"They  reverence  their  priest;  but  disagreeing 
In  price  or  creed,  dismiss  him  without  fear," 

had  adopted  some  of  their  ideas,  and  forgetting  that  the  Mass  was  a  sacrifice, 

and  the  peculiar  and  only  worship  of  God,  thought  that  an  eloquent  sermon 

was  everything.      A  vehement  and  impassioned   preacher  it  was  their  great 


ON  MAN  HA  TTAN  ISLAND.  2 1 1 

ambition  to  secure,  and  as  the  trustees  controlled  matters  almost  absolutely,  the 
earlier  priests  had  to  endure  much  humiliation  and  actual  suffering. 

A  pastor  was  at  last  found  who  filled  the  difficult  position.  This  was 
the  Rev.  William  O'Brien,  assisted  after  a  time  by  Dr.  Matthew  O'Brien, 
whose  reputation  as  a  preacher  was  such  that  a  volume  of  his  sermons  had 
been  printed  in  Ireland.  Under  their  care  the  difficulties  began  to  diminish; 
the  congregation  took  a  regular  form,  and  the  young  were  trained  to  their 
Christian  duties;  and  the  devotion  of  the  Catholic  clergy  during  the  visits  of 
that  dreadful  scourge,  the  yellow  fever,  gave  them  an  additional  claim  to  the 
reverence  and  respect  of  their  flock. 

Beside  the  church  so(on  sprang  up  the  school.  The  Catholics  of  New 
York  signalized  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  establishing  a  free 
school  at  St.  Peter's,  which  before  many  years  could  report  an  average  attend- 
ance of  five  hundred  pupils. 

This  progress  of  Catholicity  naturally  aroused  some  of  the  old  bitterness 
of  prejudice. 

The  sermons  of  the  Protestant  pulpits  at  this  period  exulting  over  the 
captivity  and  death  of  Pius  VI,  produced  their  natural  result  in  awakening 
the  evil  passions  of  the  low  and  ignorant.  The  old  prejudices  revived  against 
Catholics  with  all  their  wonted  hostility.  The  first  anti-Catholic  riot  occurred 
in  1S06,  as  a  result.  On  Christmas  eve,  some  ruffians  attempted  to  force 
their  way  into  St.  Peter's  Church  during  the  midnight  Mass,  in  order  to  see 
the  Infant  rocked  in  the  cradle  which  they  were  taught  to  believe  Catholics 
then  worshiped. 

From  that  time  anti-Catholic  excitements  have  been  pretty  regular  in 
their  appearance;  for  a  time,  indeed,  eleven  years  was  as  sui*e  to  bring  one, 
under  some  new  name,  as  fourteen  years  did  the  pestilent  locusts.  Yet  mob 
violence  has  beendess  frequently  and  less  terribly  shown  in  New  York  than 
in  some  other  cities  with  higher  claims  to  order  and  dignity. 

Once,  it  is  stated  how  a  mob,  flushed  with  the  sacking  of  a  Protestant 
church  where  a  negro  and  a  white  had  been  married,  resolved  to  close  their 
useful  labors  by  demolishing  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  They  marched  valor  - 
ously  almost  to  the  junction  of  the  Bowery  and  Prince  street,  but  halted  on 
the  suggestion  of  a  tradesman  there,  that  a  reconnaissance  would  be  a  wise 
movement.  A  few  were  detached  to  examine  the  road.  The  look  up  Prince 
street  was  not  encouraging.  The  paving-stones  had  actually  been  carried  up 
in  baskets  to  the  upper  stories  of  the  houses,  ready  to  hurl  on  the  assailants; 


2I2  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  the  wall  around  the  churchyard  was  pierced  for  musketry.  The  mob 
retreated  with  creditable  celerity;  but  all  that  night  a  feverish  anxiety  pre- 
vailed around  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral;  men  stood  ready  to  meet  any  new 
advance,  and  the  mayor,  suddenly  riding  up,  was  in  some  danger,  but  was 
fortunately  recognized. 

What  might  have  been  the  scenes  in  New  York  in  1844,  wnen  murder 
ran  riot  in  Philadelphia!  The  Natives  had  just  elected  a  mayor;  the  city 
would  in  a  few  days  be  in  their  hands;  a  public  meeting  was  called  in  the 
park,  and  all  seemed  to  promise  a  repetition  of  the  scenes  in  the  sister  city. 
A  bold,  stern  extra  issued  from  the  office  of  The  Freeman's  Journal,  it  was 
that  actually  sent  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  would-be  rioters.  It  was  known 
at  once  that  the  Catholics  would  defend  their  churches  to  the  last  gasp.  The 
firm  character  of  the  archbishop  was  well  known,  and  with  that  to  animate 
the  people  the  struggle  would  not  be  a  trifling  one. 

The  call  for  the  meeting  was  countermanded  and  New  York  was  saved; 
few  knew  from  what. 

To  return  to  the  earlier  days  of  the  century.  If  attacks  were  made, 
inquiry  was  stimulated.  Conversions  to  the  truth  were  neither  few  nor 
unimportant.  Dr.  Bayley  mentions  briefly  the  reception  into  the  Church  of 
one  nearly  related  to  himself,  Mrs.  Eliza  Ann  Seton,  widow  of  William  Seton, 
a  distinguished  New  York  merchant.  Born  on  Staten  Island,  and  long  resi- 
dent in  New  York,  gracing  a  high  social  position  by  her  charming  and 
noble  character,  she  made  her  first  Communion  in  St.  Peter's  Church  on  the 
25th  of  March,  1805,  and  in  a  few  years,  giving  herself  up  wholly  to  God, 
became,  under  him,  the  foundress  in  the  United  States  of  the  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity, whose  quiet  labors  of  love,  and  charity,  and  devotedness  in  the  cause  of 
humanity  and  education  in  every  city  in  the  land  seek  no  herald  here  below, 
but  are  written  deep  in  the  hearts  of  grateful  millions. 

Several  Protestant  clergymen  in  those  days  returned  to  the  bosom  of 
unity,  such  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kewley,  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York; 
Rev.  Calvin  White,  ancestor  of  the  Shakespeare  scholar,  Richard  Grant 
White;  and  Mr.  Ironsides.  Strange,  too,  was  the  conversion  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Richards,  sent  from  New  York  as  a  Methodist  preacher  to  Western 
New  York  and  Canada.  We  follow  him,  by  his  diary,  through  the  sparse 
settlements  which  then  dotted  that  region,  whence  he  extended  his  labors  to 
Montreal.  There,  good  man,  in  the  zeal  of  his  heart  he  thought  to  conquer 
Canadian    Catholicity    by    storming    the    Sulpitian    seminary    at    Montreal, 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


213 


converting  all  there,  and  so  triumphantly  closing  the  campaign.  His  diary  of 
travel  goes  no  further.  Mr.  Richards  died  a  few  years  since,  a  zealous  and 
devoted  Sulpitian  priest  of  the  seminary  at  Montreal. 

New  York  was  too  far  from  Baltimore  to  be  easily  superintended  by  the 
bishop  of  that  see.  His  vast  diocese  was  now  to  be  divided,  and  this  city 
was  erected  into  an  episcopal  see  in  1S08,  by  Pope  Pius  VII.  The  choice 
for  the  bishop  who  was  to  give 
form  to  the  new  diocese,  fell  upon 
the  Rev.  Luke  Concanen,  a  learned 
and  zealous  Dominican,  long  con- 
nected with  the  affairs  of  his  order 
at  Rome.  Dr.  Bayley  gives  a 
characteristic  letter  of  his.  He  had 
persistently  declined  a  see  in  Ire- 
land with  its  comparative  comforts 
and  consolations  among  a  zealous 
people;  but  the  call  to  a  position 
of  toil,  the  establishment  of  a  new 
diocese  in  a  new  land,  where  all 
was  to  be  created,  was  not  an  ap- 
peal that  he  could  disregard.  He 
submitted  to  the  charge  imposed 
upon  him,  and  after  receiving  epis- 
copal consecration  at  Rome,  prepared  to  reach  his  see,  wholly  ignorant  of  what 
he  should  find  on  his  arrival  in  New  York.  It  was,  however,  no  easy  matter 
then  to  secure  passage.  Failing  to  find  a  ship  at  Leghorn,  he  proceeded  to 
Naples;  but  the  French,  who  had  overrun  Italy,  detained  him  as  a  British 
subject,  and  while  thus  thwarted  and  harassed,  he  suddenly  fell  sick  and 
died.     Thus  New  York  never  beheld  its  first  bishop. 

Then  followed  a  long  vacancy,  highly  prejudicial  to  the  progress  of  the 
Church,  but  a  vacancy  that  European  affairs  caused.  The  successor  of  St. 
Peter  was  torn  from  Rome,  and  held  a  prisoner  in  France.  The  Catholic 
world  knew  not  under  what  influence  acts  might  be  issued  as  his,  that  were 
really  the  inventions  of  his  enemies.  The  bishops  in  Ireland  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  the  bishops  of  the  United  States  to  propose  some  settled  line  of  action 
in  all  cases  where  there  was  not  evidence  that  the  pope  was  a  free  agent. 

Meanwhile,  the   archbishop  of  Baltimore  extended  his  care  to  the  diocese 


RT.     REV.     LUKE     CONCANF.X. 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  New  York.  When  Father  O'Brien  at  last  sank  under  his  increasing 
years,  New  York  would  have  seen  its  Catholic  population  in  a  manner  desti- 
tute had  not  the  Jesuit  fathers  of  Maryland  come  to  their  assistance.  Rev. 
Anthony  Kohlmann,  a  man  of  sound  theological  learning  and  great  zeal, 
who  died  many  years  after  at  Rome,  honored  by  the  sovereign  pontiffs,  was 
the  administrator  of  the  diocese.  With  him  were  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick, 
subsequently  bishop  of  Boston,  and  Rev.  Peter  Malou,  whose  romantic  life 
would  form  an  interesting  volume;  for  few  who  recollect  this  venerable 
priest,  in  his  day  such  a  favorite  with  the  young,  knew  that  he  had  figured 
in  great  political  events,  and  in  the  struggle  of  Belgium  for  freedom  had  led 
her  armies. 

Under  the  impulse  of  these  fathers  a  collegiate  institution  was  opened,  and 
continued  for  some  years  on  the  spot  where  the  new  magnificent  Cathe- 
dral has  arisen;  and  old  New  York  Catholics  smiled  when  a  recent  scribbler 
asserted  that  the  site  of  that  noble  edifice  was  a  gift  from  the  city.  Trinity, 
the  old  brick  church,  and  some  other  churches  we  could  name  were  built  on 
land  given  by  the  ruling  powers,  but  no  Catholic  Church  figures  in  the  list. 
The  college  was  finally  closed,  from  the  fact  that  difficulties  in  Maryland 
prevented  the  order  from  supplying  necessary  professors  to  maintain  its  high 
position. 

To  secure  to  young  ladies  similar  advantages  for  superior  education, 
some  Ursuline  nuns  were  induced  to  cross  the  Atlantic.  They  were  hailed 
with  joy,  and  their  academy  was  wonderfully  successful.  The  superior  was 
a  lady  whose  appearance  was  remarkably  striking,  and  whose  cultivation  and 
ability  impressed  all.  Unfortunately  they  came  under  restrictions  which 
soon  deprived  New  York  of  them.  Unless  novices  joined  them  within  a 
certain  number  of  years,  they  were  to  return  to  Ireland. 

In  a  new  country  vocations  could  be  only  a  matter  of  time,  and  as  the 
Ursuline  order  required  a  dowry,  the  vocations  of  all  but  wealthy  young 
ladies  were  excluded,  and  even  of  these  when  subject  to  a  guardian. 

As  the  Catholic  body  had  increased,  a  new  church  was  begun  in  a  spot 
then  far  out  of  the  city,  described  as  between  the  Broadway  and  the  Bowery 
road.  This  was  old  St.  Patrick's,  of  which  the  corner-stone  was  laid  June  8, 
1809;  this  was  to  be  the  Cathedral  of  the  future  bishop;  and  the  orphan 
asylum,  now  thriving  under  the  care  of  an  incorporated  society,  was  ere  long 
to  be  placed  near  the  new  church. 

During  this  period  a  strange  case  occurred  in  a  New   York   court  that 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. 


215 


settled  for  that  state,  at  least,  a  question  of  importance  to  Catholics.  It  settled 
as  a  principle  of  law  that  the  confession  of  a  Catholic  to  a  priest  was  a  priv- 
ileged communication,  which  the  priest  could  not  be  called  upon  or  permitted 
to  reveal. 

•'Restitution  had  been  made  to  a  man  named  James  Keating,  through  the  Rev. 
Father  Kohlmann.  of  certain  goods  which  had  been  stolen  from  him.  Keating  had 
previously  made  a  complaint  against  one  Philips  and  his  wife,  as  having  received  the 
goods  thus  stolen,  and  they  were  indicted  for  a  misdemeanor  before  the  justices  of  the 
peace.  Keating  having  afterward  stated  that  the  goods  had  been  restored  to  him 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Father  Kohlmann,  the  latter  was  cited  before  the  court, 
and  required  to  give  evidence  in  regard  to  the  person  or  persons  from  whom  he  had 
received  them.  This  he  refused  to  do,  on  the  ground  that  no  court  could  require  a 
priest  to  give  evidence  in  regard  to  matters  known  to  him  only  under  the  seal  of  con- 
fession. Upon  the  case  being  sent  to  the  grand  jury,  Father  Kohlmann  was  subpoenaed 
to  attend  before  them,  and  appeared  in  obedience  to  the  process,  but  in  respectful  terms 
again  declined  answering.  On  the  trial  which  ensued,  Father  Kohlmann  was  again  cited 
to  appear  as  a  witness  in  the  case.  Having  been  asked  certain  questions,  he  entreated 
that  he  might  be  excused,  and  offered  his  reasons  to  the  court.  With  consent  of  coun- 
sel, the  question  was  put  off  for  some  time,  and  finally  brought  on  for  argument  on 
Tuesday,  the  8th  of  June,  1813,  before  a  court  composed  of  the  Hon.  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton, mayor  of  the  city;  the  Hon.  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman,  recorder;  and  Isaac  S.  Doug- 
lass, and  Richard  Cunningham,  Esqs.,  sitting  aldermen.  The  Hon.  Richard  Riker, 
afterward  for  so  many  years  recorder  of  the  city,  and  Counsellor  Sampson,  volunteered 
their  services  in  behalf  of  Father  Kohlmann. 

"  The  decision  was  given  by  De  Witt  Clinton  at  some  length.  Having  shown 
that,  according  to  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Catholic  Church,  a  priest  who  should 
reveal  what  he  had  heard  in  the  confessional  would  become  infamous  and  degraded  in 
the  eyes  of  Catholics,  and  as  no  one  could  be  called  upon  to  give  evidence  which  would 
expose  him  to  infamy,  he  declared  that  the  only  way  was  to  excuse  a  priest  from 
answering  in  such  cases." 

This  decision,  by  the  influence  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  when  governor  of 
the  state,  was  incorporated  into  the  Revised  Statutes  as  part  of  the  lex  scriptr 
of  the  state. 

With  this  period,  too,  began  the  publication  of  Catholic  works  in  New 
York,  which  has  since  attained  such  a  wonderful  development.  Bernard  Dor- 
nin  stands  as  the  patriarch  of  the  Catholic  book  trade  of  New  York. 

When  Pope  Pius  VII  was  restored  to  Rome,  another  son  of  St.  Dominic 
was  chosen;  and  the  Rev.  John  Connolly  was  consecrated  the  second  bishop 
of  New  York.  After  making  such  arrangements  as  he  could  in  Ireland  for 
the  good  of  his  diocese,  he  set  sail  from  Dublin,  but  experienced  a  long  and 
dangerous  passage.  From  the  absence  of  all  notice  of  any  kind,  except  the 
mere  fact  of  his  name  among  the  passengers,  his  reception  was  apparently  a 
most  private  one.  He  was  utterly  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  called  from 
the  studies  of  the  cloister  to  form  and  rule  a  diocese  of  considerable  extent, 


2l6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

without  any  previous  knowledge  of  the  wants  of  his  flock,  and  utterly  with- 
out resources. 

His  diocese,  which  embraced  the  state  of  New  York  and  part  of  New 
Jersey,  contained  but  four  priests,  three  belonging  to  the  Jesuits  in  Maryland, 
and  liable  to  be  called  away  at  any  moment,  as  two  were  almost  immediately 
after  his  arrival.  The  college  and  convent  had  disappeared,  and  the  Church 
seemed  to  have  lost  in  all  but  numbers.  Thirteen  thousand  Catholics  were 
to  be  supplied  with  pastors,  and  yet  the  trustee  system  stood  a  fearful  barrier 
in  his  way.     As  the  chronicler  well  observes: 

"The  trustee  system  had  not  been  behind  its  early  promise,  and  trustees  of 
churches  had  become  so  accustomed  to  have  everything  their  own  way  that  they  were 
not  disposed  to  allow  even  the  interference  of  a  bishop. 

"In  such  a  state  of  things  he  was  obliged  to  assume  the  office  of  a  missionary 
priest,  rather  than  a  bishop;  and  many  still  living  remember  the  humility  and  earnest 
zeal  with  which  he  discharged  the  laborious  duties  of  the  confessional,  and  traversed 
the  city  on  foot  to  attend  upon  the  poor  and  sick. 

"Bishop  Connolly  was  not  lacking  in  firmness,  but  the  great  wants  of  his  new 
diocese  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  fall  in,  to  a  certain  extent,  with  the  established 
order  of  things,  and  this  exposed  him  afterward  to  much  difficulty  and  many 
humiliations." 

Yet  he  secured  some  good  priests  and  ecclesiastical  students  from  Kil- 
kenny College,  whom  he  gradually  raised  to  the  priesthood,  his  first  ordina- 
tion and  the  first  conferring  of  the  sacrament  of  holy  orders  in  the  city  being 
that  of  the  Rev.  Michael  O'Gorman  in  1815. 

Under  the  care  of  Bishop  Connolly  the  Sisters  of  Charity  began  their 
labors  in  the  city  so  long  the  home  of  Mother  Seton;  and,  so  far  as  his  means 
permitted  him  to  yield  to  his  zeal,  he  increased  the  number  of  churches  and 
congregations  in  his  diocese. 

After  an  episcopate  of  nearly  ten  years  the  bishop  was  taken  ill  on  his 
return  from  the  funeral  of  his  first  ordained  priest,  and  soon  followed  him  to 
the  grave.  He  died  at  No.  512  Broadway,  on  the  5th  of  February,  1825,  and 
was  buried  under  the  Cathedral,  after  having  been  exposed  for  two  days  in 
St.  Peter's  Church.  The  ceremonial  was  imposing  and  attracted  general 
attention,  and  the  remarks  of  the  papers  of  the  day  show  the  respect  enter- 
tained for  him  by  all  classes  of  citizens. 

The  next  bishop  of  New  York  was  one  well  known  in  the  country  by 
his  labors,  especially  by  his  successful  exertions  in  giving  the  Church  in  our 
republic  a  college  and  theological  seminary  suited  to  its  wants — Mount  St. 
Mary's  College  at  Emmitsburg,  Maryland.  The  life  of  the  Rev.  John  Du 
Bois  had  been  varied.     Born  in  Paris,  he  was  in  college  a  fellow  student  of 


ON  MANHA TTAN  ISLAND.  2 1 7 

Robespierre  and  Camille  Desmoulins;  but  actuated  by  far  different  thoughts 
from  those  which  filled  the  brains  of  such  men,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God.  The  revolution  found  him  a  laborious  priest  at  Paris.  Escap- 
ing in  disguise  from  France  during  the  Reign  of  Terror,  through  the  con- 
nivance of  his  old  fellow-collegian,  Robespierre,  he  came  to  America,  bearing 
letters  of  introduction  from  Lafayette    to  eminent    personages  in  the  United 

States. 

"Having  received  faculties  from  Bishop  Carroll,  he  exercised  the  holy  ministry  in 
various  parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  He  lived  for  some  time  with  Mr.  Monroe,  after- 
ward president  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  family  of  Gov.  Lee,  of  Maryland.  After  the 
death  of  Father  Frambach  he  took  charge  of  the  mission  of  Frederick  in  Maryland,  of 
which  mission  he  may  be  said  in  reality  to  have  been  the  founder.  When  he  arrived 
there  he  celebrated  Mass  in  a  large  room  which  served  as  a  chapel,  and  afterward  built 
the  first  church.  But  though  Frederick  was  his  headquarters  he  did  not  confine  him- 
self to  it,  but  made  stations  throughout  all  the  surrounding  country,  at  Montgomery, 
Winchester,  Hagerstown,  and  Emmitsburg,  everywhere  manifesting  the  same  earnest 
zeal  and  indomitable  perseverance.  Bishop  Brute  relates,  as  an  instance  of  his  activity 
and  zeal,  that  once,  after  hearing  confessions  on  Saturday  evening,  he  rode  during  the 
night  to  near  Montgomery,  a  distance  of  thirty-five  to  forty  miles,  to  administer  the 
last  sacraments  to  a  dying  woman,  and  was  back  hearing  confessions  in  the  morning 
at  the  mountain,  singing  High  Mass  and  preaching,  without  scarcely  any  one  knowing 
that  he  had  been  absent  at  all. 

"In  1808  the  Rev.  Mr.  Du  Bois,  having  previously  become  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  in  Baltimore,  went  to  reside  at  Emmitsburg,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  which  was  afterwards  destined  to  be  the  means  of 
so  much  usefulness  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  America.  From  this  point  now  sur- 
rounded by  so  many  hallowed  associations  in  the  minds  of  American  Catholics,  by  the 
sound  religious  education  imparted  to  so  many  young  men  from  various  parts  of  the 
United  States,  'by  the  many  fervent  and  holy  priests,  trained  under  his  direction,'  and 
by  the  prudent  care  with  which  he  cherished  the  rising  institute  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  at  St.  Joseph's,  he  became  the  benefactor,  not  of  any  particular  locality,  but  of 
the  whole  Catholic  body  throughout  the  United  States." 

On  coming  to  his  diocese  after  his  consecration  in  Baltimore  in  October, 
1826,  he  found  three  churches  and  four  or  six  priests  in  New  York  City;  a 
church  and  one  priest  at  Brooklyn,  Albany,  and  a  few  stations  elsewhere. 
But  the  trustee  system  fettered  the  progress  of  Catholicity. 

Long  devoted  to  the  cause  of  education  for  secular  life  or  the  service  of 
the  altar,  Bishop  Du  Bois'  fondest  desire  was  to  endow  his  diocese  with 
another  Mount  St.  Mary's,  but  all  his  efforts  failed.  A  hospital  was  also  one 
of  his  early  projects;  but  these  and  other  good  works  could  spring  up  only 
when  the  way  had  been  prepared  by  his  trials,  struggles,  and  sufferings. 

During  his  administration  the  number  of  Catholics  increased  greatly, 
and  new  churches  sprang  up  in  the  city  and  other  parts  of  the  diocese.  Of 
these  various  foundations  are  St.  Mary's  Christ  Church,  Transfiguration,  St.- 


2  j  §  THE  COL  UMBIAN  J  UB1LEE. 

Joseph's,  St.  Nicholas',  St.  Paul's  at  Harlem.  The  services  of  the  Very 
Rev.  Dr.  Power,  the  Rev.  Felix  Varela,  of  Rev.  Messrs.  Levins  and  Schuel- 
ler,  and  other  clergymen  of  that  day  are  not  yet  forgotten. 

The  excitement  caused  by  the  act  of  Catholic  Emancipation  in  England 
had  its  counterpart  here,  stimulated,  too,  by  jealousyat  the  influx  of  foreign 
labor.  The  Church  had  had  her  day  of  penal  laws  and  wild  excitement;  now 
war  was  to  be  made  through  the  press.  About  1835  it  began  in  New  York. 
The  use  of  falsehood  against  Catholicity  seems  to  be  considered  by  some  one 
of  the  higher  virtues.  Certainly  there  is  a  strange  perversion  of  conscience 
on  the  point.  The  anti-Catholic  literature  of  that  period  is  a  curiosity  that 
must  cause  some  cheeks  to  tingle  if  there  is  any  manhood  left.  They  took 
up  Fulkes'  Confutation  of  the  Rhemish  Testament,  reprinted  the  text  from 
it,  and  affixed  to  it  a  certificate  of  several  clergymen  that  it  was  a  reprint 
from  the  original  published  at  Rheims.  It  was  not.  They  caught  up  a 
poor  creature  from  a  Magdalen  asylum  in  Montreal,  and  concocted  a  book, 
laying  the  scene  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  commonly  called  the  Convent  of  the 
Black  Nuns,  at  Montreal.  The  book  was  so  infamous  that  the  Harpers 
issued  it  under  the  name  of  Howe  &  Bates.  It  was  published  daily  in  The 
Sun  newspaper,  and  had  an  immense  circulation.  Colonel  William  L.  Stone, 
a  zealous  Protestant,  went  to  the  spot,  and  there  convinced  of  the  fraud,  pub- 
lished an  exposure  of  the  vile  slanders.  He  was  assailed  in  a  satire  called 
The  Vision  of  Rubeta,  and  the  pious  Protestant  community  swallowed  the 
filthy  details.  At  last  there  arose  a  quarrel  over  the  spoils.  A  triangular 
lawsuit  between  the  Harpers,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Slocum,  and  Maria  Monk  in  the 
court  of  chancery  gave  some  strange  disclosures,  more  startling  than  the 
fictitious  ones  of  the  book.  Vice-Chancellor  McCoun  in  disgust  turned  them 
out  of  his  court,  and  told  them  to  go  before  a  jui'y ;  but  none  of  them  dared 
to  face  twelve  honest  men. 

A  paper  called  The  Downfall  of  Babylon  flourished  for  a  time  on  this 
anti-Catholic  feeling,  reeking  with  lewdness  and  impurity.  At  last  their 
heroine  and  tool,  Maria  Monk,  cast  off  and  scouted,  ended  her  days  on 
Blackwell's  Island. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  this  period  was  a  work  of  S.  F.  B.  Morse, 
entitled  Brutus,  or  a  Foreign  Conspiracy  against  the  Liberties  of  the 
United  States.  The  queen  of  France  had  given  the  bishop  of  St.  Louis  some 
altar  paintings,  and  herein  was  the  conspiracy.  The  controversies  of  that 
period  now  sound  oddly  enough.     They  were  the  topic  of  the  day,  and  led 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  219 

to  many  curious  scenes.  Among  the  Catholic  controvertists,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Levins  was  particularly  incisive  and  effective;  Rev.  Mr.  Varela  dealt  gentler 
but  heavy  blows,  being  keen  in  argument  and  sound  in  learning.  A  tract  on 
the  five  different  bibles  of  the  American  Bible  Society  was  one  of  those 
occasions  where,  departing  from  the  defensive,  the  Catholic  apologist  assumed 
the  offensive.  And  this  time  it  was  highly  offensive.  At  that  time  the 
Bible  Society  published  a  Spanish  bible,  and  testaments  in  French,  Spanish, 
and  Portuguese,  all  Catholic  versions,  merely  omitting  the  notes  of  the 
Catholic  translators.  Appleton's  Cyclopedia  asserts  that  "the  American 
Bible  Society,  made  up  of  materials  more  thoroughly  Puritanic,  and  less 
Lutheran    and    continental,         ....  has     never    published 

any  other  than  the  canonical  (Protestant)  books;"  but  this  is  not  so.  The 
Spanish  bible  of  1824  contains  the  very  books  which  in  other  editions  they 
reject  absolutely.  It  is  true  that  in  the  edition  of  1825  they  left  them  out 
of  the  body  of  the  book,  but  kept  them  in  the  list  of  books.  After  that  they 
disappeared,  while  the  title  page  still  falsely  professed  to  give  the  bible  trans- 
lated by  Bishop  Scio  de  San  Miguel,  without  the  slightest  intimation  that  part 
of  Bishop  Scio's  work  was  omitted. 

Mr.  Varela  exposed  the  inconsistency  of  their  publishing  in  one  lan- 
guage as  inspired  what  they  rejected  in  another ;  of  translating  a  passage  in 
one  sense  in  one  volume,  and  in  another  in  a  bible  standing  beside  it.  The 
subject  caused  a  sensation.  After  deliberating  on  the  matter,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  suppress  all  these  Catholic  versions;  they  were  accordingly  with- 
drawn. The  stereotype  plates  were  melted  up;  and  the  printed  copies  were 
committed  to  the  flames,  although  it  took  sometime  to  effect  this  greatest 
bible-burning  ever  witnessed  in  New  York. 

Meanwhile  New  \  :>rk  was  not  without  its  organs  of  Catholic  sentiment. 
The  Truth  Teller  was  for  many  years  the  vehicle  of  information  and  defense. 
The  Catholic  Diary,  and  The  Green  Banner,  and  The  Freeman's  Journal 
followed. 

While  the  controversy  fever  lasted,  some  curious  scenes  took  place. 
Catholics,  especially  poor  servant  girls,  were  annoyed  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  in  the  street,  at  the  pump — for  those  were  not  days  of  Croton  water — 
and  even  in  their  kitchens.  One  Protestant  clergyman  of  New  York  had 
quite  a  reputation  for  the  gross  indecency  that  characterized  his  valorous 
attacks  of  this  kind.  The  servant  of  a  lady  in  Beekman  street — people  in  good 
circumstances  lived  there  then — was  a  constant  object  of  his  zeal.     One  day, 


220 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


report  said,  after  dining  with  the  lady,  he  descended  to  the  kitchen,  and  began 
twitting  the  girl  about  the  confessional,  and  coupling  this  with  the  grossest 
charges  against  the  Catholic  clergy.  The  girl  bore  it  for  a  time,  and  when 
ordering  him  out  of  her  realm  failed,  she  seized  a  poker  and  dealt  her 
indecent  assailant  a  blow  on  the  head  that  sent  him  staggering  to  the  stairs. 
While  he  groped  his  way  bewildered  to  the  parlor,  the  girl  hastened  to  her 
room,  bundled  up  her  clothes  and  left  the  house.  The  clergyman  was  long 
laid  up  from  the  consequence  of  his  folly,  and  every  attempt  made  to  hush 
the  matter  up;  but  an  eccentric  Catholic  of  that  day,  Joseph  Trench,  got  up 
a  large  caricature  representing  the  scene,  which  went  like  wild-fire,  attack 
being  always  popular,  and  an  attack  on  the  Protestant  clergy  being  quite  a 
novelty.  Trivial  as  the  whole  affair  was,  it  proved  more  effective  than  the 
soundest  theological  arguments,  and  Mary  Ann  Wiggins  with  her  poker 
really  closed  the  great  controversial  period. 

It  had  its  good  effects,  nevertheless,  in  making  Catholics  earnest  in  their 
faith.  Their  numbers  were  rapidly  increasing,  and  with  them  churches  and 
institutions.  Besides  the  orphan  asylum,  an  institution  for  those  who  had 
lost  only  one  parent,  the  half-orphan  asylum,  was  commenced  and  long 
sustained,  mainly  by  the  zeal  and  means  of  Mr.  Glover,  a  convert  whose 
name  should  stand  high  in  the  memory  of  New  York  Catholics.  This 
institution,  now  merged  in  the  general  orphan  asylum,  had  in  its  separate 
existence  a  long  career  of  usefulness  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

Bishop  Dubois  was  unremitting  in  his  efforts  to  increase  the  number  of 
his  clergy  and  the  institutions  of  his  diocese.  The  progress  was  marked. 
Besides  clergymen  from  abroad,  he  ordained,  or  had  ordained,  twenty-one 
who  had  been  trained  under  his  own  supervision,  and  who  completed  their 
divinity  studies  chiefly  at  the  honored  institution  which  he  had  founded  in 
Maryland;  among  these  was  Gregory  B.  Pardow,  who  was,  if  we  mistake 
not,  the  first  native  of  the  city  elevated  to  the  priesthood.  Five  of  these 
priests  have  since  been  promoted  to  the  episcopacy,  as  well  as  two  others 
ordained  in  his  time  by  his  coadjutor. 

In  manners,  Bishop  Dubois  was  the  polished  French  gentleman  of  the  old 
regime;  as  a  clergyman,  learned  and  strict  in  his  ideas,  his  administrative 
powers  were  always  deemed  great,  but  in  their  exercise  in  his  diocese  they 
were  constantly  thwarted  by  the  trustee  system.  But  he  was  not  one  easily 
intimidated;  and  when  the  trustees  of  the  Cathedral,  in  order  to  force  him  to 
act  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  better  judgment,  if  not  his  conscience, 


ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  221 

threatened  to  deprive  him  of  his  salary,  he  made  them  a  reply  that  is  his- 
torical, "  Well,  gentlemen,  you  may  vote  the  salary  or  not,  just  as  seems  good 
to  you.  I  do  not  need  much;  I  can  live  in  the  basement  or  in  the  garret; 
but  whether  I  come  up  from  the  basement,  or  down  from  the  garret,  I  will 
still  be  your  bishop." 

He  had  passed  the  vigor  of  manhood  when  he  was  appointed  to  the  see 
of  New  York,  and  the  constant  struggle  aged  him  prematurely.  It  became 
necessary  for  him  to  call  for  a  younger  hand  to  assist.  The  position  was  one 
that  required  a  singularly  gifted  priest.  The  future  of  Catholicity  in  New 
York  depended  on  the  selection  of  one  who,  combining  the  learning  and 
zeal  of  the  missionary  priest  with  that  donum  famce  which  gives  a  man 
influence  over  his  fellow-men,  and  that  skill  in  firm  but  almost  imperceptible 
government  which  is  the  characteristic  of  a  great  ruler,  could  place  Catholicity 
in  New  York  on  a  firm,  harmonious  basis,  instinct  with  the  true  spirit  of  life, 
that  would  insure  its  future  success.  Providence  guided  the  choice.  Surely 
no  man  more  confessedly  endowed  with  all  these  qualities  could  have  been 
selected  than  the  Rev.  John  Hughes,  in  tracing  whose  noble  career  we  shall 
follow  out  the  history  of  Catholicity  in  New  York. 


Chapter  £11. 


fclONS  OF  THE  FOfcD. 


The  Man  for  The  Occasion. — Youth  and  Education. — Raised  to  the  Priest- 
hood.— A  Bright  Pulpit  Orator. — The  Breckenridge  Controversy. — A 
Cardinal's  Error. — The  Young  Coadjutor. — Stormy  Times  in  New 
York. — That  Trustee  System  Again. — A  Visit  to  Europe. — Help  for 
Catholic  Education. — The  Public  School  Question. — A  Shepherd's  Ap- 
peal.— Abuse  and  Bigotry. — The  Nativist  Riots. — Catholics  Act  on  the 
Defensive. — The  Bishop  and  the  Mayor. — A  Tumult  Prevented. — Public 
Letter  and  Challenge. — Editors  Called  to  a  Reckoning. — Ecclesiastical 
Labors  and  Successes. — Raised  to  the  Arch i episcopacy. — The  New  Gothic 
Cathedral. — Closing  Days. — A  Saint  in  the  Interior. — Two  Other  Great 
Bishops. — Our  First  Cardinal. 


HE  mysterious  hand  which  governs  the  universe,"  says  Balmes, 
"seems  to  hold  an  extraordinary  man  in  reserve  for  every  great 
crisis  of  society."  It  is  in  this  light  that  we  view  Archbishop 
Hughes  of  New  York   and  his  illustrious  career. 

John  Hughes  was  born  at  Annaloghan,  near  the  market-town 
of  Augher,  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1797. 
His  parents,  Patrick  Hughes  and  Margaret  McKenna,  were  in  comfortable 
circumstances,  but  especially  respected  for  their  virtue  and  intelligence.  His 
father  was  better  educated  than  most  men  of  his  class;  while  his  mother  was 
remarkable  for  a  refinement  of  character  far  beyond  her  position  and  oppor- 
tunities. John  was  early  sent  to  school,  near  his  native  place,  with  a  view  to 
his  entering  the  priesthood.  Here  he  was  well  grounded  in  the  English 
branches,  but  had  not  the  advantage  of  the  ancient  classics. 

A  reverse  of  fortune  compelled  his  father,  reluctantly,  to  withdraw  the 
youth  from  school,  and  set  him  to  work  with  his  brothers  on  one  of  the  farms, 
of  which  he   conducted   two.     In  the  midst   of   his  labors,  John  fondly  and 

222 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


223 


earnestly  thought  of  his  true  vocation.  "Many  a  time,"  he  afterwards  told  a 
friend,  "have  I  thrown  down  my  rake  in  the  meadow,  and  kneeling  behind 
a  hayrick,  begged  of  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  let  me  become  a  priest." 

He  increased  his  opportunities  for  study  by  reviewing  at  night  all  that 
he  had  learned  at  school.  The  persecutions  which  Catholics  then  suffered  in 
Ireland  were  keenly  felt  by  Mr.  Hughes  and  his  family,  and  by  none  more 
than  by  the  ardent  John,  who  was  open  in  his  expressions  of  disgust  and  indig- 
nation.    He  warmly  seconded  his  father's  inclination  to  emigrate  to  America. 

In  18 1 6,  Mr.  Hughes,  senior,  landed  in  America,  and  settled  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Pa.,  and  there  John,  then  in  his  twentieth  year,  soon  joined  him,  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  followed  the  year  after. 

The  future  archbishop  first  found  employment  with  a  gardener  and 
nurseryman  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  and  afterwards  worked  success- 
ively at  Chambersburg  and  Emmitsburg,  turning  his  hand  to  any  honest 
labor  that  presented  itself.  At  one  time,  he  toiled  as  a  day-laborer  on  a  little 
stone  bridge  over  a  small  stream  on  the  road  that  leads  from  Emmitsburg  to 
Taneytown. 

But  he  never  lost  sight  of  his  vocation  for  the  priesthood,  and  his  object 
in  going  to  Emmitsburg  was  to  be  on  the  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  enter 
the  college  of  Mount  St.  Mary,  then  little  more  than  a  rude  academy,  under 
the  charge  of  Rev.  Fathers  Dubois  and  Brut£,  afterwards  bishops  of  New 
York  and  Vincennes.  Several  refusals  and  disappointments  but  strengthened 
the  young  man's  admirable  resolution.  At  length,  in  the  fall  of  1819,  he  was 
taken  into  the  college,  on  condition  of  superintending  the  garden  in  return 
for  his  board,  lodging,  and  private  instruction.  While  his  garden  duties 
were  faithfully  discharged,  he  employed  his  hours  of  study  to  the  best 
advantage. 

In  1S20,  being  in  his  twenty-third  year,  Mr.  Hughes  was  received  as  a 
regular  student  of  the  college.  He  was  untiring  in  his  application.  With 
great  success  he  passed  through  the  routine  of  teacher,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  rapidly  acquired  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics.  Though  he  became  pro- 
ficient in  these,  they  were  never  his  favorite  studies — he  viewed  them  simply 
as  the  means  to  an  end.  It  was  in  the  congenial  realms  of  theology,  philos- 
ophy, logic,  and  history,  that  his  soul  seemed  to  expand.  He  also  occasion- 
ally preached,  and  wrote  poetry.  It  is  said,  however,  that  his  first  sermon 
gave  much  brighter  promise  of  a  future  divine,  than  his  maiden  verses  gave 
of  a  future  poet.     Under  the  learned  and  saintly  Brute,  who  continued  his 


224  '  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

affectionate  counsellor  throughout  life,  Mr.  Hughes  made  rapid  progress  in 
learning  and  solid  virtue. 

In  the  fall  of  1826,  he  was  elevated  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Con- 
well,  in  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Philadelphia.  For  several  years  he  labored 
zealously  on  various  missions,  chiefly  in  the  country.  His  great  prudence 
enabled  him  to  avoid  getting  mixed  up  with  the  lamentable  difficulties  of  the 
times.  He  soon  learned  the  evil  effects  of  lay  trusteeism,  and  the  lessons 
thus  early  impressed  on  his  mind,  gave  him  that  knowledge  and  experience 
which  afterwards  led  him  to  purge  the  system  in  the  diocese  of  New  York. 

Father  Hughes  soon  became  eminent  as  a  pulpit  orator.  There  was  a 
something — a  magnetism  about  the  noble-looking  young  priest,  and  his  soul- 
stirring  discourses  that  attracted  crowds  to  hear  him.  Bishop  Con  well  was 
delighted  with  him.  The  aged  prelate  would  frequently  say:  "We'll  make 
him  a  bishop  some  day."  He  was  also  noted  as  a  controversialist.  In  1829, 
he  founded  St.  John's  Orphan  Asylum,  and  about  this  time  he  seems  to  have 
been  unofficially  proposed  at  Rome  as  bishop  of  Philadelphia;  but  the  choice 
fell  on  Dr.  Kenrick.  The  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  in  1829, 
was  hailed  with  joy  by  thousands  in  America,  but  by  none  more  than  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hughes.  Through  life  he  was  devotedly  attached  to  his  native  isle, 
whose  wrongs  he  saw  and  deeply  felt  in  his  youth.  He  was  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Daniel  O'Connell. 

The  following  extract  from  a  private  letter  gives  us  an  insight  into  one 
of  the  secrets  of  that  success  which  appeared  to  follow  the  archbishop  of 
New  York,  like  his  shadow.  It  was  addressed  to  the  newly-appointed 
Bishop  Kenrick,  by  his  pupil,  young  M.  J.  Spalding,  then  on  his  way  to  the 
propaganda,  and  is  dated  May,  1830:  "I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes.  I  handed  him  your  letter,  to  which  I  am  indebted 
for  the  kind  manner  in  which  he  received  me.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  the 
most  polite  and  engaging  manners,  blending  the  amiable  modesty  and  reserve 
of  the  priest  with  the  easy  deportment  of  the  man  of  the  world.  He  has,  I 
think,  a  bright  future  before  him." 

In  1832,  the  celebrated  Hughes  and  Breckenridge  controversy  occurred. 
The  Rev.  John  Breckenridge  was  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  the  ablest 
champion  of  his  sect  in  this  country.  Through  the  columns  of  The  Christian 
Advocate,  he  made  a  series  of  bold  attacks  on  the  Catholic  Church,  and  even 
challenged  priests  or  bishops  to  meet  him  "  on  the  whole  field  of  controversy 
between   Roman   Catholics  and   Protestants."     For   a  time  no  attention  was 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  225 

paid  to  Mr.  Breckenridge's  taunting  challenge;  but,  on  a  certain  pressing  occa- 
sion, one  of  Father  Hughes'  own  flock  pledged  himself  that  his  pastor  would 
meet  the  great  champion  of  the  Reformation. 

The  gentleman  informed  the  zealous  young  priest  of  his  promise. 
"  Since  you  rely  upon  me,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  will  not  fail  you."  And  he 
did  not  fail.  Minister  Breckenridge,  we  believe,  never  challenged  another 
Catholic  priest.  The  event  gave  Father  Hughes  an  enviable  fame.  It  at 
once  placed  him  in  the  front  rank,  as  a  man  of  bold,  sharp,  and  powerful 
intellect,  and  unsurpassed  skill  in  debate. 

In  every  subsequent  effort  of  his  life,  he  sustained  his  pre-eminent  repu- 
tation. But  in  this — as,  indeed,  in  all  his  other  controversies — he  was  acting 
on  the  defensive,  and  was  drawn  into  these  contests  by  the  unprovoked 
attacks  which  it  was  too  much  the  custom  of  the  anti-Catholic  bigots  of  that 
day  to  make  against  the  Church.  When  once  embarked  in  the  discussion, 
however,  he  did  not  remain  on  the  defensive;  but,  like  an  able  general,  he 
availed  himself  of  every  point  of  weakness  in  his  adversaries,  and  of  every 
advantage  which  he  gained  over  them,  to  carry  war  into  the  enemy's  country. 
That  these  malignant  and  unchristian  assaults  upon  the  Catholic  religion 
have,  in  a  great  measure,  ceased  in  our  day,  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  bold 
resistance,  and  the  triumphant  logic,  learning,  and  eloquence  of  those  two 
heroic  men  and  illustrious  defenders  of  the  faith — John  England  and  John 
Hughes. 

It  was  likewise  at  this  period  that  Father  Hughes  established,  and  for  a 
time  edited  the  Catholic  Herald,  and  built  St.  John's  Church,  then  the 
favorite,  and  by  far  the  most  elegant  Catholic  place  of  worship  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia. 

•  Father  Hughes  was  suggested  for  the  vacant  bishopric  of  Cincinnati,  in 
1S33,  and  it  was  only  by  a  curious  misunderstanding  at  Rome  that  he  was  not 
appointed. 

As  suitable  candidates  for  this  see,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hughes  and  Purcell 

were    nominated    on    the   same    list.     So  equal  were  their  claims,  that  the 

authorities  at  Rome  were  at  a  loss  to  decide  as  to  which  should  be  appointed. 

The  celebrated   Bishop  England  was  there  then.     The  cardinal  prefect  of 

the  propaganda,  meeting   him  one  day,  asked  him  if  he  could  mention  some 

particular,  however  trifling,  to  turn   the  scales  in  favor  of  one  or  the  other 

nominee.     After   a   moment's  thought,  Dr.  England   replied:  "There's  one 

point,   vour   eminence.     Mr.  Hughes  is  emphatically  a  self-made  man,  and, 
16 


22g  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

perhaps,  on  that  account,  more  acceptable  to  the  people  of  a  western  diocese 
than  Mr.  Purcell."     "  Ah!"  said  the  cardinal,  "  I  think  that  will  do." 

Meeting  Dr.  England  the  next  day,  he  said:  "  Well,  bishop,  the  question 
is  settled.  As  soon  as  I  told  the  cardinals  what  you  said  about  Mr.  Purcell's 
being  a  self-made  man,  they  unanimously  agreed  upon  him,  and  the  nomina- 
tion will  at  once  be  presented  to  his  holiness  for  approval." 

"  I  was  about  to  explain  the  mistake,"  said  Bishop  England  afterwards 
to  a  friend,  "  but  I  reflected  that  it  was  no  doubt  the  work  of  the  spirit  of 
God,  and  was  silent."  Another  field  was  thus  reserved  for  Father  Hughes — 
a  field  in  every  way  more  suited  to  his  ability  and  character. 

With  long  experience,  vast  zeal,  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  Father 
Hughes  was  well  prepared  for  the  work  of  his  life,  and  a  wide  field  was 
ready  for  the  dauntless  toiler.  In  January,  1S3S,  he  was  consecrated  coadju- 
tor to  his  old  master,  Bishop  Dubois,  of  New  York.  The  ceremony  took 
place  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  New  York  City;  and  the  impressive  scene  is 
thus  described  by  illustrious  lips: — 

"I  remember,"  said  Cardinal  McCloskey,  "how  all  eyes  were  fixed,  how 
all  eyes  were  strained  to  get  a  glimpse  at  the  newly-consecrated  bishop;  and 
as  they  saw  that  dignified  and  manly  countenance,  as  they  beheld  those  feat- 
ures beaming  with  the  light  of  intellect,  bearing  upon  them  the  impress  of 
that  force  of  character,  which  peculiarly  marked  him  throughout  his  life,  that 
firmness  of  resolution,  that  unalterable  and  unbending  will,  and  yet  blending 
at  the  same  time  that  great  benignity  and  suavity  of  expression — when  they 
marked  the  quiet  composure  and  self-possession  of  every  look  and  every  ges- 
ture of  his  whole  gait  and  demeanor — all  hearts  were  drawn  and  warmed 
towards  him.  Every  pulse  within  that  vast  assembly,  both  of  clergy  and 
laity,  was  quickened  with  a  higher  sense  of  courage  and  of  hope.  Every 
breast  was  filled  with  joy,  and,  as  it  were,  with  a  new  and  younger 
might." 

About  two  weeks  after  the  consecration  of  Dr.  Hughes,  the  good  old 
Bishop  Dubois  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  and  though  he  partially  recovered, 
he  never  afterwards  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  diocese.  The 
burden  thus  fell  upon  younger  shoulders. 

The  times  were  stormy.  Catholics  were  sorely  in  need  of  a  leading 
mind — a  man  to  battle  for  their  rights.  Such  a  man  was  Bishop  Hughes. 
He  was  doubtless  an  instrument  of  heaven,  raised  up  for  the  good  of  the 
Church  in   America.     He  grappled  at  once  with  the  evils  which  beset  his 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


227 


diocese.  With  a  giant  grasp  he  modified  the  lay-trustee  system;  other 
obstacles  and  abuses  faded  away  at  his  touch,  or  withered  at  his  frown.  To 
his  people  he  was  a  tower  of  strength;  and  for  the  first  time,  the  Catholic 
Church  in  New  York  soon  assumed  an  imposing  aspect. 

We  can  merely  glance  at  his  herculean  labors.  We  have  little  space  for 
detail.  And  yet  here  we  cannot  pass  without  a  word  in  regard  to  lay-trus- 
teeism  in  its  legal  aspect.  The  pernicious  system  had  grown  up  under  the 
law  of  1S13,  which  authorized  the 
male  members  of  full  age,  in  any 
congregation,  other  than  Episcopal 
and  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
congregations,  to  elect  from  three  to 
nine  trustees,  to  hold  the  title,  and 
manage  the  Church  property.  This 
law  did  not  prohibitecclesiastics  own- 
ing, as  individuals,  property  used  for 
divine  service. 

During  the  wild  ascendancy, 
however,  of  Knownothingism,a  law 
was  passed  through  the  legislature 
of  New  York,  by  which  it  was  pro- 
vided that  all  property  held  by  any 
person  in  any  ecclesiastical  office  or 
orders  should,  on  his  death,  become 
vested  in  the  occupants  or  congrega- 
tion using  it,  if  they  were  incorpora- 
ted, or  would  incorporate,  and  in 
default,  in  the  people  of  the  state;  and  no  deed  of  proj)erty  to  be  used  fo* 
divine  worship  was  allowed  to  have  any  legal  force  or  validity,  unless  made 
to  a  corporation. 

The  Catholics  of  New  York  are  chiefly  indebted  to  Dr.  Hughes,  and  to 
his  Eminence,  the  late  Cardinal  McCloskey — then  bishop  of  Albany — for  the 
more  just  and  reasonable  provisions  of  the  present  law,  which,  in  providing 
for  the  incorporation  of  Catholic  churches,  constitutes  the  bishop,  vicar- 
general,  pastor,  and  two  laymen  selected  by  them,  as  the  trustees  of  the 
Church  property. 

In  the  fall  of    1839   Dr.   Hughes  sailed  to  Europe    for   the  purpose    of 


MOST    REV.   JOHN    HUGHES,    ARCHBISHOP    OF 
NEW    YORK. 


22g  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

obtaining  the  necessary  means  to  enable  him  to  carry  out  his  plans  for  the 
good  of  religion  and  education.  It  was  his  first  visit  to  the  Old  World.  He 
was  received  by  pope,  and  king,  and  people,  in  the  various  countries  through 
which  he  passed,  with  every  mark  of  respect  and  kindness. 

He  was  delighted  with  Rome,  where  he  spent  three  months,  and  received 
valuable  presents  from  the  sovereign  pontiff.  At  Vienna  he  obtained  a  lib- 
eral donation  from  the  Leopoldine  Society  in  aid  of  his  proposed  college  and 
seminary.  While  at  Paris  he  secured  the  services  of  a  number  of  Ladies  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  to  found  a  school  in  New  YorkCity.  He  also  visited  Ire- 
land, made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  and  with  warm, 
sympathetic  heart  he  beheld  the  struggle  of  his  countrymen  for  their  rights 
and  liberties.  After  an  absence  of  nine  months,  he  reached  his  episcopal  city 
in  the  summer  of  1S40. 

As  the  good,  untiring  friend  of  Catholic  education,  one  of  Bishop  Hughes' 
first  steps,  after  his  return  from  Europe,  was  the  establishment  of  St.  John's 
College,  at  Fordham,  for  which  object  he  purchased  the  beautiful  Rose  Hill 
estate.  The  estate  cost  $30,000,  and  the  expense  of  fitting  up  the  buildings 
for  the  reception  of  students  was  $10,000.  The  institution,  thus  founded  by 
an  illustrious  hand,  grew  and  flourished,  and  has  since  become  the  honored 
Alma  Mater  of  hundreds  of  Catholics,  lay  and  clerical. 

The  year  1841  was  made  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
New  York  by  the  agitation  of  the  "  School  Question,"  as  it  was  called.  The 
agitation  grew  fierce,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  the  country  at  large. 

The  system  of  education  against  which  the  Catholics  protested  was  more 
than  insidiously  dangerous — it  was  actively  aggressive;  and  not  merely  were 
the  books  replete  with  sneer  and  libel  against  that  Church  which  all  sects 
usually  delight  in  assailing,  but  the  teachers,  by  their  explanations,  imparted 
new  force  to  the  lie,  and  additional  authority  to  the  calumny.  Respectful 
remonstrances  were  met  either  with  calm  disregard  or  insolent  rebuff. 

Politicians  were  so  confident  of  having  the  Irish  vote,  no  matter  how 
they  themselves  acted,  that  they  supposed  they  might  continue  with  impun- 
ity to  go  in  the  very  teeth  of  their  supporters,  and  systematically  resist  their 
just  claims  for  redress.  But  Bishop  Hughes  read  them  a  salutary  lesson,  the 
moral  of  which  it  was  difficult  to  forget.  With  matchless  ability  he  fought 
the  Catholic  side  in  the  common  council  against  all  comers,  representing 
every  hostile  interest;  and  when  justice  was  denied  there  and  in  the  legisla- 
ture, he  resorted  to  a  course  of  policy  which  greatly  disturbed  the  minds  of 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  229 

the  timid,  and  the  sticklers  for  peace  at  any  price,  but  which  was  followed  by 
instantaneous  success. 

Holding  his  flock  well  in  hand,  addressing  them  constantly  in  language 
that,  while  it  convinced  their  judgment,  roused  their  religious  enthusiasm,  he 
advised  them  to  disregard  all  political  ties,  and  vote  only  for  those  who  were 
the  friends  of  the  new  school  system — which,  it  may  be  remarked,  was  pagan 
at  best — and  the  opponents  of  the  old  system,  which,  as  we  have  said,  was 
actively  aggressive.     The  bishop  thus  put  the  case  to  his  flock: 

"  The  question  to  be  decided  is  not  the  strength  of  party,  or  the  emolu- 
ment and  patronage  of  office,  but  a  question  between  the  helpless  and  ill-used 

children,  and  the  public  school  society An  issue  is  made  up 

between  you  and  a  large  portion  of  the  community  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
monopoly  which  instills  the  dangerous  principles  to  which  I  have  before 
alluded,  on  the  other.  The  question  lies  between  the  two  parties,  and 
you  are  the  judges;  if  you  desert  the  cause,  what  can  you  expect  from 
strangers?  .  .  .  I  have  been  given  to  understand  that  three  out  of  four 
candidates  presented  to  your  suffrages  are  pledged  to  oppose  your  claims. 
They  may,  perhaps,  triumph;  but  all  I  ask  is,  that  they  shall  not  triumph  by 
the  sinful  aid  of  any  individual  who  cherishes  a  feeling  in  common  with  those 
children.  I  wish  you,  therefore,  to  look  well  to  your  candidates;  and  if  they 
are  disposed  to  make  Infidels  or  Protestants  of  your  children,  let  them  receive 
no  vote  of  yours." 

The  advice  thus  given  to  them  by  their  bishop  was  as  consistent  with 
common  sense  as  with  decent  pride.  But  something  more  was  required  to 
be  done,  and  that  was  done.  With  a  few  exceptions,  the  candidates  of  all 
parties  in  the  field  were  pledged  to  oppose  the  claims  of  the  Catholics.  An 
independent  ticket  for  members  of  the  senate  and  assembly  was  therefore 
suggested  and  proposed,  and  this  was  adopted  at  a  meeting  in  Carroll  Hall, 
with  an  enthusiasm  which  was  owing  even  more  to  the  pluck  than  to  the 
appeals  of  the  bishop. 

Having,  by  a  speech  of  singular  power,  put  the  whole  case  before  his 
immense  audience,  he  worked  them  up  to  a  state  of  extraordinary  excitement, 
with  the  true  Demosthenic  art,  putting  to  them  a  series  of  stinging  queries, 
touching,  as  it  were,  the  very  life  of  their  honor.  "  Will  you  stand  by  the 
rights  of  your  offspring,  who  have  so  long  suffered  under  the  operation  of 
this  injurious  system?"  "Will  you  adhere  to  the  nominations  made?"  "Will 
you  be  united?  "     "Will  none  of  you  shrink?" 


33c  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

And  he  concluded:  "  I  ask,  then,  once  for  all,  will  this  meeting  pledge 
its  honor,  as  the  representative  of  that  oppressed  portion  of  the  community 
for  whom  I  have  so  often  pleaded,  here  as  elsewhere — will  it  pledge  its  honor, 
that  it  will  stand  by  these  candidates,  whose  names  have  been  read,  and  that 
no  man  composing  this  vast  audience  will  ever  vote  for  any  one  pledged  to 
oppose  our  just  claims,  and  incontrovertible  rights?" 

The  promise,  made  with  a  display  of  feeling  almost  amounting  to  frenzy, 
was  fully  redeemed ;  and  2,200  votes  recorded  for  the  candidates  nominated 
only  four  days  before,  convinced  the  politicians,  whose  promises  hitherto  had 
been,  as  the  bishop  said,  as  large  "  as  their  performances  had  been  lean,"  that 
there  was  danger  in  the  Catholics — that,  in  fact,  they  were  no  longer  to  be 
played  with  or  despised.  Notwithstanding  the  pledges  to  the  contrary,  the 
new  system — that  of  the  common  schools — was  carried  in  the  assembly  by  a 
majority  of  sixty-five  to  sixteen;  and  the  senate,  apprehending  that  a  similar 
attempt  would  be  made  at  an  approaching  election  for  the  mayoralty,  as  that 
which  had  been  made  in  the  elections  of  candidates  for  the  senate  and  the 
assembly,  passed  the  measure. 

Fiercely  assailed  by  his  opponents,  bitterly  denounced  by  alarmed  and 
indignant  politicians,  reviled  in  every  imaginable  manner  by  controversialists 
of  the  pulpit  and  the  press,  even  turned  upon  by  the  faint-hearted  of  his  own 
communion — that  decorous  and  cringing  class,  to  whom  anything  like  vigor, 
or  a  departure  from  rigid  rule,  is  sure  to  cause  a  shudder  of  the  nerves — the 
bishop  of  New  York  became,  at  once,  one  of  the  best-abused,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  of  the  day. 

His  influence  over  the  Irish  portion  of  his  flock  was  unbounded.  This 
flock  was  rapidly  increasing  through  immigration,  which  was  setting  strongly 
in  from  the  old  country,  then,  for  its  size,  one  of  the  most  populous  countries 
of  Europe.  Bishop  Hughes  was  just  the  man  to  acquire  influence  over  an 
Irish  congregation.  That  he  himself  was  an  Irishman,  was,  of  course,  no 
little  in  his  favor.  But  he  was  eminently  qualified  to  gratify  the  pride  of  a 
people  who  found  in  him  a  fearless,  a  powerful,  and  a  successful  champion — 
one  who  was  afraid  of  no  man,  and  who  was  ready,  at  any  moment,  not  only 
to  grapple  with  and  overthrow  the  most  formidable  opponent,  but  to  en- 
counter any  odds,  and  fight  under  evei'y  disadvantage.  In  his  speeches  and 
letters  the  reader  will  behold  abundant  evidence  of  his  boldness  in  attack,  his 
skill  in  defense,  and  his  severity  in  dealing  with  an  enemy,  especially  one  to 
whom  no  quarter  should  be  given. 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


231 


When  the  heroic  bishop  struck,  it  was  with  no  gentle  or  faltering  hand, 
nor  was  his  weapon  a  lath  or  a  blunted  sword.  He  struck  with  the  strength 
of  a  giant,  and  the  weapon  he  wielded  was  bright  and  trenchant,  and  never 
failed  to  pierce  the  armor  of  his  closest-mailed  foe.  With  the  ablest  and 
most  practiced  writers  of  the  public  press,  the  most  accomplished  advocates 
of  the  bar,  the  subtlest  controversialists,  Bishop  Hughes  had  many  a  fair  tilt 
in  the  face  of  an  appreciative  public;  and  none  of  those  with  whom  he  was 
compelled  to  come  into  conflict,  whether  with  tongue  or  pen,  speech  or  letter, 
that  did  not  acknowledge,  or  was  not  obliged  to  admit,  the  power  of  his 
mind,  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  his  happiness  of  illustration,  and  his  thorough 
mastery  of  the  English  language. 

The  anti-Catholic  spirit  which  agitated  the  country  from  1S34  to  1844, 
culminated  in  making  Philadelphia  the  disgraceful  scene  of  riot,  mob-rule, 
and  church-burning.  Hounded  on  by  the  pulpit  yellings  of  fanatical  minis- 
ters, an  army  of  ruffians  did  the  work  of  destruction,  while  the  city  authorities 
looked  on,  and  like  Pontius  Pilate,  quietly  washed  their  hands  of  the  whole 
affair!  At  two  o'clock  p.  m.  on  the  Sth  of  May,  1844,  St.  Michael's  Church 
was  in  flames!  At  four  o'clock  the  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  was  con- 
sumed! At  six  the  same  evening,  St.  Augustine's  Church  was  fired,  and 
along  with  the  rectory,  burned !  The  precious  library  of  the  Augustinians 
was  plundered,  and  the  books  piled  up,  and  committed  to  the  flames!  All 
this  in  one  afternoon! 

Flushed  with  their  unholy  triumphs  of  church-burning,  convent-wreck- 
ing, and  house-pillaging,  a  chosen  band  of  Philadelphia  rioters  were  to  be 
welcomed  with  a  public  procession  by  their  sympathizers  of  New  York ;  but 
the  stern  attitude  of  the  Catholics,  obedient  to  the  voice,  amenable  to  the 
authority  of  their  great  bishop,  dismayed  the  cowardly  portion  of  their  ene- 
mies, and  taught  even  the  boldest  that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  that  the  Catholics  of  New  York  had  taken  a 
firm  stand  against  the  frenzy  of  the  "No-Popery"  faction.  Shortly  after 
the  burning  of  the  convent  at  Boston,  there  was  an  attempt  made  to  destroy 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  But  the  church  was  put  in  a  state  of  defense;  the 
streets  leading  to  it  were  torn  up,  and  every  window  was  to  be  a  point 
whence  missiles  could  be  thrown  on  the  advancing  horde  of  sacrilegious 
wretches;  while  the  wall  of  the  churchyard,  rudely  constructed,  bristled  with 
the  muskets  of  those  ready  for  the  last  struggle  for  the  altar  of  their  God 
and  the  graves  of  those  they  loved.     So  fearful  a  preparation,  unknown  to 


2,2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  enemies  of  religion,  came  upon  them  like  a  thunder-clap,  when  their  van 
had  nearly  reached  the  street  leading  to  the  cathedral;  they  fled  in  all  direc- 
tions in  dismay. 

A  meeting  of  the  "  Native  Americans"  of  New  York  was  called  in  the 
city  hall  park,  to  give  a  suitable  reception  to  their  brethren  from  Philadel- 
phia. The  time  for  action  had  thus  arrived.  Bishop  Hughes  had  made  it 
known  through  the  columns  of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  then  under  his  entire 
control,  that  the  scenes  of  Philadelphia  should  not  be  renewed  with  impunity 
in  New  York;  and  he  was  known  to  have  said — in  reply  to  a  priest  who, 
having  escaped  from  Philadelphia,  advised  him  to  publish  an  address,  urging 
the  Catholics  to  keep  the  peace — "  If  a  single  Catholic  Church  were  burned 
in  New  York,  the  city  would  become  a  second  Moscow." 

There  was  no  mistaking  his  spirit,  and  that  of  his  flock — excepting,  of 
course,  the  "  good,  cautious  souls  who,"  as  the  bishop  wrote,  "  believe  in  steal- 
ing through  the  world  more  submissively  than  suits  a  freeman."  The 
churches  were  guarded  by  a  sufficient  force  of  men,  resolved  to  die  in  their 
defense,  but  also  resolved  to  make  their  assailants  feel  the  weight  of  their 
vengeance.  By  an  extra  issue  of  the  Freeman's  Journal  the  bishop  warned 
the  Irish  to  keep  away  from  all  public  meetings,  especially  that  to  be  held  in 
the  park.  He  then  called  upon  the  mayor,  and  advised  him  to  prevent  the 
proposed  demonstration. 

"  Are  you  afraid,"  asked  the  mayor,  "  that  some  of  your  churches  will  be 
burned  ?" 

"  No,  sir;  but  I  am  afraid  that  some  of  yours  will  be  burned.  We  can 
protect  our  own.     I  come  to  warn  you  for  your  own  good." 

"  Do  you  think,  bishop,  that  your  people  would  attack  the  procession  ?" 

"  I  do  not,  but  the  native  Americans  want  to   provoke   a   Catholic  riot, 

and  if  they  can  do  it  in  no  other  way,  I  believe   they  would   not  scruple   to 

attack  the  procession  themselves,  for  the  sake  of  making   it   appear   that  the 

Catholics  had  assailed  them." 

"  What,  then,  would  you  have  me  do?  " 

"  I  did  not  come  to  tell  you  what  to  do.  I  am  a  churchman,  not  the 
mayor  of  New  York;  but  if  I  were  the  mayor,  I  would  examine  the  laws  of 
the  state  and  see  if  there  were  not  attached  to  the  police  force  a  battery  of 
artillery,  and  a  company  or  so  of  infantry,  and  a  squadron  of  horses;  and  I 
think  I  should  find  that  there  were;  and  if  so,  I  should  call  them  out.  More- 
over, I  should  send  to  Mr.  Harper,  the  mayor-elect,  who  has  been  chosen   by 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


233 


the  votes  of  this  party.  I  should  remind  him  that  these  men  are  his  support- 
ers; I  should  warn  him  that  if  they  carry  out  their  design  there  will  be  a  riot; 
and  I  should  urge  him  to  use  his  influence  in  preventing  this  public  reception 
of  the  delegates." 

There  was  no  demonstration.  And  every  right-minded  man,  every  lover 
of  peace  in  the  city,  must  have  applauded  the  course  taken  by  Dr.  Hughes,  to 
whose  prudent  firmness  was  mainly  attributable  the  fact  that  New  York  was 
saved  from  riot,  bloodshed,  murder,  and  sacrilege,  and,  above  all,  from  that 
dreadful  feeling  of  unchristian  hate  between  man  and  man,  citizen  and  citizen, 
neighbor  and  neighbor,  which  such  collisions  are  certain  for  years  after  to 
leave  rankling  in  the  breast  of  a  community. 

We  cannot  pass  further,  however,  without  saying  a  word  in  relation  to 
the  manly  and  noble,  yet  temperate  and  dignified  letter  of  Dr.  Hughes  to 
Mayor  Harper.  Seldom  has  there  appeared  in  the  republic  a  document  more 
timely,  more  eloquent,  more  triumphant,  or  more  happy  in  its  effects  on  the 
public  mind.  It  was  written  under  a  threat  of  assassination,  immediately  after 
the  fearful  May  riots  of  Philadelphia,  and  at  a  moment  when  there  was  every 
reason  to  apprehend  similar  or  worse  outbreaks  in  New  York  City. 

The  bishop  just  took  the  stand  which  the  emergency  required.  He 
assumed  that  bold  and  fearless  tone  which  best  suits  the  American  character, 
and  his  winged  words  had  an  almost  magical  effect  on  the  popular  mind. 
Never  was  a  document  more  eagerly  sought,  or  more  greedily  perused.  It 
is  estimated  that  in  New  York  City  alone  150,000  persons  read  it  within  forty- 
eight  hours  after  its  first  publication.  The  effect  was  truly  wonderful.  The 
excitement,  which  before  had  reached  a  maddening  height,  all  at  once  sub- 
sided, and  New  York  was  saved  from  the  outrages  which  had  just  disgraced 
a  sister  city. 

In  this  memorable  letter  Dr.  Hughes  triumphantly  vindicates  himself 
from  the  vile  charges  made  against  him  by  an  unprincipled  press.  He  boldly 
challenges  James  Gordon  Bennett,  editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  William 
L.  Stone,  editor  of  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  and  others,  to 
establish  the  contrary  of  the  following  propositions: 

"  1. — I  have  never  in  my  life  done  one  action,  or  uttered  a  sentiment 
tending  to  abridge  any  human  being  of  all  or  any  of  the  rights  of  conscience 
which  I  claim  to  enjoy  myself  under  the  American  constitution. 

"  2. — I  have  never  asked  or  wished  that  any  denomination  should  be 
deprived  of  the  bible,  or  such  version  of  the  bible  as  that  denommation  con- 
scientiously approved,  in  our  common  or  public  schools. 


234  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

<■<■  ?. I  have  never  entered  into  intrigue   or  collusion   with   any  political 

party  or  individual,  and  no  political  party  or  individual  ever  approached  me 
with  so  insulting  a  proposition. 

''4. I  have  never  requested  or  authorized,  the  'blackening  of  the  public 

school'  books  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

"5. — In  all  my  public  life  in  New  York,  I  have  done  no  action,  uttered 
no  sentiment  unworthy  of  a  Christian  bishop,  and  an  American  citizen." 

Then,  after  putting  the  same  or  similar  propositions  in  an  affirmative 
form,  and  stating  them  as  well-known  public  facts,  which  he  held  himself 
prepared  to  prove,  he  thus  boldly  addresses  his  malignant  revilers: 

"  Now,  therefore,  James  Gordon  Bennett,  William  L.  Stone,  and  ye 
other  deceivers  of  the  public,  stand  forth,  and  meet  Bishop  Hughes.  But 
then,  come  forth  in  no  quibbling  capacity;  come  forth  as  honest  men,  as 
true  American  citizens,  with  truth  in  your  hearts,  and  candor  on  your  lips. 
I  know  you  can  write  well,  and  can  multiply  words  and  misrepresent  truth ; 
this  is  not  the  thing  that  will  serve  you.  Come  forth  with  your  facts. 
Bishop  Hughes  places  himself  in  the  simple  panoply  of  an  honest  man, 
before  the  American  people.  He  asks  no  favor,  but  he  simply  asks  whether 
the  opinion  of  Bishop  White  is  true,  that  with  the  American  people  no  man 
can  be  put  down  by  calumny." 

James  Gordon  Bennett  and  William  L.  Stone  did  attempt  "to  stand 
forth  ;"  but  we  think  all  will  allow  that  they  proved  no  match  for  the  gifted 
bishop.  They  dealt  in  naught  but  personal  abuse  and  idle  declamation — in 
"woi'ds,  words,  words."  Dr.  Hughes,  however,  called  for  and  dealt  in  hard 
facts,  those  "stubborn  things"  that  are  the  great  annoyance  of  liars  and 
scoundrels.  The  result  of  the  discussion  was  most  happy.  It  contributed  in 
a  great  measure  to  clear  away  the  dark  clouds  of  calumny  which  had  been 
for  yeai^s  gathering  about  the  Empire  city.  In  short,  it  left  the  Catholics 
in  a  proud  position. 

It  is  this  famous  letter  which  contains  the  touching  and  beautiful  allu- 
sion to  the  American  flag.  "  I  can  even  now  remember,"  writes  the  bishop, 
"my  reflections  on  first  beholding  the  American  flag.  It  never  crossed  my 
mind  that  a  time  might  come  when  that  flag,  the  emblem  of  the  freedom 
just  alluded  to,  should  be  divided  by  apportioning  its  stars  to  the  citizens  of 
native  birth,  and  its  stripes  only  as  the  portion  of  the  foreigner.  I  was,  of 
course,  but  young  and  inexperienced;  and  yet  even  recent  events  have  not 
diminished  my  confidence  in  that  ensign  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  It  is 
possible  I  was  mistaken,  but  I  still  cling  to  the  delusion,  if  it  be  one,  and  as  I 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  235 

.trusted  to  that  flag  on  a  nation's  faith,  I  think  it  more  likely  that  its  stripes 
will  disappear  altogether;  and  that  before  it  shall  be  employed  as  an  instru- 
ment of  bad  faith  towards  the  foreigners  of  every  land,  the  white  portions 
will  blush  into  crimson,  and  then  the  glorious  stars  alone  will  remain." 

The  reader  must  not  imagine  that  battling  with  unruly  trustees,  unprin- 
cipled journalists,  and  "Native  American"  ruffianism,  occupied  more  than  a 
3mall  portion  of  Bishop  Hughes'  time.  No  duty  was  neglected.  His  vast 
energy,  and  a  kind  of  magical  activity,  made  him  equal  to  everything. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  he  had  to  encounter  was  the 
immense  debt  that  hung  over  the  churches  of  New  York  City.  It  retarded 
the  progress  of  the  Church.  It  was  a  source  of  deep  anxiety,  and  never- 
ceasing  annoyance.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  Catholics  was  so  great, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  so  poor,  that  in  order  to  provide  them  with 
places  in  which  to  worship  God,  it  was  necessary  to  borrow  large  sums  of 
money,  at  a  ruinous  interest.  The  evil  was  increased  by  the  mismanagement 
of  the  lay-trustees,  so  that  at  the  time  Dr.  Hughes  began  to  manage  the  affairs 
of  the  diocese,  it  was  found  that  every  church  edifice  in  the  city  was  mort- 
gaged, or  encumbered  with  debt,  to  its  full  value.  It  took  many  a  long  year 
of  toil,  struggle,  and  skillful  management  on  the  part  of  the  bishop  to  get 
things  on  anything  like  a  safe  financial  basis. 

In  February,  1844,  the  Rev.  Dr.  McCloskey — afterwards  the  able  car- 
dinal— was  consecrated  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Hughes;  and  in  1S45  the  latter 
visited  Europe  in  the  interests  of  his  diocese.  He  was  especially  desirous  to 
obtain  suitable  teachers  for  his  Catholic  schools. 

He  returned  in  April,  1846,  and  in  May  of  the  same  year  attended  the 
sixth  council  of  Baltimore,  whose  deliberations  resulted,  and  were  subse- 
quently confirmed  by  the  Holy  See,  in  dividing  the  diocese  of  New  York  by 
the  establishment  of  the  new  sees  of  Buffalo  and  Albany.  Dr.  Timon  was 
appointed  to  Buffalo,  and  Dr.  McCloskey  was  translated  to  Albany. 

While  attending  the  council,  Bishop  Hughes  was  summoned  to  Wash- 
ington by  Mr.  Buchanan,  at  that  time  secretary  of  state  under  President 
Polk,  to  confer  with  the  administration  in  reference  to  the  appointment  of 
Catholic  chaplains  in  the  army,  then  on  the  way  to  invade  Mexico.  The 
result  was  that  Father  John  McElroy,  S.  J.,  and  Father  Anthony  Rey,  S.  J., 
received  the  appointment. 

In  1846  and  1847,  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  diocese  of  New  York 
were  organized  into  a  separate  society,  thus  severing  all  connection  with  the 


236  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

parent  house  at  Emmitsburg.  In  1S17,  Bishop  Connolly,  of  New  York, 
applied  to  the  superior-general  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  at  Emmitsburg,  for 
some  sisters  to  take  charge  of  an  orphan  asylum  in  his  episcopal  city.  The 
new  mission  was  confided  to  the  pious  and  zealous  Sister  Rose  White,  and 
two  companions.  On  the  13th  of  September,  they  took  charge  of  St. 
Patrick's  asylum,  corner  of  Prince  and  Mott  streets.  This  was  the  humble 
beginning  of  that  flourishing  community,  whose  establishments  of  mercy, 
charity,  and  education  now  cover  the  Empire  state,  and  in  which  alone  the 
rule  and  dress  of  Mother  Seton  are  preserved  unaltered. 

Some  time  after  his  accession  to  the  see  of  New  York,  Dr.  Hughes 
wished  to  establish  a  male  orphan  asylum.  This,  with  other  wants  in  view, 
induced  the  zealous  prelate  to  make  a  formal  petition  to  Emmitsburg  for  a 
large  colony  of  sisters.  The  council  of  the  mother-house  notified  him  that 
his  request  could  not  be  granted,  and,  moreover,  that  the  sisters  would  no 
longer  be  allowed  to  take  charge  of  male  orphans. 

The  bishop  then  corresponded  with  the  superior-general,  representing 
the  ugent  necessities  of  his  diocese;  and  the  result  was  the  establishment  of  a 
separate  mother-house  at  New  York,  of  which  Dr.  Hughes  may  be  con- 
sidered the  founder.  The  members  who  did  not  desire  to  remain  under  the 
new  order  of  things,  were  left  at  perfect  liberty  to  go  to  Emmitsburg.  Of 
the  fifty  sisters  at  that  time  in  the  diocese,  thirty-one  remained;  and,  on  the 
8th  of  December,  1S46,  the  feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Most 
Blessed  Virgin,  Dr.  Hughes  constituted  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  his  diocese 
a  separate  community,  under  the  title  of  the  "Sisters  of  Charity  of  St- 
Vincent  de  Paul."  Pius  IX,  by  a  brief  of  June,  1S47,  approved  the  new 
organization,  and  conferred  upon  it  all  the  rights  and  privileges  granted  to 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  France  or  America.  The  New  York  sisters  now 
represent  the  society  as  founded  by  the  saintly  Mother  Seton. 

"  He  went  about  doing  good."  These  words  might  justly  be  applied  to 
the  whole  life  of  Dr.  Hughes.  In  1847  he  received  an  invitation  from  John 
Quincy  Adams,  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  other  distinguished  men,  to  preach 
before  congress  in  the  capitol  at  Washington.  He  took  as  his  subject, 
"  Christianity  the  only  source  of  moral,  social,  and  political  regeneration."  It 
is  a  splendid  discourse. 

Nor,  with  pen  and  tongue  thus  eloquently  laboring  in  the  cause  of  truth, 
did  he  ever  for  a  moment  forget  the  important  interests  of  Catholic  education. 
At  this  period  we  find  that,  through  his  efforts,  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  Ladies  of 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  2~» 

the  Sacred  Heart,  Christian  Brothers,  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  Sisters  of  Mercy 
were  settled  down  to  the  almost  divine  work  of  teaching  the  young  "  the  way 
in  which  they  should  go." 

Though  one  of  the  most  devoted  citizens  of  the  United  States,  Bishop 
Hughes  never  forgot  his  native  land.  He  loved  it  with  his  last  breath.  In 
1847,  when  the  famine  was  raging  in  Ireland,  he  sent  the  collections  just 
taken  up  for  his  theological  seminary,  amounting  to  $14,000,  to  relieve  his 
unhappy  countrymen.  He  was  a  noble  patriot,  and  was  greatly  mortified  by 
the  failure  of  the  '48  movement. 

The  brief  of  our  late  illustrious  holy  father,  Pope  Pius  IX,  erecting 
New  York  into  an  archiepiscopal  see,  with  the  sees  of  Boston,  Hartford, 
Albany,  and  Buffalo,  as  suffragan  sees,  was  received  by  Dr.  Hughes  in  the 
fall  of  1850.  He  sailed  for  Europe,  and  had  the  honor  of  receiving  the  pal- 
lium from  the  hands  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  himself.  This  was  a  distinc- 
tion which  the  archbishop  always  alluded  to  with  pleasure  and  gratitude. 

In  1854  Archbishop  Hughes  was  one  of»  the  American  prelates  who 
accepted  the  invitation  of  Pius  IX  to  attend  the  assembly  of  bishops  from  the 
whole  Catholic  world,  gathered  together  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies 
attendant  upon  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
He  was  a  member  of  that  august  assembly,  and  as  a  devout  child  of  the  Most 
Holy  Virgin  he  was  greatly  attached  to  the  dogma. 

On  his  return  to  New  York  he  recounted  the  grandeur  of  the  proceed- 
ings at  which  he  had  the  pleasure  of  assisting.  He  also  immediately  began 
the  erection  of  a  church  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  he 
solemnly  consecrated  on  the  15th  of  May,  1858.  This  was  the  ninety-ninth 
church  erected  and  dedicated  under  his  personal  supervision. 

Everything  human  is  limited.  Everything  human,  unhappily,  is  subject 
to  change.  Such  had  been  the  active  and  laborious  life  of  Archbishop 
Hughes,  and  such  the  exciting  scenes  and  contests  through  which  he  had 
passed,  that  his  health,  naturally  robust,  began  to  fail  him  in  1848,  when  he 
was  about  fifty  years  of  age. 

Many  of  his  great  labors  and  most  brilliant  efforts  were  performed  in 
the  midst  of  intense  suffering.  His  natural  vigor  and  marvelous  activity  of 
character,  it  is  true,  resisted  for  a  time  the  encroachment  of  disease  ;  but 
after  the  year  1855  he  made  but  few  efforts  such  as  those  that  marked  the 
first  part  of  his  episcopal  career. 

But  though  the  energy  of  life  was  on  the  decline,  Dr.  Hughes  began  one 


233  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  the  greatest  of  his  many  great  works — the  erection  of  the  new  and  magnifi- 
cent Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick.  The  corner-stone  of  this  grand  structure  was 
laid  on  August  15,  1858,  in  the  presence  of  seven  bishops,  one  hundred  and; 
thirty  priests,  and  at  least  100,000  people.  No  accident  occurred.  Every- 
thing passed  off  in  the  most  perfect  order.  This  is  the  largest,  most  costly, 
and  most  beautiful  structure  of  the  kind  in  this  Republic.  The  style  of 
architecture  is  the  decorated  Gothic  which  prevailed  in  Europe  about  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  foundation  is  of  immense  blocks  of  granite,  and 
all  above  the  base  course  consists  of  fine  white  marble.  The  extreme  length 
is  332  feet;  extreme  breath,  174  feet.  To  the  height  of  330  feet  the  two  mas- 
sive towers  each  point  heavenward.     Beauty  and  majesty  mark  the  interior. 

Some  idea  of  the  archbishop's  still  wonderful  energy,  and  of  his  influence 
with  his  flock,  may  be  formed  from  the  single  fact  that  he  paid  visits  to  the 
most  wealthy  Catholics  to  solicit  contributions  to  the  new  Cathedral ;  and  in 
one  hundred  of  these  visits,  which  did  not  occupy  over  twenty-four  hours,  hi 
found  one  hundred  persons  who  gave  him  $1,000  each.  Before  his  death  the 
walls  of  this  noble  structure  reached  the  height  of  twelve  or  fourteen  feet. 

In  1859  ne -took  an  active  part  in  showing  his  sympathy  for  the  gloriout 
Pius  IX,  when  the  star  of  evil  destiny  shone  on  the  Eternal  city.  Dr. 
Hughes  issued  an  inspiring  pastoral  on  the  subject,  which  was  so  gratefully 
received  by  the  holy  father,  that  he  ordered  it  to  be  printed  at  the  propa- 
ganda in  English  and  Italian — a  distinction  never  before  conferred  on  awy 
other  pastoral  at  Rome. 

He  also  raised  a  collection  of  $53,000,  in  aid  of  the  holy  father's 
depleted  treasury.  On  receiving  this  present  and  the  letter  of  sympathy 
which  accompanied  it,  Pius  IX  was  moved  to  tears;  and  as  a  mark  of  his  grate- 
ful appreciation  he  sent  to  the  archbishop  a  first-class  medal  for  his  religious 
zeal,  and  singular  and  devoted  attachment  to  the  chair  of  Peter. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  late  Civil  War  Archbishop  Hughes  was  fre- 
quently consulted  by  Secretary  Seward  and  President  Lincoln.  In  1861,  he 
was  sent  by  the  Government  on  a  special  mission  to  Europe.  Of  the  object 
of  this  journey  he  wrote  to  Cardinal  Barnabo:  "  My  mission  is  a  mission  of 
peace  between  France  and  England  on  the  one  side,  and  the  United  States 
on  the  other.  I  made  known  to  the  president  that  if  I  should  come  to 
Europe  it  would  not  be  as  a  partisan  of  the  North  more  than  of  the  South; 
that  I  should  represent  the  interests  of  the  South  as  well  as  of  the  North; 
in  short,  the  interests  of    the   United    States,  just  the  same  as  if  they  had 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  239 

never  been  distracted  by  the  present  Civil  War.  The  people  of  the  South 
know  that  I  am  not  opposed  to  their  interests.  They  have  even  published 
that  in  their  papers,  and  some  say  that  my  coming  to  Europe  is  with  a  view 
to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  the  two  sections  of  the  country. 
But,  in  fact,  no  one  but  myself,  either  North  or  South,  knows  the  entire 
object  of  my  visit  to  Europe." 

He  visited  Rome,  Ireland,  and  Paris,  and  had  long  and  important  inter- 
views with  the  French  emperor  and  empress.  After  his  return  in  1862,  an 
official  intimation  was  conveyed  to  the  Holy  See  that  the  president  of  the 
United  States  would  be  greatly  pleased  to  see  Archbishop  Hughes  made  a 
cardinal  ;  but  it  seems  that  Providence  reserved  this  dignity  for  his  vener- 
able successor. 

The  last  institution  established  by  him  was  St.  Joseph's  Theological 
Seminary,  at  Troy.  He  delivered  his  last  sermon  in  June,  1863,  at  the 
dedication  of  a  church;  and  his  last  attempt  at  public  speaking  was  during 
the  draft  riot  in  New  York  City,  in  July,  1863,  when  he  made  a  discourse  to 
the  people  at  the  request  of  Governor  Seymour,  to  dissuade  them  from 
violence.  He  spoke  from  the  balcony  of  his  residence  in  Madison  avenue, 
and  was  obliged  to  remain  seated,  in  consequence  of  the  extremely  feeble 
state  of  his  health. 

Years  of  unceasing  toil  had  shattered  that  once  active  and  powerful 
frame.  He  had  spent  himself  for  God,  and  truth,  and  religion.  He  had 
borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day.  He  had  fought  the  good  fight, 
and  now  he  was  about  to  receive  the  reward  of  the  faithful  servant.  And 
surrounded  by  loved  and  venerated  friends,  the  great  prelate  departed  from 
the  scenes  of  his  earthly  toils,  and  trials,  and  triumphs,  on  January  3,  1S64. 
The  legislature  and  the  common  council  passed  resolutions  of  condolence,  and 
testimonials  of  respect  were  offered  from  every  quarter. 

Dr.  Hughes  was  a  most  heroic,  venerable,  and  illustrious  man.  Whether 
we  contemplate  the  noble  boy  kneeling  by  the  hay-rick,  or  the  famous  arch- 
bishop building  up  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  Empire  state,  l'eflecting  honor 
on  his  faith  and  his  countrymen  by  the  luster  of  his  name,  or  counselling 
rulers  and  presidents,  speaking  words  of  warning  and  wisdom  to  kings  and 
emperors,  or  carrying  in  his  hand  the  destiny  of  nations,  there  is  still  to  be 
seen  the  same  bright  life,  the  same  grandeur  of  soul.  It  is  the  sun  rising  in 
the  east,  moving  on  its  silent  course,  brilliantly  shining  in  the  west,  and, 
finally,  sinking  amid  the  sad  and  solemn  splendor  of  its  evening  rays.     The 


240  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

career  of  such  an  extraordinary  man  is  a  light  for  after-ages.  He  is  one  of 
the  glories  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  America. 

In  our  sketch  of  the  great  archbishop  we  have  noticed  that  in  1847  the 
Holy  See,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  prelate,  divided  his  extensive  diocese,  and 
committed  the  see  of  Albany  to  his  able  coadjutor,  Bishop  McCloskey,  anc. 
appointed  to  the  new  see  of  Buffalo  the  Rev.  John  Timon,  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Missions.  In  a  short  time  a  new  division  was  proposed,  to  lighten 
still  more  the  burden  attached  to  the  see  of  New  York.  Part  of  New  Jersey 
depended  on  it  and  part  on  the  see  of  Philadelphia.  The  Holy  See  deemed 
it  now  for  the  interest  of  religion  to  unite  the  whole  state  of  New  Jersey  under  a 
bishop  whose  see  was  fixed  at  Newark,  and  appointed  as  the  first  bishop,  the 
Rev.  James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  then  secretary  of  the  archbishop.  The  city  of 
Brooklyn,  which  had  become  one  of  the  largest  in  America,  was  also  made  a 
see,  and  conferred  on  the  Very  Rev.  John  Loughlin,  vicar-general  of  the 
diocese.  An  account  of  some  of  these  holy  prelates,  one  of  whom  has  but 
recently  died,  will  fitly  complete  this  notice  of  Catholicity  in  the  Empire  state. 

John  Timon,  who  became  bishop  of  Buffalo,  was  of  American  birth  but 
Irish  parentage.  His  father,  James,  emigrated  from  the  county  Cavan  in  the 
latter  part  of  1796  or  the  beginning  of  1797,  and  settled  at  Conewago,  in 
Adams  county,  Pennsylvania,  where,  in  a  rude  log  house,  John  was  born  on 
the  1 2th  of  February,  1797,  the  second  of  a  family  of  ten  children.  The 
father  and  mother  seem  to  have  been  remarkably  devout  people,  and  from  an 
anecdote  related  of  them  we  can  fancy  that  the  lavish  beneficence  which  char- 
acterized the  bishop  was  an  hereditary  virtue  in  the  family.  Mr.  James 
Timon  called,  one  day,  upon  a  priest  whom  he  had  known  in  Ireland,  and, 
taking  it  for  granted  that  the  reverend  gentleman  must  be  in  want  of  money, 
he  slipped  into  his  hand  at  parting  a  $100  bill,  and  hurried  away.  The  priest, 
supposing  Mr.  Timon  had  made  a  mistake,  ran  after  him,  and  overtook  him 
in  the  street.  "  My  dear  friend,"  said  the  generous  Irishman,  "  it  was  no 
mistake.  I  intended  it  for  you."  "  But,"  said  the  clergyman,  "  I  assure  you 
I  am  not  in  want;  I  do  not  need  it."  "  Never  mind;  there  are  many  who  do. 
If  you  have  no  use  for  the  money  yourself  give  it  to  the  poor." 

The  Timon  family  removed  to  Baltimore  in  1802,  and  there  John 
received  his  school  education,  such  as  it  was.  As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough, 
he  became  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  shop  kept  by  his  father.  From  Baltimore 
the  family  removed,  in  1S1S,  to  Louisville,  and  thence  in  the  following  spring 
to  St.  Louis.     Here  prosperity  at  last  rewarded  Mr.  Timon's  industry,  and  he 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


241 


accumulated  a  considerable  fortune,  only  to  lose  it,  however,  in  the  commer. 
cial  crisis  of  1S23.  In  the  midst  of  these  pecuniary  misfortunes,  John  Timon 
suffered  a  still  heavier  loss  in  the  death  of  a  young  lady  to  whom  he  was 
engaged  to  be  married.  But  we  may  well  look  upon  it  as  a  manifestation  of 
the  kindness  of  Divine  Providence,  which  called  the  young  man  to  a  higher 
and  more  useful  life,  and  designed  first  to  break  off  his  attachment  to  all  the 
things  of  this  world.  He  heard  and  obeyed  the  call,  and,  in  the  month  of 
April,  1823,  became  a  student  of  the  Lazarists  at  their  preparatory  seminary 
of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Barrens,  in  Perry  county,  Missouri,  about  eighty  miles 
below  St.  Louis. 

The  Lazarists,  or  Priests  of  the  Mission,  had  been  introduced  into  the 
United  States  only  six  years  before,  and  their  institutions,  founded  with  great 
difficulty  in  the  midst  of  a  poor  and  scattered  population,  were  still  struggling 
with  debt  and  discouragement.  The  little  establishment  at  the  Barrens  was 
for  many  years  in  a  pitiable  condition  of  destitution.  When  Mr.  Timon 
entered  as  a  candidate  not  only  for  the  priesthood,  but  for  admission  to  the 
congregation,  it  was  governed  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  who  became,  a 
year  later,  the  first  bishop  of  St.  Louis.  The  buildings  consisted  of  a  few 
log  houses.  The  largest  of  them,  a  one-story  cabin,  contained  in  one  corner 
the  theological  department,  in  another  the  schools  of  philosophy  and  general 
literature,  in  a  third  the  tailor's  shop,  and  in  the  fourth  the  shoemaker's.  The 
refectory  was  a  detached  log-house ;  and  in  very  bad  weather  the  seminarians 
often  went  to  bed  supperless  rather  than  make  the  journey  thither  in  search 
of  their  very  scanty  fare.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  them,  of  a  winter's 
morning,  to  rise  from  their  mattresses,  spread  upon  the  floor,  and  find  over 
their  blankets  a  covering  of  snow,  which  had  drifted  through  the  crevices  of 
the  logs. 

The  system  upon  which  the  seminary  was  supported  was  the  same  that 
prevails  at  Mount  St.  Mary's.  For  three  hours  in  the  day  the  students  of 
divinity  were  expected  to  teach  in  the  secular  college  connected  with  the  sem- 
inary, and  for  out-of-door  exercise  they  cut  fuel  and  worked  on  the  farm. 
Mr.  Timon,  in  spite  of  these  labors,  made  such  rapid  progress  in  his  studies 
that  in  1824  he  was  ordained  sub-deacon,  and  began  to  accompany  his  super- 
iors occasionally  in  their  missionary  excursions. 

They  lived  in  the  midst  of  spiritual  destitution.  The  French  pioneers  of 
the  Western  country  had  planted  the  Faith  at  St.  Louis  and  some  other  prom- 
inent points,  but  they  had  left  few  or  no  traces  in  the  vast  tracts  of  territory 
17 


242  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

surrounding  the  earlier  settlements,  and  to  most  of  the  country  people  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  was  no  better  than  a  sort  of  aggravated  pagan 
imposture.  Protestant  preachers  used  to  show  themselves  at  the  very  doors 
of  the  churches  and  challenge  the  priests  to  come  out  and  be  confuted. 
Wherever  the  Lazarists  traveled  they  were  looked  at  with  the  most  intense 
curiosity.  Very  few  of  the  settlers  had  ever  seen  a  priest  before.  The 
Catholics,  scattered  here  and  there,  had  generally  been  deprived,  for  years,  of 
Mass  and  the  sacraments,  and  their  children  were  growing  up  utterly  ignorant 
of  religion.  Mr.  Timon  was  accustomed  to  make  a  regular  missionary  circuit 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  around  the  Barrens  in  company  with  Father  Odin, 
afterwards  archbishop  of  New  Orleans.  The  duty  of  the  sub-deacon  was  to 
preach,  catechise,  and  instruct.  Sometimes  they  had  no  other  shelter  than 
the  woods,  and  no  other  food  than  wild  berries.  At  a  settlement  called  Apple 
Creek,  they  made  a  chapel  out  of  a  large  pig-pen,  cleaning  it  out  with  then- 
own  hands,  building  an  altar,  and  so  decorating  the  poor  little  place  with  fresh 
boughs  that  it  became  the  wonder  of  the  neighborhood. 

In  1824  Messrs.  Odin  and  Timon  made  a  long  missionary  tour  on  horse- 
back, going  as  far  as  New  Madrid,  in  Missouri,  and  Arkansas  Post,  in  the 
state  of  Arkansas.  Along  the  route  they  traveled — where  they  had  to  swim 
rivers,  flounder  through  morasses,  and  sleep  in  the  swamps — no  priest  had 
been  seen  for  more  than  thirty-five  years.  Their  zeal,  intelligence,  graceful 
and  impassioned  speech,  and  modest  manners,  seem  to  have  made  a  great 
impression  on  the  settlers.  They  had  the  satisfaction  of  disarming  much 
prejudice,  receiving  some  converts,  and  administering  the  sacraments;  and, 
after  an  interesting  visit  to  an  Indian  tribe  on  the  Arkansas  River,  they 
returned  to  the  Barrens. 

About  this  time  (in  1S25),  Mr.  Timon  was  promoted  to  the  priesthood 
and  appointed  a  professor  at  the  seminary.  His  missionary  labors  were  now 
greatly  increased.  Some  interesting  anecdotes  are  related  of  his  tours,  which 
curiously  illustrate  the  state  of  religion  at  that  time  in  the  West.  One  day, 
Father  Timon  was  summoned  to  Jackson,  Missouri,  to  visit  a  murderer  under 
sentence  of  death.  With  some  difficulty  he  got  admission  to  the  jail,  but  a 
crowd  of  men  led  by  a  Baptist  minister  named  Green,  who  was  also  editor  of 
the  village  newspaper,  entered  with  him.  The  prisoner  was  found  lying  on 
a  heap  of  straw  and  chained  to  a  post.  The  hostile  mob  refused  to  leave  the 
priest  alone  with  him ;  but,  in  spite  of  their  interference,  Father  Timon  suc- 
ceeded in  touching  the   man's  heart  and  preparing  him  for  the  sacraments. 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD. 


243 


While  they  were  repeating  the  Apostles'  Creed  together,  the  minister  pushed 
forward  and  exclaimed,  "do  not  make  the  poor  man  lose  his  soul  by  teach- 
ing him  the  commandments  of  men!"  And  this  interruption  was  followed 
by  a  violent  invective  against  Romish  corruptions. 

"Mr.  Green,"  said  the  priest,  "not  long  ago,  I  refuted  all  these  charges 
before  a  public  meeting  in  the  court-house  of  this  village,  and  challenged  any- 
body who  could  answer  me  to  stand  forth  and  do  so.  You  were  present,  but 
you  made  no  answer.  Surely  this  is  no  time  for  you  to  interfere — when  I 
am  preparing  a  man  for  death!" 

Mr.  Green's  only  reply  was  a  challenge  to  a  public  controversy  next  day, 
which  Father  Timon  immediately  accepted.  The  minister  then  insisted  upon 
making  a  rancorous  polemical  prayer,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said:  "  O 
God  of  mercy !  save  this  man  from  the  fangs  of  Antichrist,  who  now  seeks 
to  teach  him  idolatry  and  the  vain  traditions  of  men." 

"Gentlemen,"  exclaimed  the  priest  to  the  crowd  which  now  filled  the 
dungeon,  "  is  it  right  that,  in  a  prayer  to  the  God  of  charity  and  truth,  this 
man  should  introduce  a  calumny  against  the  majority  of  Christians?" 

How  far  the  extraordinary  discussion  might  have  gone  it  would  be  hard 
to  guess,  had  not  the  sheriff  turned  everybody  out  and  locked  the  jail  for  the 
night.  The  next  morning,  the  debate  took  place  according  to  agreement,  the 
district  judge  being  appointed  moderator.  After  about  three  or  four  hours' 
speaking,  Mr.  Green  gave  up  the  battle  and  withdrew.  Father  Timon  kept 
on  for  an  hour  and  a  half  longer,  and  the  result  is  said  to  have  been  a  great 
Catholic  revival  in  the  community.  The  prisoner,  who  had  steadily  refused 
to  accept  the  ministrations  of  any  but  a  Catholic  clergyman,  was  baptized 
immediately  after  the  debate. 

On  another  occasion,  Father  Timon  carried  on  a  debate  with  a  Protest- 
ant clergyman — apparently  a  Methodist — in  the  court-house  at  Perry ville.  The 
Methodist  was  easily  worsted,  but  there  was  soon  to  be  a  conference  meeting 
some  eighteen  miles  off,  and  there  he  felt  sure  the  priest  would  meet  his  match. 

"Do  you  mean  this  as  a  challenge?  " 

"No;  I  don't  invite  you.     I  only  say  you  can  go  if  you  choose." 

Father  Timon  refused  to  go  under  these  circumstances;  but,  learning 
afterwards  that  a  rumor  was  in  circulation  that  he  had  pledged  himself  to  be 
on  the  ground,  he  changed  his  mind,  and  reached  the  scene  of  the  meeting 
— which  was  in  the  open  air — just  after  one  of  the  preachers  had  finished  a 
discourse  on  Transubstantiation  and  the  Real  Presence. 


244  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"There  is  a  Romish  priest  present,"  this  orator  had  said,  "and  if  he 
dares  to  come  forward,  the  error  of  his  ways  will  be  pointed  out  to  him."  So 
Father  Timon  mounted  a  stump,  and  announced  that  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
he  would  begin  a  discourse  on  the  Real  Presence. 

This  was  more  than  the  ministers  had  bargained  for.  They  had  been 
confident  he  would  not  attend.  They  surrounded  him  in  considerable  excite- 
ment, and  declared  that  he  should  not  preach.  Father  Timon  appealed  to 
the  people,  and  they  decided  that  he  should  be  heard.  He  borrowed  a  bible 
from  one  of  his  adversaries,  and  with  the  aid  of  numerous  texts  explained  and 
supported  the  Catholic  doctrine.  The  discussion  was  long  and  earnest.  The 
preachers  at  last  were  silenced,  and  Father  Timon  continued  for  some  time 
to  exhort  the  crowd  and  urge  them  to  return  to  the  true  Church.  Which 
was,  to  say  the  least,  a  curious  termination  for  a  Methodist  conference 
meeting. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  which  the  pioneer  missionaries  had  to 
encounter  was  the  want  of  opportunities  of  private  converse  with  people 
whose  hearts  had  been  stirred  by  the  first  motions  of  divine  grace.  The  log- 
dwellings  of  the  settlers  rarely  contained  more  than  one  room,  and  that  often 
held  a  pretty  large  family.  Many  anecdotes  are  told  of  confessions  made 
among  the  corn-stalks  in  the  garden,  or  under  the  shadow  of  the  forest,  or  on 
horseback  in  the  lonely  roads. 

On  one  occasion  Father  Timon  had  been  summoned  a  long  distance  to 
visit  a  dying  man.  The  cabin  consisted  of  a  single  room.  When  all  was 
over,  the  wife  of  the  dead  man  knelt  beside  the  body  and  made  her  confes- 
sion, the  rest  of  the  family  and  the  neighbors,  meanwhile,  standing  out- 
doors in  the  rain.  Then  the  widow  was  baptized  into  the  Church,  and,  as 
the  storm  was  violent  and  the  hour  past  midnight,  Father  Timon  slept  on  the 
bed  with  the  corpse,  while  the  rest  of  the  company  disposed  themselves  on 
the  floor. 

Ten  years  had  been  passed  in  labors  of  this  kind,  when,  in  1835,  letters 
arrived  from  Paris,  erecting  the  American  mission  of  the  Lazaristsinto  a  pro- 
vince, and  appointing  Father  Timon  visitor.  He  accepted  the  charge  with 
great  reluctance  and  only  after  long  hesitation.  It  was  indeed  a  heavy  bur- 
den. The  affairs  of  the  congregation  were  far  from  prosperous.  The 
institution  at  the  Barrens  was  deeply  in  debt.  The  revenues  were  uncertain. 
The  relations  between  the  seminary  and  the  bishop  were  not  entirely  har- 
monious.    Several  priests  had  left  the  community,  and  were  serving  parishes 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  245 

without  the  permission  of  their  superiors.  To  restore  discipline  would  be  an 
invidious  task  on  many  accounts.  But,  having  undertaken  the  office,  Father 
Timon  did  not  shrink.  He  saved  the  college  and  seminary  from  threatened 
extinction;  he  brought  back  his  truant  brethren;  he  revived  the  spirit  of 
zeal  and  self-sacrifice;  he  restored  harmony,  he  greatly  improved  the 
finances. 

In  a  short  time,  he  made  a  visit  to  France,  and  returned  with  a  small  sup- 
ply of  money  and  a  company  of  priests.  On  Christmas  eve,  in  1S38,  he 
sailed  for  Galveston,  in  order  to  make  a  report  to  the  Holy  See  upon  the  con- 
dition of  religion  in  the  republic  of  Texas.  He  found  the  country  in  a  sad 
state  of  spiritual  destitution.  The  only  priests  were  two  Mexicans  at  San 
Antonio.     There  were  no  churches.     There  were  no  sacraments. 

Even  marriage  was  a  rite  about  which  the  settlers  were  not  over-par- 
ticular. Father  Timon  did  what  little  he  could,  on  a  hurried  tour,  to  remedy 
these  evils  ;  but  a  year  or  two  later  he  came  back  as  prefect-apostolic, 
accompanied  by  Father  Odin,  and  now  he  was  able  to  introduce  great 
reforms.  Congregations  were  collected,  churches  begun  in  all  the  largest 
settlements,  and  the  scandals  at  San  Antonio  abated.  Firm  in  correction,  but 
gracious  in  manner,  untiring  in  labors,  insensible  to  fear,  making  long  jour- 
neys with  a  single  companion  through  dangerous  Indian  countries,  struggling 
through  swamps,  swimming  broad  rivers — the  prefect  and  his  assistant, 
Father  Odin,  traveled,  footsore,  hungry,  and  in  rags,  through  this  rude  wil- 
derness, and  wherever  they  passed  they  planted  the  good  seed  and  made 
ready  the  soil  for  the  husbandmen  who  were  to  come  after  them. 

In  the  principal  towns  and  settlements  they  were  invariably  received  with 
honor.  The  court-houses  or  other  public  rooms  were  placed  at  their  disposal 
for  religious  services,  and  the  educated  Protestant  inhabitants  took  pains  to 
meet  them  socially  and  learn  from  them  something  about  the  faith.  We  find 
in  the  account  of  these  tours  no  trace  of  the  acrimonious  polemical  discus- 
sions which  used  to  enliven  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  at  the  Barrens.  There 
was  little  or  no  controversy,  and  the  priests  were  invited  to  explain  religious 
truth  rather  over  the  dinner-table  than  on  the  rostrum.  At  the  request  of 
Mr.  Timon,  Father  Odin  was  soon  afterward  appointed  vicar-apostolic  of 
Texas,  and  sent  to  continue  the  work  thus  happily  begun. 

It  was  in  1847  triat  Mr.  Timon  was  removed  from  the  western  field  and 
consecrated  first  bishop  of  Buffalo.  When  he  had  disposed  all  his  affairs  and 
made  ready  for  his  departure,  his  worldly  goods  consisted   of    a  small   trunk 


246  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

about  half-full  of  scanty  clothing.  He  had  to  borrow  money  enough  to  pay 
his  way  to  New  York.  But  meanwhile  some  friends,  having  heard  of  his 
poverty,  replenished  his  wardrobe,  and  made  up  a  purse  of  $400  for  his 
immediate  needs. 

He  was  consecrated  in  the  Cathedral  of  New  York  by  Bishops  Hughes, 
Walsh,  and  McCloskey,  on  the  17th   of    October,   and   reached    Buffalo  five 

days  afterward.  It  was  evening 
when  he  arrived.  An  immense 
crowd  of  people — it  is  said  as  many 
as  10,000 — were  in  waiting  for  him 
at  the  railway  station.  There  were 
bands  of  music,  banners  and  flam- 
beaux, a  four-horse  carriage  for  the 
bishop,  and  a  long  torchlight  proces- 
sion to  escort  him  home.  It  is 
reported  that,  after  the  cortege  had 
gone  some  distance,  the  humble 
bishop  was  discovered,  valise  in  hand, 
trudging  afoot  through  the  rain  and 
mud,  behind  the  coach  in  which  he 
was  supposed  to  be  riding.  In  after- 
times  he  must  have  sadly  compared 
the  cordial  greeting  of  his  flock  on 
this  night  with  the  trials,  the  insults, 
the  persecutions,  which  he  had  to 
bear  from  some  of  the  very  same 
people  during  almost  the  whole  of  his  episcopate.  We  shall  not  enlarge 
upon  the  history  of  these  sad  years.  Scandals  which  arose  from  the  fac- 
tious and  schismatical  spirit  of  the  trustees  of  the  Church  of  St.  Louis  in 
Buffalo  began  while  Bishop  Timon  was  still  a  humble  missionary  in  Mis- 
souri. They  had  been  quelled  by  the  firmness  of  Bishop  Hughes,  but  they 
broke  out  again  very  soon  after  the  creation  ot  the  new  diocese,  and  Bishop 
Timon  suffered  from  them  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Having  no  cathedral  and 
no  house,  he  lodged  when  he  first  arrived  with  the  pastor  of  St.  Louis',  but  he 
had  been  there  only  a  few  weeks  when  the  trustees,  in  their  mad  jealousy  of 
possible  invasion  of  their  imaginary  rights,  requested  him  to  find  a  home 
somewhere  else.     This  brutal  behavior  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  warfare, 


FATHER    HENNEPIN    AT    NIAGARA    FALLS. 


/ 

LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  247 

but  we  prefer  to  devote  our  space  to  a  description  of  some  of  the  charming 
traits  of  character  of  the  holy  man  who  crowned  a  life  of  incessant  labor  with 
an  old  age  of  suffering. 

From  the  moment  of  his  elevation  to  the  episcopal  dignity,  the  sacred 
simplicity  of  his  disposition  seems  to  have  daily  increased.  If  the  anecdote 
of  his  behavior  at  the  torchlight  procession  is  not  true,  it  is  at  any  rate  consistent 
with  his  character.  Bishop  Hughes  declared  that  the  bishop  of  Buffalo  was 
the  humblest  man  he  had  ever  known.  Though  he  was  very  neat  and  precise 
in  everything  relating  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  rags  of  any  kind  seemed 
to  him  "  good  enough  for  the  old  bishop,"  and  it  was  only  by  stealth,  so  to 
speak,  that  his  friends  could  keep  his  wardrobe  tolerably  well  supplied.  In 
his  visits  to  the  seminary  it  was  his  delight  to  talk  familiarly  with  the  young 
men.  At  the  orphan  asylum  the  children  used  to  ride  on  his  back.  Visit- 
ing strange  churches,  he  would  kneel  in  the  confessional  like  any  other  peni- 
tent. In  his  private  and  official  intercourse  with  his  clergy,  it  was  not  unusual 
for  him  to  beg  pardon  with  the  utmost  humility  for  fancied  acts  of  injustice. 
On  one  occasion  he  had  slightly  rebuked  a  priest  for  some  irregularity.  Sat- 
isfied afterward  that  the  rebuke  had  not  been  deserved,  he  invited  the  priest 
to  dinner,  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  table,  treated  him  with  marked  dis- 
tinction, and  afterward,  taking  him  to  his  own  room,  in  the  presence  of 
another  bishop,  threw  himself  upon  his  knees  and  begged  to  be  forgiven. 

In  the  course  of  a  visitation  to  a  disturbed  parish,  a  member  of  the  con- 
gregation he  was  addressing  publicly  spat  in  the  bishop's  face.  He  took  no 
notice  of  the  occurrence,  but  went  on  with  his  remarks.  "  Never  shall  I  for- 
get," wrote  the  late  distinguished  Jesuit,  Father  Smarms,  "  the  days  of  the 
missions  for  the  laity  and  of  the  retreats  for  the  clergy,  which  I  had  the 
pleasure  to  conduct  in  the  Cathedral  at  Buffalo  during  the  three  or  four  years 
previous  to  his  holy  demise.  The  first  to  rise  in  the  morning  and  to  ring  the 
bell  for  meditation  and  for  prayer,  he  would  totter  from  door  to  door  along 
the  corridors  of  the  episcopal  residence,  with  a  lighted  candle  in  his  hand,  to 
see  whether  all  had  responded  to  the  call  of  the  bell  and  betaken  themselves 
to  the  spot  marked  out  for  the  performance  of  that  sacred  and  wholesome 
duty.  .  .  .  And  then,  that  more  than  fatherly  heart,  that  forgiving  kindness 
to  repentant  sinners,  even  to  such  as  had  again  and  again  deservedly  incurred 
his  displeasure  and  the  penalties  of  ecclesiastical  censures  or  excommuni- 
cations. '  Father,'  he  would  say,  '  I  leave  this  case  in  your  hands.  I  give  you 
all  power,  only  save  his  soul.'     And  then,  that  simple,  child-like    humility, 


243  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

which  seemed  wounded  by  even  the  performance  of  acts  which  the  excel- 
lence and  dignity  of  the  episcopacy  naturally  force  from  its  subjects  and  infe- 
riors. How  often  have  I  seen  him  fall  on  his  aged  knees,  face  to  face  with 
one  or  other  of  my  clerical  brethren,  who  had  fallen  on  theirs  to  receive  his 
saintly  blessing. " 

He  took  great  pains  to  cultivate  the  virtue  of  humility  in  his  clergy.  A 
proud  priest  he  had  little  hope  for.  To  those  who  complained  of  the  hard- 
ships of  the  mission,  he  would  answer,  "  Why  did  you  become  a  priest?  It 
was  to  suffer,  to  be  persecuted,  according  to  the  example  laid  down  by  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  In  the  strictness  with  which  he  tried  to  watch  over  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  his  clergy,  and  changed  their  positions  when  he  thought 
the  good  of  their  souls  required  it,  his  rule  was  like  that  of  the  superior  of  a 
monastery  rather  than  the  head  of  a  diocese.  He  was  filled  to  a  remarkable 
degree  with  the  spirit  of  prayer.  He  began  no  labor,  decided  no  question, 
without  long  and  fervent  supplication  for  the  divine  assistance.  On  occasions 
of  festivity  or  ceremony,  he  loved  to  steal  away  to  the  quiet  of  the  sanctuary, 
and  under  the  shadow  of  a  column  in  the  Cathedral  to  pass  long  hours  in 
meditation.  In  traveling  he  was  often  seen  kneeling  in  his  seat  in  the  cars. 
His  household  was  always  ordered  like  a  religious  community.  The  day 
be^an  and  ended  with  prayer  and  meditation  in  common.  The  bishop  rose 
at  five,  and  in  the  evening  retired  early  to  his  room — not  to  sleep,  but  to  pass 
most  of  the  night  in  devotion,  study,  and  writing.  Up  to  the  very  close  of 
his  life  he  used  to  set  out  in  the  depth  of  winter  to  visit  distant  parishes 
unannounced,  starting  from  the  house  before  any  one  else  was  awake,  and 
trudging  painfully  through  the  snow  with  his  bag  in  his  hand.  Religious 
communities,  when  they  assembled  for  morning  devotions,  were  often  sur- 
prised to  find  the  bishop  on  his  knees  waiting  for  them.  By  these  sudden 
visits  he  was  sometimes  enabled  to  correct  irregularities,  which  he  never 
suffered  to  pass  unrebuked ;  but  he  used  to  say  that  in  dealing  with  others  he 
would  be  rather  too  lax  than  too  severe,  as  he  hoped  to  be  judged  mercifully 
by  Almighty  God. 

The  sweetness  of  Bishop  Timon's  disposition  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  tenderness  of  his  heart.  The  patience  with  which  he  bore  the 
sorrows  of  his  episcopate  was  equaled  by  the  keenness  with  which  he  felt 
them.  Toward  the  close  of  his  life  several  anonymous  communications, 
accusing  him  of  cruelty,  avarice,  injustice,  and  many  other  faults — of  cruelty, 
this   man   whose  heart  was  as  soft  as  a  woman's — of  avarice,  this  charitable 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  249 

soul,  who  gave  away  everything  he  had,  and  left  himself  at  times  not  even  a 
ehange  of  linen  of  injustice,  this  bishop  who  pardoned  every  one  but  him- 
self— were  sent  him  in  the  form  of  printed  circulars.  So  deeply  was  he 
wounded  that  his  biographer  is  assured  that  the  incident  hastened  his  death; 
he  never  was  the  same  man  afterward.  At  the  end  of  the  next  diocesan 
synod  he  knelt  before  his  priests,  and,  in  a  voice  broken  by  tears,  asked 
pardon  of  every  one  present  whom  he  might  have  in  any  manner  treated 
unjustly.  He  died  on  the  16th  of  April,  1867,  after  a  rapid  but  gradual 
decay  whose  termination  he  himself  was  the  first  to  foresee,  and  his  last  hours 
were  as  beautiful  and  inspiring  as  his  years  of  holy  labor. 

Right  Rev.  Dr.  Loughlin  was  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland;  came  to 
America  at  an  early  age;  made  his  theological  studies  at  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  Emmitsburg,  and  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Hughes  in  the  fall  of 
1840.  He  at  once  began  the  exercise  of  the  holy  ministry  in  New  York,  and 
for  years  proved  his  devotedness  in  that  most  trying  of  all  missions — an 
extensive  parish  in  a  crowded  city.  He  was  soon  raised  to  the  responsible 
position  of  vicar-general;  and  in  the  fall  of  1853,  was  consecrated  first  bishop 
of  Brooklyn,  by  Archbishop  Bedini.  His  diocese  was  Long  Island,  named 
by  the  early  Catholic  navigators,  Isle  of  the  Apostles. 

Bishop  Loughlin's  long  episcopate  has  been  marked  by  the  rapid 
and  continued  progress  of  the  faith.  In  Brooklyn  alone  he  has  dedicated 
about  fifty  churches.  Catholic  institutions  of  charity  or  education,  crown 
nearly  every  elevation  in  the  "  City  of  Churches."  He  introduced  the 
Visitation  Nuns,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Franciscan  Brothers,  Sisters  of 
Mercy,  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  and  several 
other  religious  orders.  In  June,  1S68,  he  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Cathe- 
dral of  the  Immaculate  Conception  in  the  presence  of  five  bishops  and  about 
forty  thousand  people.  Many  years  will  still  be  required  to  complete  this 
great  structure.  Its  dimensions  are — length,  354  feet  jbreadth,  180;  height  of 
towers,  350.  The  style  of  architecture  is  the  French  Gothic  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Under  the  rule  of  Bishop  Loughlin,  the  diocese  of  Brooklyn 
became  one  of  the  most  important  in  this  republic.     He  died  in  1891. 

John  McCloskey,  second  archbishop  of  New  York  and  first  American 
cardinal,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  L.  I.,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1810.  '  His 
excellent  parents  were  both  natives  of  the  County  Derry,  Ireland.  At  the 
date  of  his  birth  Brooklyn  was  a  little  town  of  about  4,500  inhabitants.  There 
were  few  Catholics  in  it,  and  no  church.     As  a  boy  at  school,  we  are    told 


2rQ  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

that  he  was  a  gentle,  delicate  lad,  who  avoided  rough  play  and  studied  hard, 
always  retiring  and  modest,  ever  in  good  humor,  and,  whatever  his  class, 
pretty  sure  to  be  at  the  head  of  it.  In  his  twelfth  year,  two  years  after  his 
father's  death,  he  was  sent  to  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmitsburg.  Here 
he  first  became  acquainted  with  John  Hughes,  afterwards  the  famous  arch- 
bishop, who  was  pursuing  his  studies  at  the  same  institution.  John 
McCloskey  went  through  the  full  seven  years'  curriculum,  graduating  with 
the  highest  honors,  in  1S28.  He  returned  to  his  mother,  then  living  in  West- 
chester County,  New  York.  As  yet  he  had  come  to  no  decision  regarding  his 
vocation;  but  after  careful  thought  and  recommending  the  matter  to  God,  he 
chose  the  sacred  ministry.  He  once  more  sought  the  halls  of  his  Alma  Mater , 
completed  his  theological  studies,  and  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Dubois  in  1834. 
Father  McCloskey  proceeded  to  Rome  in  1S35,  and  for  two  years  attended 
the  lectures  at  the  Gregorian  University.  He  returned  to  New  York,  a  pro- 
found theologian,  a  ripe  and  finished  scholar,  but  above  all,  a  model  young 
priest.  Appointed  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's,  and  soon  after  president  of  St. 
John's  College,  Fordham,  he  was  finally  consecrated  coadjutor  bishop  of  New 
York  in  the  spring  of  1844.  Thus  the  ecclesiastical  chief  of  New  York  and 
his  assistant  were  John  Hughes,  once  the  sturdy  young  farmer,  who,  brush- 
ing difficulties  aside,  manfully  pushed  his  way  through  college;  and  John 
McCloskey,  once  the  gentle  boy  who  in  company  with  his  dear  Irish  mother 
often  crossed  Fulton  Ferry  to  hear  Mass  in  old  St.  Peter's;  and  whose  youth- 
ful battles  were  only  with  books! 

On  the  day  of  consecration  Rev.  Dr.  Power  was  the  preacher. 
"  I  have  known  him  from  boyhood,"  said  the   eloquent  priest,  "  I  have 
seen  the  youthful  bud  of  genius  unfold  itself,  and  I  have  seen  it   also  in   full 
expansion,  and  I  thank  God  I  have  been  spared  to  behold  it  now  blessing  the 
House  of  the  Lord." 

Bishop  McCloskey's  duties  required  him  to  travel  through  the  greater 
part  of  New  York  state.  To-day,  in  many  a  secluded  mission  in  the  western 
portion  of  it,  where  there  are  large  churches  and  larger  congregations,  old 
men  still  tell  of  the  well-remembered  visits  of  the  young,  smooth-cheeked 
bishop,  so  kind  in  manner,  so  earnest,  so  eloquent,  who,  a  half  century  ago, 
came  to  them,  reviving  their  faith,  re-kindling  their  fervor,  and  infusing  into 
their  hearts  something  of  his  own  hopefulness  and  energy,  and  doing  a  work 
the  effects  of  which  still  endure. 

In  1847   the  diocese  of  New    York  was  divided,  and   Dr.  McCloskey 


LIONS  OF  THE  FOLD.  25 1 

nominated  to  the  see  of  Albany.  To  the  task  of  building  up  that  diocese  he 
devoted  himself  for  seventeen  years.  The  magnificent  Cathedral  of  Albany, 
with  many  flourishing  schools  and  academies,  are  but  a  few  of  the  monu- 
ments he  left  behind  when  he  was  elevated  to  the  metropolitan  see  of  New 
York  in  1864.  Rome  considered  him  as  the  most  worthy  to  grasp  the  pas- 
toral staff,  and  to  wear  the  miter  of  the  great  Hughes. 

Grand  was  the  ovation  Dr.  McCloskey  received  on  his  return  to  the 
Empire  City.  There  he  was  no  stranger  among  strangers.  He  had  been 
baptized  in  old  St.  Peter's,  and  in  it  he  had  received  his  first  Communion  at 
the  hands  of  the  venerable  Peter  Malou.  He  had  been  confirmed  by  Bishop 
Connolly;  he  had  been  ordained  by  Bishop  Dubois,  and  he  had  been  conse- 
crated by  Archbishop  Hughes. 

In  this  exalted  position  Archbishop  McCloskey  did  not  spare  himself. 
Two  undertakings  especially  stand  out  in  bold  relief — the  fine  Catholic  Pro- 
tectory at  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  and  the  completion  of  the  massively  grand  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  which  was  dedicated  by  him  in  May,  1879,  assisted  by 
forty-two  archbishops  and  bishops.  In  the  spring  of  1S75  the  crowning 
honor  was  bestowed  on  this  most  worthy  prelate.  He  was  created  cardinal. 
In  this  event  Catholicity  in  America  was  honored;  and  the  faith  received  an 
impulse  which  was  felt  throughout  this  great  republic.  Full  of  years  and 
.  saintliness,  the  cardinal  expired  on  October  10,  18S5,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  coadjutor,  Most  Rev.  M.  A.  Corrigan. 


tifttapte*  gill. 


THE  fcAND  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


Welcome  for  All  But  Catholics.  —  Prisons  and  Banishment. — Burned  for 
Praying  in  Irish. — Washington  Suppresses  Guy  Fawkes. — Days  of  Kind- 
lier Feeling.  —  Father  Thayer,  the  Convert.  —  Story  of  a  Changing 
Heart. — Help  from  Troubled  France. — Three  Zealous  Priests. — Arrival 
of  Father  Cheverus. — Building  a  Poor  Cathedral. — Father  Matignon's 
Epitaph. — Bringing  Over  the  Good  Sisters. — Tom  Paine  Sends  for  a 
Priest. — The  Infidel  Dies  Impenitent.  —  Bishop  Fenwick's  Toils  and 
Trials. — A  Holy  Death. — Bishop  Fitzpatrick. — A  Learned  and  Laborious 
Prelate.— Father   William   Becomes  Coadjutor. — A  Death  and  a  Conse- 

C  RATION. — BOST  ON  ALMOST  MADE  CATHOLIC. — A  J  UBILEE  OF  HONOR  AND  S  UCCESS. 


EFORE  the  Revolution,  we  need  scarcely  look  for  a  single  repre- 
sentative of  Catholicity  in  all  New  England,  Virginia,  the  Carol- 


i==^  inas,  and   Georgia.       There,  intolerance    held    undisputed    sway. 

A  The  penal  code  reigned  supreme.  The  follower  of  the  ancient 
Faith  was  denied  freedom  even  where  the  wolf  and  the  bear 
roamed  at  liberty.  Like  his  Divine  Master,  he  had  scarcely  "  where 
to  lay  his  head"  in  safety. 

In  New  England  the  peaceful  Quaker  and  the  unoffending  Catholic 
were  treated  with  about  equal  cruelty.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts  in 
1647,  enacted,  that  Jesuits  entering  the  colony  should  be  expelled,  and,  if  they 
returned,  hanged.  As  years  passed  on,  each  new  enactment  surpassed  the 
other  in  positive  ferocity.  In  1657,  the  foregoing  Puritan  body  passed  a  law 
against  the  entrance  of  Quakers,  which  is  its  own  best  commentary.  For 
daring  to  come  among  the  Christian  (?)  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England, 
"  every  male  Quaker  shall,  for  the  first  offense,  have  one  of  his  ears  cut  off, 
and  be  kept  at  work  in  the  house  of  correction  till  he  can  be  sent  away  at 
his  own  charge;  and  for  the  second  offense,  shall  have  the  other  ear  cut  off, 

252 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  353 

and  be  kept  at  the  house  of  correction  as  aforesaid.  And  every  woman 
Quaker  that  shall  presume  to  come  into  this  jurisdiction,  shall  be  severely 
whipt,  and  kept  at  the  house  of  correction  till  she  be  sent  away  at  her  own 
charge.  And  for  every  Quaker  (man  or  woman)  that  shall  a  third  time 
herein  offend,  they  shall  have  their  tongues  bored  through  with  a  red  hot  iron, 
and  kept  at  the  house  of  correction  till  they  be  sent  away  at  their  own  charge." 

"  It  were  hard  to  say,"  writes  John  Francis  Maguire,  "  whether  the 
Puritan  was  more  ferociously  in  earnest  in  his  persecution  of  Quakers  and 
Catholics,  or  in  his  extermination  of  witches — for  a  profound  belief  in  witch- 
craft was  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of   his  enlightenment  and  good 

sense In  Catholic  Maryland  there  had  been  no  ear-cropping,  no 

boring  of  tongues  with  hot  pokers — such  exhibitions  of  brotherly  love  and 
mercy  were  reserved  for  the  Plymouth  Fathers." 

In  1692,  when  the  two  Massachusetts  colonies  were  erected  into  a  single 
royal  province,  under  a  new  charter  from  William  and  Mary,  liberty  of 
conscience  was  assured  to  all  but  Catholics.  The  Episcopal  form  of  worship 
was  placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  the  Congregational,  and  church  mem- 
bership was  no  longer  to  be  a  qualification  for  citizenship.  Still,  the  preju- 
dice against  Catholics  remained  as  strong  as  ever,  and  the  Mother  Church 
had  no  recognition.  The  witchcraft  mania  which  raged  before  and  about 
this  time  was  made  a  source  of  persecution  to  anybody  suspected  of  "Papist" 
tendencies.  One  of  its  earliest  victims  was  a  woman  known  as  Goody  Glover, 
and  supposed  to  be  a  Catholic  from  Ireland.  Father  Fitton,  in  his  valuable 
"  Sketches  of  the  Establishment  of  the  Church  in  New  England,"  gives  the 
following  interesting  account  of  this  woman: 

"  Mrs.  Glover,  for  such  was  her  name,  was  probably  one  of  the  unfortu- 
nate women  whom  English  barbarity  tore  from  their  homes  in  Ireland  to 
sell  as  slaves  in  America.  English  she  could  scarcely  speak;  and,  on  being 
accused  as  a  witch,  by  a  certain  Miss  Goodwin,  for  whom  her  daughter 
worked,  she  was  arrested  and  put  to  the  usual  tests,  one  of  which  was  the 
repetition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer;  she  repeated  it  in  Irish,  but  as  it  was  not 
understood,  they  required  more.  She  repeated  it  next  in  Latin,  but  not 
quite  correctly;  in  English  she  could  not,  as  she  had  never  learned  it.  This, 
however,  corroborated  the  testimony  of  the  girl,  her  accuser,  and  the  poor 
Irish  woman  was  hanged,  because  she  could  not  pray  in  a  language  to 
her  foreign  and  unknown,  and,  strangely  enough,  for  not  praying  in  pure 
Latin!" 


254 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Notwithstanding  all  the  restrictions  and  persecutions,  a  few  Catholics 
from  time  to  time  found  their  way  to  Boston,  and  quietly  lived  there  without 
any  profession  of  faith.  Soon  after  its  settlement,  Boston  became  the  most 
important  seaport  of  the  colonies  and  it  carried  on  a  flourishing  trade  with 
England,  West  Indies,  and  other  ports  in  America.  From  a  volume  of  the 
"Boston  Town  Records,"  under  date  of  September  22,  1746,  the  following 
has  been  copied: 

"  Whereas  it  is  suggested  that  there  are  several  persons  Roman  Catholicks 
that  now  dwell  and  reside  in  this  Town  and  it  may  be  very  Dangerous  to  permit 
such  persons  to  Reside  here  in  Case  we  should  be  attack'd  by  an  Enemy, 
Therefore  Voted  that  Mr.  Jeremiah  Allen  Mr.  Nathaniel  Gardner  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Bradford  be  and  hereby  are  appointed  a  Committee  to  take  Care  and 
prevent  any  Danger  the  Town  may  be  in  from  Roman  Catholicks  residing 
here  by  making  Strict  Search  and  enquiry  after  all  such  and  pursue  such 
methods  relating  to  em  as  the  Law  directs." 

On  the  25th  of  September,  the  "  Town  mett  according  to  Adjournment" 
and  "The  Committee  appointed  the  22d  instant  to  take  Care  and  prevent  any 
Danger  the  Town  may  be  in  by  Roman  Catholicks  residing  here,  Reported 
that  they  had  found  the  Laws  now  in  force  relating  to  such  persons  to  be 
insufficient  To  Enable  them  to  Effect  the  same  and  therefore  could  do  noth- 
ing hereon  altho  they  suspected  a  considerable  number  of  Roman  Catholicks 
to  be  now  in  Town Whereupon  it  was  moved  &  Voted  that  the  Rep- 
resentatives of  this  Town  be  and  hereby  are  desired  to  Endeavour  at  the  next 
Session  of  the  General  Court  to  get  a  Law  pass'd  that  shall  be  effectual  to 
Secure  the  Town  from  any  Danger  they  may  be  in,  by  Roman  Catholicks 
Dwelling  here." 

While  the  Catholic  religion  was  barred  out  of  Massachusetts  in  colonial 
days,  it  -was  steadily  spreading  in  other  parts  of  the  New  World.  In  the 
north  under  the  protection  of  the  French  flag,  the  heroic  Jesuit  missionaries 
were  converting  the  Indians  in  the  forests  of  Maine,  along  the  banks  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes.  In  the  south,  the  zeal- 
ous English  Jesuit  Fathers,  White  and  Altham,  who  landed  with  the  Catholic 
Pilgrims  on  the  shores  of  Maryland  in  1634,  labored  successfully  among  the 
Indians  and  colonists;  and  the  enterprising  Franciscan  and  Dominican  fathers 
carried  the  blessings  of  Christian  civilization  farther  south,  from  Florida  to 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  To  Massachusetts  must  be  accorded  the  discredit 
of  resisting  the  establishment  of  the  Catholic  Church  long  after  it  had  gained 
a  foothold  in  almost  every  other  place  in  America. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  255 

As  early  as  1650,  only  twenty  years  after  the  settlement  of  Boston,  the 
Rev.  Gabriel  Druillettes,  the  Jesuit  apostle  of  Maine,  visited  the  Puritan 
town,  on  the  invitation  and  under  the  protection  of  the  authorities.  He  came 
as  a  plenipotentiary  to  confer  with  Governor  Dudley  and  other  commissioners 
about  joining  an  alliance  with  the  Abnaki  Indians  in  Maine.  He  reached 
Boston  on  the  feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  1650,  and  was  graciously 
received  by  the  officials.  "  The  principal  men  of  Charlestown,"  writes 
Father  Fitton,  "immediately  waited  on  him,  and  Major-General  Gibbons, 
being  informed  of  the  character  in  which  he  came,  invited  him  to  his  house." 
In  his  own  narrative,  the  good  Jesuit  father  says: 

"He  [Gibbons]  gave  the  key  of  a  room  where  I  might  in  all  liberty,  pray 
and  perform  the  other  exercises  of  my  religion ;  and  he  besought  me  to  take 
no  other  lodging  while  I  was  in  Boston." 

Father  Druillettes  does  not  state  that  he  carried  his  missionary  chalice 
with  him ;  "  but,"  Father  Fitton  says,  "  as  this  is  by  no  means  improbable, 
we  may  infer  that  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  was  offered  in  Boston,  in 
December,  1650." 

In  1700,  a  new  act  was  passed  by  Massachusetts,  condemning  Catholic 
missionaries  to  imprisonment  and  death  if  captured  on  her  soil,  charging  them 
with  all  sorts  of  crimes.  Under  laws  of  this  nature,  the  Catholic  mission- 
aries were  forced  to  confine  themselves  to  other  parts  of  America.  It  was 
not  until  the  colonies  threw  off  the  yoke  of  England  and  declared  themselves 
free  and  independent,  that  Catholic  priests  were  tolerated  in  Boston. 

To  the  illustrious  Washington  are  Catholics  indebted  for  the  first  favor- 
able recognition.  When  he  assumed  command  of  the  army  around  Boston 
in  1 775,  he  was  astonished  to  find  that  preparations  were  in  progress  to  cele- 
brate "  Gun  Powder  Plot,"  by  the  usual  custom  of  burning  the  pope  in 
effigy.  He  determined  to  stop  the  bigoted  practice,  so  far  as  the  camp  was 
concerned,  and  issued  the  following  order: 

"November  5th.  As  the  Commander-in-chief  has  been  apprised  of  a 
design  formed  for  the  observance  of  that  ridiculous  and  childish  custom  of 
burning  the  effigy  of  the  pope,  he  cannot  help  expressing  his  surprise  that 
there  should  be  officers  and  soldiers  in  this  army  so  void  of  common  sense, 
as  not  to  see  the  impropriety  of  such  a  step.  .  .  .  It  is  so  monstrous  as 
not  to  be  suffered  or  excused ;  indeed,  instead  of  offering  the  most  remote 
insult,  it  is  our  duty  to  address  public  thanks  to  our  (Catholic)  brethren,  as 
to  them  we  are  indebted  for  every  late  success  over  the  common  enemy 
in  Canada." 


2 ^6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  presence  of  the  French  fleet  and  armies  in  Boston  Harbor,  in  1778, 
under  the  command  of  the  distinguished  Count  D'Estaing,  was  the  occasion 
of  the  first  public  demonstration  of  Catholicity  in  the  city  of  the  Puritans. 
From  the  25th  of  August  till  November  the  fleet  remained  in  the  harbor, 
and  the  officers,  most  of  whom  were  Catholics,  were  hospitably  entertained 
by  the  citizens.  Divine  service  was  regularly  performed  on  the  vessels,  and 
witnessed  by  many  of  the  inhabitants  who  were  deeply  impressed  with  the 
piety  and  respect  of  the  crews.  One  of  the  French  officers  having  died,  the 
body  was  buried  with  all  the  impressive  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  The 
funeral  was  preceded  by  a  large  crucifix,  and  the  members  of  the  Town 
Council  marched  in  the  funeral  procession  through  the  streets  of  the  city. 
What  a  gratifying  sight  this  must  have  been  for  the  few  despised  Catholics 
who  had,  at  this  time,  made  Boston  their  home! 

Abb6  Robin,  who  visited  Boston  as  a  chaplain  in  Count  Rochambeau's 
fleet,  wrote  an  interesting  and  intelligent  description  of  Boston  in  1781,  in  a 
series  of  letters  to  a  friend.  He  gave  the  Bostonians  the  credit  of  observing 
the  Sunday  with  "  the  utmost  strictness,  the  most  innocent  recreations  and 
pleasures  being  prohibited."  In  noticing  the  Protestant  places  of  worship, 
he  speaks  approvingly  of  the  order  and  respect  observed  by  the  congrega- 
tions, but  evidently  was  not  pleased  with  the  interior  of  the  buildings.  "  All 
these  churches  are  destitute  of  ornament,"  he  said;  "no  addresses  are  made 
to  the  heart  and  the  imagination  ;  there  is  no  visible  object  to  suggest  to  the 
mind  for  what  purpose  a  man  comes  into  these  places,  who  is  he,  and   what 

he  shortly  will   be The  pomp  of  the  ceremony   is  here 

wanting  to  shadow  out  the  greatness  of  the  Being  he  goes  to  worship  ; 
there  are  no  processions  to  testify  the  homage  to  Him,  the  Great  Spirit  of 
the  Universe." 

The  abb£  no  doubt  missed  the  grand  churches  and  ceremonies  of  hi* 
native  France,  and  found  nothing  in  Boston  to  satisfy  his  Catholic  heart. 
He  makes  no  mention  of  meeting  any  Catholics  here,  nor  exercising  any 
religious  functions. 

The  first  Catholic  clergyman  stationed  in  Boston  was  Abb^  Claude  de 
la  Poterie,  a  Frenchman,  who  had  been  a  chaplain  in  the  French  fleet.  Men- 
tion is  made  of  the  abbe"  coming  to  Boston  in  17S4,  but  there  is  no  account 
of  his  being  authorized  to  perform  the  sacred  functions  till  late  in  the  yeai 
1788.  His  first  Mass  was  celebrated  in  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Baury,  on  Green 
street,  according  to   Rev.  A.   Sherwood  Healy's  interesting   sketch   of  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  257 

Cathedral  of  Boston;  but  the  old  Huguenot  church  on  School  street,  having 
been  secured  by  the  few  French,  Spanish  and  Irish  Catholics  here,  the  first 
public  Mass  was  celebrated  therein  on  Sunday,  November  2,  1788.  This 
building  was  named  the  "Church  of  the  Holy  Cross"  by  the  abbd,  a  title  of 
singular  appropriateness,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Columbus  styled  the  New 
World  the  "  Land  of  the  Holy  Cross."  Little  did  sturdy  John  Endicott 
think,  when  he  cut  the  cross  out  of  the  English  flag  because  it  was  an 
emblem  of  "  Popery,"  that  the  Holy  Cross  would  be  thus  honored  and  per- 
petuated after  that  flag  had  been  driven  from  the  colonies. 

A  memorandum  of  the  Protestant  minister,  Dr.  Belknap,  under  date  of 
November,  1788,  says:  "The  first  Sabbath  in  this  month,  a  Popish  Chape'! 
was  opened  in  this  town;  the  old  French  Protestant  meeting-house  in  School 
street.  A  clergyman  who  was  dismissed  from  the  French  fleet  in  disgrace 
officiates."  Dr.  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  who  was  then  prefect-apostolic  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  and  who  gave  Abbe"  Poterie 
authority  to  officiate  in  Boston,  evidently  was  not  acquainted  with  the  real 
character  and  standing  of  the  abb£,  for  in  a  few  months  afterwards,  when 
information  was  received  from  France,  the  abb^  was  summarily  suspended, 
Rev.  William  O'Brien  being  sent  from  New  York  for  that  purpose.  As 
soon  as  the  church  was  opened,  the  French  members  of  the  little  congrega- 
tion sent  an  appeal  to  the  archbishop  of  Paris  for  "  the  necessary  vestments 
and  plate  for  the  altar,"  which  His  Grace  sent,  with  a  portrait  of  himself, 
and  a  letter  telling  them  to  beware  of  a  certain  Abbe"  Poterie  who  was  some- 
where in  America.  The  abbe"  acknowledged  that  he  was  the  person  referred 
to,  and  left  Boston  when  suspended  by  order  of  Dr.  Carroll.  The  altar 
plate  is  still  used  in  the  Cathedral,  and  the  picture  of  Mgr.  de  Juignez,  the 
archbishop,  is  now  in  the  parlor  of  the  episcopal  residence. 

With  the  abbe\  it  seems,  was  associated  Rev.  L.  Rousselet.  Both  clergy- 
men were  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  Thayer,  who  was  regularly  appointed  by 
Dr.  Carroll  to  take  charge  of  the  New  England  mission.  Perhaps  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Boston  should  date  from  the  appointment 
of  Father  Thayer,  who  began  his  pastorate  on  the  10th  of  June,  1790.  He 
certainly  appears  to  have  been  providentially  prepared  for  this  work.  He 
was  born  in  Boston,  of  a  family  in  good  circumstances,  and  brought  up  as  a 
strict  Protestant.  He  was  educated  for  the  ministry  and  performed  its  func- 
tions for  two  years  in  Boston.     These  facts  and  the  following  account  of  his 

conversion  to  the  Catholic    faith    are    taken    from    a   book    entitled    "The 
18 


3rg  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Conversion  of  the  Reverend  John  Thayer  of  Boston,"  written  by  himself,  and 
published  in  Paris,  in  1 7S8. 

Feeling  a  secret  inclination  to  travel  and  learn  the  European  languages, 
and  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  customs,  laws  and  governments  of  the  prin- 
:ipal  nations,  he  started  for  France.  "  Such  were  my  human  views,"  he 
says,  "without  the  least  suspicion  of  the  secret  design  of  Providence,  which 
tvas  preparing  me  for  more  precious  advantages." 

He  arrived  in  France  at  the  end  of  the  year  1781,  and  remained  there 
ten  months,  studying  the  language  and  instructing  himself  in  the  principles 
of  government.  He  was  taken  ill,  and  as  he  feared  his  sickness  would  be 
attended  with  serious  consequences,  his  first  concern  was  to  forbid  that  any 
Catholic  priest  should  come  near  him.  After  his  recovery  he  spent  three 
months  in  England,  observing  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  country.  He 
returned  to  France,  with  the  intention  of  passing  to  Rome.  In  his  passage 
from  Marseilles  to  Rome,  the  vessel  was  becalmed  and  was  obliged  to  stop 
several  days  at  a  little  port  called  Port  Ercole.  He  was  entertained  there  by 
the  Marquis  D'Elmoro,  the  leading  official  of  the  place  and  a  Catholic, 
"without  any  recommendations,  with  the  kindness  and  affection  of  a  father. 
Such  goodness  and  cordiality  to  a  stranger,  to  an  avowed  Protestant,  touched 
and  surprised  me,"  says  he.  "  This  religion  is  not,  then,  so  unsociable,  and 
does  not,  as  I  have  been  told,  inspire  sentiments  of  aversion  and  intolerance 
to  those^of  a  different  persuasion." 

When  he  reached  Rome  his  first  concern  was  to  visit  the  most  celebrated 
masterpieces  and  monuments  of  antiquity.  While  visiting  the  Pantheon,  which 
formerly  was  a  pagan  temple,  but  now  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  he 
was  led  to  respect  the  Church  through  whose  power  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  raised  on  wrecks  of  the  idols.  He  soon  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Italian  language,  and  was  able  to  read  its  best  authors.  Being  desirous  of 
instructing  himself  thoroughly  in  the  Catholic  religion,  for  the  same  reason 
that  he  should  have  wished  to  know  the  religion  of  Mohammed  if  at  Con- 
stantinople, he  became  desirous  of  knowing  the  doctrine  of  Catholics  from 
their  own  lips. 

"  After  having  sought  for  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  some  per- 
son well  informed,  both  able  and  willing  to  instruct  me  thoroughly  in  the 
Catholic  doctrines,"  says  he,  "  I  met  with  two  ecclesiastics  in  a  place  which  I 
was  accustomed  to  frequent.  I  entered  into  conversation  with  them,  and 
declared  who  I  was  and  what  I  wanted.     At  that  time  I  thought  with  respect 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  259 

to  the  Jesuits  as  all  other  Protestants  do;  but  yet,  I  told  them  I  should  be 
glad  to  form  an  acquaintance  with  some  of  them.  I  know,  said  I,  that  they 
are  cunning,  designing  men,  but  they  are  celebrated  for  their  learning;  and 
while  I  profit  by  their  lights,  I  will  carefully  guard  myself  against  their 
subtlety." 

The  two  persons  with  whom  he  was  then  conversing  told  him  they  were 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  although  they  would  not  undertake  to 
give  him  the  instructions  he  desired,  they  said  they  would  refer  him  to  an 
able  man,  who  could  satisfy  his  inquiries.  They  introduced  him  to  one  of 
their  brethren,  who  was  distinguished  for  his  learning  and  piety.  Mr.  Thayer 
told  this  good  father  that  possibly  he  might  have  conceived  some  false  notions 
of  the  Catholic  religion,  as  all  the  knowledge  he  had  of  it  was  taken  from  the 
report  of  its  enemies.  And  if  this  was  the  case  he  wished  to  be  undeceived. 
"  For,"  said  he,  "  I  would  not  entertain  a  prejudice  against  any  person,  not 
even  against  the  devil.  Yet,  do  not  think  of  converting  me,  for  certainly  you 
will  not  succeed." 

The  father  received  him  with  gentleness  and  affability,  and  consented  to 
have  some  conferences  on  religion  with  him.  These  were  continued  at  inter- 
vals for  about  three  months.  Mr.  Thayer  listened  each  time  without  inter- 
rupting his  instructor,  but  on  his  return  home  never  failed  to  set  down  in 
writing  the  difficulties  and  arguments  which  seemed  to  combat  each  one  of 
the  dogmas  and  articles.  Although  net  convinced,  he  noticed  the  wonderful 
harmony  through  the  whole  system  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  the  wis- 
dom which  seemed  to  have  something  divine.  As  this  learned  father  could 
give  only  a  few  leisure  hours  at  intervals,  Mr.  Thayer  had  recourse  to  another 
Jesuit,  who  surprised  Mr.  Thayer  by  telling  him  to  go  and  say  the  Lord's 
Prayer  thrice,  and  return  to  him  on  a  certain  day.  Mr.  Thayer  complied, 
and  met  the  Jesuit  on  the  day  appointed.  He  proposed  his  difficulties  under 
several  heads,  and  the  good  father  pointed  out  to  him  where  these  questions 
were  treated,  and  procured  him  books  on  those  subjects.  Mr.  Thayer  also 
consulted  an  Augustinian  friar,  who  took  particular  pains  to  show  him  the 
difference  between  articles  of  faith  and  simply  opinions  which  the  Church 
permits  to  be  treated,  without  either  adopting  or  rejecting  them.  This  dis- 
tinction threw  a  new  light  on  the  subject,  and  contributed  greatly  to  clear  up 
his  ideas. 

His  researches  carried  him  further  than  he  had  designed,  as  he  had  at 
first  intended  only  to  form  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  Catholic  doctrine.      But 


36o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

he  was  brought  to  such  a  state  that  he  discovered  nothing  in  it  but  what  was 
reasonable.  Still  the  prejudices  in  which  he  had  been  educated  had  too  much 
influence  over  his  mind,  and  his  heart  was  not  yet  disposed  to  make  the 
sacrifice  which  a  profession  of  faith  required.  He  was  resolved,  no  matter 
what  proof  he  received,  not  to  change  his  religion  while  at  Rome,  for  fear 
of  taking  a  precipitate  step.  "But  Providence,"  he  says,  "  ever  watchful 
over  me,  did  not  suffer  these  delays,  which  might  have  been  fatal,  but  ordered 
various  events  which  hastened  my  conversion."  A  work  on  the  Guardian 
Angel,  which  he  read  at  this  time,  made  a  great  impression  on  him.  He 
reproached  himself  for  having  too  often  failed  in  the  respect  which  he  owed 
to  his  Guardian  Angel,  and  formed  a  resolution  to  be  careful  in  future  to 
avoid  everything  which  could  displease  him.  "This  attention  to  preserve 
myself  from  sin,"  writes  Mr.  Thayer,  "undoubtedly  contributed  to  my  con- 
version; at  least,  it  removed  an  obstacle  to  the  grace  which  God  was  about  to 
bestow." 

Such  was  his  situation  when  the  death  of  venerable  Labre  and  the  mir- 
acles which  were  performed  through  his  intercession  began  to  make  a  noise 
at  Rome  and  to  become  the  subject  of  every  conversation.  Notwithstanding 
the  instructions  which  Mr.  Thayer  had  received  and  the  lights  which  he  had 
acquired,  he  was  nowise  disposed  to  credit  the  public  reports  concerning  this 
truly  extraordinary  person.  Of  all  his  prejudices  against  Catholics,  the  deep- 
est rooted  was  a  formal  disbelief  of  miracles.  Not  content  with  denying 
those  which  were  published  at  that  time,  he  made  them  the  subject  of  his 
raillery,  and  in  the  coffee-houses,  passed  some  very  unbecoming  jests  on  the 
servant  of  God.  However,  the  number  and  weight  of  the  evidences  increas- 
ing daily,  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to  examine  the  matter  himself.  He 
frequently  conversed  with  the  confessor  of  the  deceased,  from  whom  he 
learned  a  part  of  blessed  Labre's  life.  He  visited  four  persons  who  were  said 
to  have  been  miraculously  cured ;  he  was  convinced  by  his  own  eyes  of  the  state 
in  which  they  then  were;  he  questioned  them  concerning  the  state  in  which 
they  had  been;  he  informed  himself  of  the  nature  and  continuance  of  the  ill- 
ness with  which  they  had  been  attacked,  and  the  circumstances  of  their  cures 
which  had  been  operated  in  an  instant.  After  collecting  full  information  he 
was  convinced  of  the  reality  of  each  one  of  these  miracles.  Truth  appeared 
to  him  on  every  side,  but  it  was  combated  by  all  the  prejudices  which  he 
had  imbibed  from  his  infancy.  He  felt  all  the  force  of  the  arguments  which 
Catholics  oppose  to  the  Protestant  doctrine,  but  he  had  not  the  courage  to 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  261 

yield.  He  clearly  saw  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  abjure  the  errors  in  which 
he  had  been  brought  up  and  which  he  had  preached  to  others,  and  that  he 
would  be  forced  to  renounce  his  ministry  and  his  fortune.  He  was  tenderly 
attached  to  his  family,  and  he  must  incur  their  indignation.  All  these  inter- 
ests kept  him  back.  "In  a  word,"  he  says,  "my  understanding  was  convinced 
but  my  heart  was  not  changed." 

He  was  in  this  fluctuating  and  undetermined  state  of  mind  when  a  little 
Italian  book  giving  an  account  of  the  conversion  of  a  Protestant  cavalier  was 
put  into  his  hands.  When  he  received  this  book  he  had  a  secret  presenti- 
ment that  it  would  give  him  the  finishing  stroke,  and  it  was  with  extreme 
difficulty  that  he  could  bring  himself  to  read  it.  His  soul  was,  as  it  were, 
rent  by  two  contrary  emotions,  but  at  length  the  interests  of  eternal  salvation 
prevailed.  He  threw  himself  on  his  knees  and  said  a  prayer,  invoking  the 
light  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  the  greatest  possible  sincerity.  He  then  began 
to  read  and  before  he  entirely  finished  the  account,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  God, 
I  promise  to  become  a  Catholic!" 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1783,  Mr.  Thayer  publicly  abjured  Protestantism 
before  a  large  assembly  of  former  friends  whom  he  had  invited  to  the  solemn 
ceremony.  Having  decided  to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  state  for  the  greater 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul,  as  well  as  of  those  of  his 
countrymen,  he  returned  to  France  and  entered  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice. 
After  due  preparation,  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  and  returned  to  his 
native  land. 

Father  Thayer  reached  Boston  early  in  January,  1790,  and  was  received 
with  marked  respect  by  his  relatives  and  old  friends.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend 
the  following  July  he  wrote:  "On  the  first  Sunday  after  my  arrival  I 
announced  the  word  of  God  and  all  flocked  in  crowds  to  hear  me.  .  . 
About  one  hundred  Catholics,  consisting  of  French,  Irishmen,  and  Americans, 
are  what  constitute  at  present  our  church.  About  a  dozen  of  them  can  attend 
Mass  daily."  From  this  it  appears  that  Father  Thayer  officiated  with  Abbe 
Poterie  for  a  few  months  before  the  latter  was  suspended. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  first  public  Mass  celebrated  by  Father 
Thayer  in  Boston,  is  given  by  Mr.  Samuel  Breck,  who  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Thayer  in  Paris,  and,  in  fulfillment  of  a  promise,  assisted  him  in 
fitting  up  the  chapel  in  Boston.  "  We  fitted  up  a  dilapidated  and  deserted 
meeting-house  in  School  Street,  that  was  built  in  17 16,  by  some  French 
Huguenots and  now  converted  by  us  into  a  popish  chapel. 


2 62  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Money  was  raised  by  subscription,  with  which  the  sacristy 

and  vestry  room  was  put  in  order  ;  a  pulpit  was  erected  ;  the  altar 
furnished  ;  a  few  benches  purchased  for  seats  ;  and  the  little  temple,  which 
had  served  as  a  stable  to  the  British  in  1775,  was  once  more  consecrated  to 
the  uses  of  religion.  The  plate  for  the  altar  was  borrowed  of  my  father, 
and  everything  being  made  decent  the  first  public  Mass  ever  said  in  Boston 
was  solemnized  amid  a  large  concourse  of  people  of  all  persuasions.  And 
this  in  a  town  where  only  thirteen  years  before  the  Pope  and  the  Devil, 
were  according  to  annual  custom  promenaded  through  the  streets,  on  the  5th 
of  November,  in  commemoration  of  the  famous  gun-powder  plot;  and,  after 
serving  as  a  spectacle  of  ridicule  and  scorn,  were  burnt  together,  leaving  it 
doubtful  in  those  days  which  of  the  two  were  the  most  hateful.  I  attended 
the  Mass,  of  course,  and  carried  around  the  charity  box  as  Queteur."  Mr. 
Breck  wrote  this  some  thirty  years  after  the  occurrence  related,  and  probably 
had  forgotten  that  other  priests  had  preceded  Father  Thayer.  The  letter  is 
published  in  "  The  American  Catholic  Historical  Researches,"  of  January, 
1 889.     The  statements  in  regard  to  the  altar  are  also  open  to  doubt. 

After  fighting  for  the  Faith  single-handed  for  about  two  years,  the  heart 
of  our  valiant  American  convert  was  made  glad  by  the  arrival  of  an  assistant 
in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Matignon,  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  the  College  of  Navarre,  who  with  other  priests  was  exiled  from  then- 
native  France  by  the  Revolution.  Dr.  Matignon  was  sent  to  Boston  by 
Bishop  Carroll,  and  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  ministry  on  the  20th  of 
August,  1793.  He  was  received  by  Father  Thayer  "in  his  humble  mansion 
as  an  angel  from  heaven  sent  expressly  to  promote  the  great  cause  of  the 
Redeemer  by  extending  His  Church  in  this  section." 

And  a  truly  successful  angel  Dr.  Matignon  proved  to  be.  He  was  39 
years  of  age,  and  14  years  a  priest,  talented  and  pious,  with  a  rich,  vigorous 
imagination,  a  sound  understanding,  and  a  critical,  profound  learning.  Born 
and  educated  in  the  center  of  refinement,  he  was  an  accomplished  gentleman, 
with  a  kindness  of  heart  and  delicacy  of  feeling  which  made  him  study  the 
wants  and  anticipate  the  wishes  of  all  he  knew.  JHe  soon  became  aware  of 
the  bitter  prejudices  which  existed  in  Boston  against  the  Catholick  Church, 
and  of  the  foolish  suspicions  which  the  people  entertained  in  regard  to  the 
designs  of  the  pope  in  sending  such  a  highly  cultured  French  clergyman  to 
America.  He  found  that  the  controversial  discourses  of  Father  Thayer  had 
stirred  up  a  strong  feeling  of  opposition,  and  at  first  he  was  at  a  loss  to  know 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  263 

how  to  meet  it.  But  he  soon  took  in  the  situation  and  determined  to  master  it. 
"  With  meekness  and  humility,"  says  Father  Fitton,  "  he  disarmed  the  proud; 
with  prudence,  learning  and  ability  he  met  the  captious  and  slanderous;  and 
so  gentle  and  just  was  his  course,  that  even  the  censorious  forgot  to  watch 
him,  and  the  malicious  were  too  cunning  to  attack  one  armed  so  strong  in  his 
poverty." 

When  Dr.  Matignon  was  fairly  settled  in  Boston,  Father  Thayer  felt  at 
liberty  to  extend  his  visits  to  other  parts  of  New  England.  He  made  various 
excursions,  and  was  able  to  remain  for  a  time  in  places  where  his  services 
were  required.  "  In  this  way,"  says  Father  Fitton,  "  he  continued  to  labor 
announcing  the  Gospel  in  every  large  town  and  village,  and  gaining  many 
souls  to  God,  by  reclaiming  them  from  heresy." 

In  1799,  Bishop  Carroll,  anxious  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  necessities 
of  all  confided  to  his  pastoral  care,  withdrew  Father  Thayer  from  the  New 
England  mission,  and  sent  him  to  labor  in  the  state  of  Kentucky.  While 
working  on  that  mission,  he  conceived  the  design  of  establishing  in  his  native 
city  a  convent  school  for  young  Catholic  females.  With  the  approbation  of 
the  bishop,  he  left  Kentucky,  and  went  to  Europe,  with  the  view  of  raising 
funds  for  his  cherished  object.  After  collecting  between  eight  and  ten 
thousand  dollars,  Almighty  God  called  the  good  priest  from  his  earthly  labors. 
He  died  in  Limerick,  Ireland,  leaving  his  funds  in  trust  to  Dr.  Matignon,  for 
the  purpose  for  which  they  were  raised. 

Before  Father  Thayer  was  transferred  from  the  Boston  mission,  another 
able  assistant  arrived  to  take  part  in  the  good  work.  This  was  the  learned 
and  pious  Rev.  John  Louis  de  Cheverus,  a  native  of  Mayenne,  France.  He 
was  an  exile  in  England,  teaching  school,  when  Dr.  Matignon,  who  knew 
him  in  Paris,  urgently  invited  him  to  come  to  Boston,  holding  out  all  the 
inducements  which  this  field  offered  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  After  inform- 
ing his  ordinary,  the  bishop  of  Mans,  of  his  intention  of  crossing  the  Atlantic, 
he  received  an  affectionate  letter  from  the  aged  prelate,  who  was  also  an  exile, 
praising  his  zeal  yet  urging  him  to  wait  for  better  days.  But  his  determina- 
tion was  fixed,  and  receiving  permission,  he  took  passage  in  a  vessel  bound 
for  Boston,  arriving  here  on  the  3d  of  October,  1796. 

Rev.  J.L.  de  Cheverus  was  every  way  a  suitable  associate  for  Dr.  Matig- 
non. Born  the  28th  of  January,  1768,  he  was  only  about  28  years  of  age,  but  of 
ripe  judgment  and  full  of  zeal  for  missionary  work.  He  was  ordained  priest 
in  December,  1790,  at  the  last  public  ordination  in  Paris  before  the  Revolu- 


264  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

tion.  He  was  parish  priest  of  his  native  parish  when  the  bloody  persecution 
of  the  clergy  began,  and  having  refused  to  take  the  impious  oath  proposed 
by  the  Revolutionists,  he  was  forced  to  flee.  After  a  short  confinement  in 
prison,  he  repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  lay  concealed  during  the  terrible  mas- 
sacre of  the  clergy.  He  left  Paris  disguised  in  a  military  dress,  and  having 
procured  a  passport  bearing  the  name  of  his  brother,  he  escaped  to  England. 

With  such  an  experience  as  this,  Father  de  Cheverus  was  ready  for  any 
hardships  in  the  New  World.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  Boston,  he 
wrote  to  Bishop  Carroll,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Indian  mission  of  Maine. 
He  accepted  it  cheerfully.  "  Send  me  where  you  think  I  am  most  needed," 
he  wrote,  "  without  making  yourself  anxious  about  the  means  of  supporting 
me.  I  am  willing  to  work  with  my  hands,  if  need  be,  and  I  believe  I  have 
strength  enough  for  it."  He  reached  Point  Pleasant,  Passamaquoddy  Bay, 
on  the  30th  of  July,  1797,  and  immediately  took  up  his  abode  in  a  house 
erected  for  him.  "  My  house,"  he  wrote,  "  is  about  ten  feet  square  and  eight 
feet  high,  and  the  church  as  large  again,  but  not  a  great  deal  higher.  In  both 
no  other  material  than  bark,  and  a  few  logs  of  wood  and  sticks  set  up  crossways 
to  support  the  bark;  no  windows,  of  course — the  only  opening  is  a  door.  The 
only  piece  of  furniture  is  a  large  table  made  of  two  rough  boards.  The  altar 
piece  is  made  of  two  pieces  of  broadcloth — the  one  of  scarlet  and  the  other  of 
dark  blue." 

Father  Cheverus  continued  bib  missionary  labors  in  Maine  for  about  two 
years,  visiting  the  Indian  settlements  on  the  Kennebec,  Penobscot,  and  Passa- 
maquoddy Bay,  till  he  was  relieved  by  Rev.  James  Romagne,  a  townsman  of 
his  own,  who  was  sent  here  by  Bishop  Carroll  for  that  special  work.  This 
zealous  clergyman  was  joyfully  welcomed  by  both  Fathers  Matignon  and 
Cheverus,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  his  apostolic  mission.  He  took  up 
the  work  of  his  predecessor,  and,  as  Father  Fitton  says,  "  he  restored  piety  and 
religion,  corrected  abuses,  encouraged  industry,  and  trained  all  to  God  during 
the  eighteen  years  he  remained."  Owing  to  failing  health  he  returned  to 
France  in  1818,  where  he  performed  spiritual  duties  till  his  death  in  1836. 

With  Dr.  Matignon,  Father  Cheverus  was  now  enabled  to  devote  his 
whole  time  to  the  Boston  mission,  which  included  the  various  towns  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Church  under  their  ministrations  shows 
how  successfully  they  worked.  "  Their  tasks,  their  pursuits,  their  disposi- 
tions, were  kindred,  and  they  became  inseparable,"  writes  Father  Fitton, 
"  and  their  many  virtues  and  social  qualities  were  the  admiration  even  of  their 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  265 

adversaries."  Another  writer  says: — "The  Bostonians  were  charmed.  In 
the  persons  of  her  ministers,  Catholicity  became  respected  and  honored,  where 
before  it  had  only  been  a  reproach.  Never  did  virtue  and  learning  gain  a 
more  decided  victory  over  prejudice  and  intolerance."  The  parochial  resi- 
dence was  a  house  on  School  street,  two  doors  from  the  church.  The  preach- 
ing of  these  two  learned  priests  attracted  many  Protestants  as  well  as  Cath- 
olics to  the  little  church  on  School  street,  and  the  regular  congregation  stead- 
ily increased.  It  soon  became  evident  that  a  larger  place  of  worship  was 
needed,  and  the  lease  of  the  little  building  having  nearly  expired,  the  mem- 
bers determined  to  purchase  a  lot  and  build  a  suitable  church. 

Ground  was  broken  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  March  17,  1800,  and  the  work 
of  building  progressed  slowly  for  three  years,  the  good  priests  not  being 
desirous  of  pushing  the  work  faster  than  the  money  to  pay  for  it  was  received. 
The  church  measured  eighty  feet  in  length  and  sixty  in  width,  and  was  con- 
sidered a  noble  structure  for  that  time.  It  was  tha-  largest  and  principal 
Catholic  Church  in  New  England  for  many  years  afterwards.  The  base- 
ment was  built  of  stone  and  the  main  structure  of  brick.  The  entire  cost  of 
the  building  was  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Among  the  items  of  expense 
entered  by  Dr.  Matignon  is  one  which  shows  the  custom  of  the  times. 
Under  date  of  August  8,  1802,  appears  the  sum  of  $2.40  for  "rum  and  gin 
to  the  people  who  helped  the  landing  of  the  timber." 

How  anxiously  the  few  Catholics  of  Boston  nearly  one  hundred  years 
ago  must  have  watched  the  progress  of  the  future  Cathedral,  and  how  great 
must  have  been  their  joy  when  they  saw  the  church  completed  and  ready 
for  divine  service.  The  day  fixed  for  the  dedication  was  the  29th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1803,  a  day  of  marked  significance  for  the  Catholics  in  New  Eng- 
land. Everything  was  done  in  due  form.  At  a  little  before  10  o'clock,  a 
procession  issued  from  the  house  of  the  Spanish  consul  Don  Juan  Stoughton, 
on  Franklin  place  nearly  opposite  the  new  church.  Following  the  cross- 
bearer  were  Bishop  Carroll,  Dr.  Matignon,  Rev.  John  L.  Cheverus  and  two 
other  clergymen,  with  a  few  altar  boys.  At  the  church  the  ceremony  of 
dedication  was  performed  with  great  solemnity  by  the  bishop  and  his  assist- 
ant priests,  under  the  name  of  the  "Church  of  the  Holy  Cross."  After  the 
dedication,  Pontifical  High  Mass  was  celebrated  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Car- 
roll, and  a  sermon  preached  by  Father  Cheverus.  The  collection  amounted 
to  $286.  The  building  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  About  a  dozen 
singers,  male   and  female,  formed  the  choir,  and  sang  the  Mass  in  Gregorian 


266  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

chant  known  as  Missa    Regia.     The   music,    being   the   first   of    the   kind 
ever  heai-d  in  Boston,  was  highly  praised. 

The  grand  altar-piece  representing  the  Crucifixion,  which  became  so 
familiar  to  succeeding  congregations,  was  painted  by  Mr.  Lawrence  Sargent 
of  Boston,  for  which  he  received  $200.  It  was  worth  a  much  larger  sum, 
but  at  the  suggestion  of  members  of  the  congregation,  he  presented  the 
balance  to  the  Church. 

The  bell,  which  for  half  a  century  rang  out  its  solemn  and  joyous  notes 
from  the  tower  of  the  Cathedral,  was  a  present  from  Gen.  Elias  Hasket 
Derby,  grandfather  of  Dr.  Hasket  Derby,  a  celebrated  oculist,  who  for  sev- 
eral years  past  has  given  his  services  to  the  Carney  Hospital.  Dr.  Derby, 
who  is  a  convert,  and  now  a  member  of  the  Cathedral  congregation,  takes 
great  pride  in  the  spirit  shown  by  his  grandfather.  It  seems  that  there  is  a 
little  romance  attached  to  this  affair.  Gen.  Derby,  when  a  young  man,  visited 
his  future  wife  at  her  father's  residence,  on  Franklin  street.  Sitting  with 
her  one  Sunday  at  the  window,  after  the  new  church  was  opened,  he  noticed 
the  people  going  to  worship.  But  the  belfry  of  the  new  church  was  silent, 
and  he  learned  that  it  was  because  the  congregation  was  too  poor  to  buy  a 
bell.  As  he  was  a  prosperous  merchant  with  his  father,  and  had  ships  trad- 
ing with  Europe,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  sending  abroad  for  a  bell  and  pre- 
senting it  to  the  church.  It  is  supposed  that  the  young  lady  encouraged  him 
in  his  generous  proposition,  for  it  was  not  long  before  the  bell  was  brought 
from  Europe  in  one  of  his  own  vessels  and  presented  to  the  church.  Dr. 
Matignon  and  Bishop  Cheverus  afterwards  became  quite  intimate  with  the 
family,  and  were  visitors  at  his  residence.  The  bell  was  obtained  in  Italy 
or  Spain,  but  nobody  knows  from  whom.  It  bears  an  inscription  which 
shows  that  a  certain  Leopold  de  Nicolini,  and  his  wife,  Theresa,  caused  the 
bell  to  be- made  in  1798,111  honor  of  God  and  our  Lady  of  the  Rosary. 
After  having  done  good  service  in  the  Cathedral  tower,  it  now  welcomes 
the  funeral  processions  in  Holyrood  Cemetery. 

In  their  new  church,  Dr.  Matignon  and  his  reverend  colleague  worked 
with  greater  zeal  than  ever  and  their  congregation  steadily  increased.  They 
opened  a  day  school  for  boys  in  the  tower  of  the  church,  in  a  room  immedi- 
ately under  the  bell  deck.  This  was  the  first  Catholic  school  in  Bo?ton, 
where,  Father  Fitton  tells  us,  he  "was  initiated  in  the  elements  of  a  spelling 
book."  Five  years  later,  in  1808,  Boston  was  made  an  episcopal  see  by  Pope 
Pius  VII,  but,  in  consequence  of  the  troubles  in  Euiope  at   that  period,  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  267 

bulls  did  not  reach  America  until  1S10,  when  it  was  learned  that  his  holiness 
had  appointed  Rev.  John  L.  de  Cheverus  first  bishop  of  Boston.  This 
appointment  had  been  effected  at  the  solicitation  of  Rev.  Mr.  Matignon,  with 
the  concurrence  and  approbation  of  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll.  Shortly  after  the 
arrival  of  the  credentials  from  Rome,  Dr.  De  Cheverus  was  consecrated  bishop 
by  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  Baltimore,  on  the 
feast  of  All  Saints,  November  1,  18 10. 

Bishop  Cheverus  soon  returned  to  Boston,  and  continued  to  occupy  his 
humble  dwelling  in  the  rear  of  the  church  with  his  esteemed  friend  Dr. 
Matignon,  sharing  in  the  minutest  duties  of  the  ministry.  His  first  care 
was  to  visit  his  new  diocese  which  comprised  all  New  England,  and  during 
his  first  visitation  he  confirmed  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  persons.  The 
good  bishop  continued  to  visit  his  scattered  flock  year  after  year,  and  had  the 
great  satisfaction  of  seeing  new  churches  and  congregations  springing  up  in 
various  parts  of  his  diocese.  Among  the  first  priests  ordained  by  Bishop 
Cheverus  for  the  Boston  diocese,  were  Rev.  Denis  Ryan  and  Rev.  Patrick 
Byrne. 

Dr.  Matignon,  after  twenty-six  years  of  constant  ministerial  labors,  as 
pastor  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Boston,  was  called  to  his  reward.  He  died  on 
the  19th  of  September,  1818,  deeply  regretted  by  his  loving  congregation 
and  the  whole  diocese.  He  was  u  a  faithful  servant  of  God,  an  exemplary 
pastor,  a  sincere  friend,  and  a  true  pattern  of  a  good  Christian." 

The  following  stands  on  the  record  of  his  interment,  in  the  handwriting 
of  Bishop  De  Cheverus: — 

"Sept.  2 1  st.  .  .  .  Francis  Anthony  Matignon,  D.  D.,  and  for 
twenty-six  years  pastor  of  this  congregation — Holy  Cross.  On  Saturday  the 
19th  he  died  as  he  lived — a  saint.     .     .     .     ALt.  65." 

The  death  of  Dr.  Matignon  was  a  great  loss  to  Boston  and  the  diocese. 
Bishop  Cheverus  felt  it  most  severely,  and  to  him  it  was  irreparable.  Owing 
to  the  small  number  of  priests,  the  good  bishop  was  called  upon  to  perform 
incessant  missionary  duties,  traveling  unaccompanied  from  town  to  town  by 
the  poor  conveyances  of  those  days,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  his 
strength  could  not  stand  the  strain.  His  friends  in  France,  hearing  of  his 
condition,  became  anxious  about  him,  and  induced  Louis  XVIII  to  nominate 
him  to  the  bishopric  of  Matauban,  in  an  ordinance  dated  January  15,  1823. 
He  at  first  was  disposed  to  decline  the  appointment,  as  he  did  not  want  to 
leave  his  people  in  Boston,  but  physicians  declared  that  he  could  not  endure 


268  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

another  winter    in   this  climate.     He  finally   yielded  to   what  he  accepted  as- 
the  will  of  Providence,  and  prepared  to  leave  for  France. 

Before  his  departure  Bishop  Cheverus  formally  transferred  his  church 
property  and  episcopal  residence  to  the  diocese.  The  Ursuline  convent, 
which  he  had  established  a  few  years  before,  adjoining  the  church,  with  the 
funds  raised  by  Father  Thayer,  was  included  in  the  transfer.  His  library, 
which  contained  many  valuable  works,  was  left  for  the  benefit  of  his  succes- 
sors. The  remainder  of  his  possessions  was  distributed  "  among  his  ecclesias- 
tics, his  friends,  and  the  poor,"  says  Father  Fitton,  "  and  as  he  had  come  to 
Boston  a  poor  man,  he  chose  to  depart  poor,  with  no  other  wealth  than  the 
same  trunk  which,  twenty-seven  years  before,  he  had  brought  with  him."  On 
the  day  of  his  departure  from  Boston  he  was  escorted  from  his  residence  by  a 
large  concourse  of  citizens,  and  three  hundred  vehicles  accompanied  him  many 
miles  on  the  road  to  New  York. 

On  the  ist  of  October,  1823,  the  good  bishop  embarked  at  New  York 
for  France,  and  on  his  arrival  there  he  repaired  to  his  diocese.  After  a  few 
years  he  was  translated  to  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Bordeaux,  and  subse- 
quently, in  recognition  of  his  great  services  and  many  virtues,  he  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  a  prince  of  the  Church,  as  cardinal  archbishop  of  Bordeaux. 
He  died  on  the  19th  of  July,  1836.  His  name  is  held  in  deep  veneration  by 
the  people  of  France  and  America. 

The  following  account  of  the  opening  of  the  first  Catholic  school  for 
young  ladies  in  Boston,  under  the  direction  of  the  Ursuline  nuns  is  taken 
from  Rev.  Arthur  T.  Connolly's  historical  sketch  in  the  Pilot  of   March   14, 

1891:—     ' 

"  While  the  Protestant  community  was  still  agitated  over  the  last  inroad 
that  Catholicity  had  made  in  its  ranks,  two  young  ladies  arrived  in  Boston 
from  the  city  of  Limerick,  Ireland.  They  were  sisters,  and  the  daughters 
of  Mr.  James  Ryan,  a  respectable  gentleman  of  Limerick,  with  whom  the 
Rev.  John  Thayer  had  taken  up  his  abode  on  his  arrival  in  Ireland. 

"  Mary  and  Catherine  Ryan  had  been  educated  in  the  Ursuline  convent 
at  Thurles,  and  when  Father  Thayer  had  spoken  about  his  desire  of  estab- 
lishing an  institution  for  the  education  of  Catholic  young  ladies  at  Boston, 
they  entered  warmly  into  his  plans  and  offered  to  go  to  America  and  begin 
the  work. 

"  When  Father  Thayer  wrote  to  Bishop  Cheverus  and  made  known  their 
desire,  the  good  bishop  immediately  accepted   their   offer,  and   after   making 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  269 

arrangements  with  the  Ursuline  sisters  of  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  with  regard 
to  their  novitiate  in  that  community,  invited  them  to  come  to  America  with- 
out delay. 

"The death  of  Father  Thayer,  on  February  5,  1S15,  delayed  their  depart- 
ure, however,  for  some  time;  but  true  to  their  vocation,  they  set  sail  from 
Limerick  on  May  4,  1817,  and  not  long  afterwards  presented  themselves 
before  Bishop  Cheverus.  Rejoicing  at  the  thought  that  he  might  now 
undertake  the  accomplishment  of  a  long-cherished  design,  he  sent  them, 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Matignon,  to  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Three  Rivers. 

"  By  a  will  made  by  Father  Thayer  previous  to  his  death,  he  bequeathed 
quite  a  sum  of  money  to  Dr.  Matignon,  to  be  held  in  trust  by  him  until  such 
time  as  an  academy  might  be  built  or  purchased. 

"  With  this  fund  Bishop  Cheverus  now  secured  the  house  and  land  next 
to  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  on  Franklin  place,  and  there  the  Misses 
Ryan,  after  their  solemn  profession  in  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Three  Rivers, 
opened  the  first  Catholic  school  for  young  ladies  in  Boston. 

The  affairs  of  the  Boston  diocese  were  administered  for  about  two  years 
by  the  Very  Rev.  William  Taylor,  who  was  made  vicar-general  by  Bishop 
Cheverus.  In  1825,  his  holiness,  Pope  Leo  XII,  was  pleased  to  fill  the 
vacancy  in  the  Boston  see  by  the  appointment  of  Rev.  Benedict  Joseph 
Fenwick,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Benedict  J.  Fen- 
wick  was  born  in  Maryland  in  17S2.  He  belonged  to  an  old  and  honored 
Maryland  Catholic  family,  the  founder  of  which  came  from  England  as  a 
member  of  the  original  band  of  pilgrims  sent  out  by  Lord  Baltimore.  With 
his  oldest  brother,  Enoch,  he  entered  Georgetown  College  in  the  spring  of 
1792.  One  of  his  fellow-students  was  the  good  and  gifted  Judge  Gaston,  of 
North  Carolina.  Among  his  companions  young  Fenwick  was  distinguished 
for  quickness  of  intellect  and  rare  talents.  In  1S05,  he  began  his  theological 
studies  in  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  Baltimore,  and  the  following  year 
entered  the  Society  of  Jesus.  He  was  ordained  in  1808,  and  some  time  after 
sent  on  the  New  York  missions  in  company  with  Father  Anthony  Kohlmann, 
S.  J.  They  took  charge  of  St.  Peter's,  then  the  only  church  in  the  city,  and 
labored  zealously  for  the  cause  of  religion  and  education. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  events  in  Father  Fenwick's  life  was  his 
visit  to  Tom  Paine,  the  infidel  philosopher.  Father  Kohlmann  accompanied 
him.  "  A  short  time  before  Paine  died,"  wrote  the  young  Jesuit  to  his 
brother,  "  I  was  sent  for  by  him.     He  was  prompted  to  this  by  a  poor  Catholic 


270  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

woman  who  went  to  see  him  in  his  sickness,  and  who  told  him,  among 
other  things,  that  in  his  wretched  condition,  if  anybody  could  do  him  good  it 
would  be  a  Roman  Catholic  priest."  The  two  Jesuits  went  to  Paine's  resi- 
dence, and  were  met  at  the  door  by  the  housekeeper,  who  informed  them 
that  he  was  asleep,  and  expressed  a  wish  that  he  might  not  be  disturbed. 

"  He  is  always  in  bad  humor,"  she  added,  "  when  roused  out  of  his  sleep 
— 'tis  better  to  wait  a  little  till  he  be  awake."  They  quietly  sat  down  and 
resolved  to  wait.  Trie  woman  at  some  length  described  the  miseries  of  the 
famous  infidel.  When  alone  he  would  cry:  "O  Lord,  help  me."  Or  again, 
"God  help  me."  Then  shortly  after:  "But  there  is  no  God."  And  again,  a 
little  after:  "  Yet  if  there  should  be,  what  will  become  of  me  hereafter?" 
In  his  agony  and  terror  he  would  cry  for  some  one  to  come  near  him.  "  Send 
even  a  child,"  he  would  say,  "  to  stay  with  me,  for  it  is  a  hell  to   be   alone!" 

When  Paine  awoke,  the  priests  were  shown  into  his  room.  "  A  more 
wretched  being  in  appearance,"  writes  Father  Fenwick,  '<  I  never  before 
beheld." 

Father  Kohlmann,  as  the  older  and  more  experienced,  opened  the  conver- 
sation. He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  Paine  said :  "  I  wish  to  hear  no  more 
from  you,  sir.  I  look  upon  the  whole  of  the  Christian  scheme  to  be  a  tissue 
of  absurdities  and  lies,  and  J.  C.  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  cunning  knave 
and  impostor."  Father  Kohlmann  attempted  to  speak  again,  but  Paine  sternly 
interrupted  him.  Then  Father  Fenwick  in  a  mild  tone  commenced  to  reason 
with  him.  Paine  now  got  enraged.  "  Begone,"  said  he,  "  and  trouble  me 
no  more."  His  mouth  frothed,  and  he  shook  the  bed  with  rage  and  madness. 
They  were  unable  to  make  any  impression  on  him,  and  after  some  moments 
withdrew.  "  I  never  before  or  since,"  says  Father  Fenwick,  "  beheld  a  more 
hardened  wretch."     A  short  time  after  Paine  expired  in  the  anguish  of  despair. 

Some  time  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Concanen,  Father  Fenwick  was 
appointed  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  New  York.  His  zeal,  mildness, 
and  ripe  scholarship  made  him  a  great  favorite  with  all  classes.  A  Quaker 
lady,  in  the  well-meant  charity  of  her  heart,  undertook  the  task  of  reclaiming 
so  good  and  learned  a  man  from  what  she  supposed  to  be  the  "  errors  of 
Popery."  The  courteous  Jesuit  received  her  with  every  sign  of  gentleness, 
patience,  and  respect.  She  became  a  Catholic.  Hundreds  of  conversions 
were  likewise  wrought  through  his  ministry.  Among  other  distinguished 
converts  may  be  mentioned  the  learned  episcopal  ministers,  Rev.  Mr.  Kewley, 
Rev.    Virgil    Horace    Barber,    and   Rev.    Mr.    Ironside.       Father    Fenwick 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  271 

commenced  the  erection  of  St.  Patrick's  old  cathedral  on  Mulberry  street 
from  designs  and  plans  of  his  own. 

In  18 1 7,  Father  Fen  wick  was  recalled  by  his  superiors  and  appointed 
president  of  Georgetown  College.  The  following  year  he  was  sent  as  vicar- 
general  to  Charlestown,  S.  C,  to  make  peace  between  the  French  and  English 
Catholic  parties.  His  great  prudence  and  good  humor  smoothed  all  difficul- 
ties. He  was  here  on  the  arrival  of  Bishop  England,  and  did  not  return  to 
Georgetown  College  until  May,  1822.  Two  years  later  he  was  again 
appointed  president  of  the  college;  and  in  the  fall  of  1825  was  consecrated 
bishop  of  Boston. 

Dr.  Fenwick  bade  adieu  to  his  Alma  Mater^  and  accompanied  by  Bishop 
England  and  Rev.  Virgil  Horace  Barber,  departed  for  Boston.  A  few  facts 
of  his  episcopate  may  be  noted.  The  hill  on  which  the  Ursuline  convent 
afterwards  destroyed  was  built,  was  named  "  Mount  St.  Benedict,"  in  honor  of 
the  prelate.  He  purchased  the  property,  erected  the  establishment,  and 
the  grateful  nuns  did  not  forget  his  generosity.  For  many  years  his  own  house 
was  his  seminary,  of  which  he  himself  was  the  faculty.  The  lessons  in 
theology  were  received  from  his  own  learned  lips. 

When  the  wretches  who  burned  the  convent  were  acquitted,  Bishop 
Fenwick  wrote  in  his  diary  of  June  9,  1S35:  "  Great  rejoicings  in  Charlestown 
on  Saturday  among  the  mob  in  consequence  of  their  acquittal.  Fifty  guns 
were  fired  on  the  occasion.     Thus  iniquity  has  prevailed  at  last." 

He  died  as  he  had  lived,  respected  by  men,  blessed  by  God,  on  August 
1 1,  1846.  He  was  buried  at  the  noble  institution  of  which  he  was  the  founder — 
his  cherished  college  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  labors  of  this  apostolic  bishop 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact,  that  while  he  found  but  four  churches  and 
three  priests  in  New  England,  he  left  fifty  churches,  as  many  clergymen,  and 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  dioceses  in  the  United  States. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  John  Bernard  Fitzpatrick  was  the  third  bishop  of 
Boston.  He  was  consecrated  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Fenwick  in  1844,  and 
administered  under  the  authority  of  his  superior  until  the  latter's  death  in 
1846.  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  was  born  in  Boston,  November,  18 12.  His  par- 
ents were  natives  of  Tullamore,  Kings  County,  Ireland,  and  emigrated  to 
this  country  in  1805.  They  were  steadfast  adherents  to  the  ancient  faith, 
and  the  father  was  one  of  the  leading  Catholics  under  Dr.  Matignon  and 
Bishop  Cheverus,  both  of  whom  honored  his  house  on  the  evening  of  his 
son's  baptism. 


2y2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

John  Bernard  received  his  early  education  at  the  public  schools.  He 
passed  through  the  primary  and  grammar,  in  the  Adams  and  Boylston,  and 
bore  off  two  Franklin  medals,  of  which  he  felt  justly  proud.  He  excelled 
in  every  branch  of  study,  more  especially  in  mathematics,  declamation,  and 
rhetoric.     In  1826,  when  14  years  of  age,  he  entered  the  Boston  Latin  School. 

After  graduating  from  the  Latin  school  at  17  years  of  age,  he  was  sent 
to  the  Montreal  Seminary,  it  being  the  design  of  his  parents  and  his  bishop, 
as  well  as  his  own  inclination,  that  he  should  be  educated  for  the  priesthood, 
He  remained  in  Montreal  eight  years,  and  passed  through  Boston,  on  his  way 
to  Paris,  where  he  entered  the  grand  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice  in  1837.  He 
completed  there  his  course  of  theological  studies  with  distinction,  and  was 
ordained  priest  on  the    eve  of  Trinity  Sunday,  December,   1840. 

Father  Fitzpatrick  spent  nearly  a  year  abroad,  and  returned  to  his  native 
city  to  begin  his  ministerial  work.  After  a  year  of  pastoral  duties  at  the 
Cathedral,  and  as  associate  pastor  at  St.  Mary's,  North  End,  he  was  appointed 
pastor  of  East  Cambridge,  where  he  built  the  church  of  St.  John,  from 
which  he  was  called  to  be  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Fenwick. 

When  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  took  charge  of  the  see  of  Boston  his  diocese 
comprised  Massachusetts,  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont  ;  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut  having  been  cut  off  and  erected  into  the  see  of 
Hartford  in  1844,  under  the  government  of  Rt.  Rev.  William  Tyler.  Being 
full  of  vigor  and  zeal,  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  carried  the  burden  of  administer- 
ing the  diocese  alone  for  ten  years,  not  having  a  secretary  till  1855,  when 
Rev.  James  A.  Healy  (now  bishop  of  Portland),  was  selected  for  that  office. 
Bishop  Healy  was  the  first  and  only  secretary  of  Bishop  Fitzpatrick,  and 
he  continued  the  trusted  assistant  of  his  superior  until  the  latter's  eyes  were 
closed  in  death.  No  vicar-general  was  assigned  until  1857,  when  the  present 
archbishop  was  appointed.  In  these  early  years  the  good  bishop  overtaxed 
his  strength,  and  his  painful  illness  later  was  probably  the  result  of  this 
overwork. 

The  fruits  of  the  bishop's  labors  were  soon  seen  on  every  hand.  New 
religious  orders  and  communities  were  introduced.  Religious  and  charitable 
societies  were  organized.  New  schools  and  academies  were  opened.  The 
magnificent  orphan  asylum  was  completed.  Boston  College  and  the  church 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  charge  of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  were  built, 
and  new  churches  and  institutions  multiplied  in  all  parts  of  his  diocese.  It 
has  been  truly  remarked,  that  during  Bishop  Fitzpatrick's  administration,  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


273 


tone  of  public  opinion  concerning  Catholicity  had  experienced  a  complete 
change,  and  that  Protestant  Boston  had  become  one  of  the  strongest  Catho- 
lic cities  in  the  Union. 

The  old  cathedral  building  on  Franklin  street  became  too  small  and 
inconvenient  for  the  wants  of  the  congregation,  and  as  its  timbers  showed 
signs  of  decay,  it  had  to  be  abandoned. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862,  the  church  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and 
Castle  streets  was  purchased  from  the  Unitarians,  and  the  cathedral  parish 
was  transferred  from  the  center 
of  the  city  to  the  south  end.  The 
first  services  in  this  Pro-Cathe- 
dral were  held  on  the  10th  of 
December,  1S62,  and  the  episco- 
pal residence  was  removed  to 
the  house  on  the  corner  of  the  lot 
on  Washington  street,  bought  f  or 
the  new  cathedral.  Bishop  Fitz- 
patrick's  health  continued  to  fail, 
and  he  went  abroad  for  a  time  in 
hopes  of  a  restoration.  But  he 
returned  very  little  improved,  and 
after  long  and  patient  suffering, 
"  his  pure  spirit  returned  to  God 
who  gave  it.  He  died  as  he  had 
lived,  like  a  bishop."  A  few 
weeks  before  his  death,  the  ven- 
erated bishop  had  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  his  beloved 
flock  would  be  well  cared  for  by 

his  able  coadjutor,  Dr.  Williams.  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  died  on  the  13th  of 
February,  1866.  His  remains  are  deposited  in  the  crypt  under  the  sanctuary  of 
the  new  cathedral. 

John  J.  Williams  was  born  in  Boston,  April  27,  1822.  When  a  mere 
child,  he  began  his  studies  at  a  primary  school  on  Hamilton  street.  He  was 
next  placed,  for  about  five  years,  under  the  careful  tuition  of  Rev.  James 
Fitton,  later  the  revered   pastor  of  the  church  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer, 

East  Boston. 
19 


r^s^t 

Ati 

I^^H 

\   w 

% 

'. 

_  »B^hNE^MHI 

MOST    REV.  J.  J.    WILLIAMS,    ARCHBISHOP    OF 
BOSTON. 


274  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

While  Father  Fitton's  pupil,  John  gave  evidence  of  a  well  balanced 
character,  and  although,  seemingly,  not  quite  so  quick  of  perception  as  some 
of  his  young  companions,  his  slow  and  sure  method  of  thoroughly  compre- 
hending his  studies,  gave  him  an  early  reputation  for  unusual  reliability.  All 
regarded  him  as  a  quiet,  thoughtful  boy,  and  he  won  the  esteem  of  his  pre- 
ceptor, who  saw  in  him  the  marks  of  bright  promise. 

In  1S33,  being  then  in  his  eleventh  year,  the  future  archbishop  was  sent 
to  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  Montreal,  Canada.  While  in  that  institution 
his  early  qualities  gradually  developed,  and  on  this  solid  foundation,  which 
seemed  to  grow  broader  and  deeper  as  years  passed  on,  the  grand  edifice  of 
true  manhood  quietly,  but  surely,  assumed  symmetrical  proportions. 

After  eight  years  spent  at  Montreal,  Mr.  Williams  embarked  for  Paris 
in  1841.  There  he  entered  the  grand  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  a  celebrated 
institution,  and  for  four  years  earnestly  and  successfully  pursued  the  higher 
ecclesiastical  studies.     He  was  ordained  priest  in  1845. 

Returning  to  Boston,  Father  Williams  officiated  for  many  years  at  the 
old  Cathedral  of  Holy  Cross,  on  Franklin  street,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by 
his  people.  With  the  children,  especially,  he  was  a  great  favorite.  In  1855 
he  was  appointed  rector  of  the  Cathedral,  and  two  years  subsequently  was 
made  vicar-general.  He  administered  the  diocese  during  the  last  years  of 
Bishop  Fitzpatrick's  episcopate. 

On  the  9th  of  January,  1866,  Dr.  Williams  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Tripoli  in  fiartibus,  and  coadjutor  of  the  bishop  of  Boston,  with  the  right  of 
succession.  But  one  month  later  Dr.  Fitzpatrick  died,  and  on  the  iith  of 
March  Bishop  Williams  succeeded  him  in  the  see  of  Boston.  He  assisted  at 
the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  and  at  the  ecumenical  council  of 
the  Vatican. 

When  Dr.  Williams  became  bishop  of  Boston,  the  diocese  included 
about  1 16  churches  and  120  priests.  At  his  own  express  desire  it  was  divided, 
and  the  new  sees  of  Springfield  (1870)  and  Providence  (1872)  established. 

He  is  a  man  of  eminent  administrative  ability.  The  costly  and  magnifi- 
cent houses  of  worship  erected  since  he  began  to  govern  prove  this.  He 
has  also  introduced  and  established  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  the 
Redemptorist  Fathers,  the  Oblate  Fathers,  and  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor. 
These  and  other  undertakings  force  all  to  recognize  in  Dr.  William's  srlent 
and    unobtrusive  administration  the  greatest  measure  of  success. 

Thus  far,  however,  the  great  achievement  of  this  energetic  prelate's  life 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PURITANS.  275 

is  the  erection  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Cross,  one  of  the  very  largest  and 
most  beautiful  edifices  in  this  republic.  No  sooner  was  he  elevated  to  the 
episcopal  dignity  than  he  began  this  great  work.  The  first  sod  on  the  Cathe- 
dral lot  was  turned  on  April  27,  1866,  Dr.  William's  forty-fourth  birthday; 
and  the  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  15th  of  September,  1867,  the  imposing- 
ceremony  calling  together  one  of  the  largest  gatherings  ever  seen  in  "the 
Athens  of  America." 

In  1875  Boston  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  metropolitan  see,  and 
Most  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  became  its  first  archbishop.  On  May  2,  1875, 
he  received  the  pallium  from  the  hands  of  Cardinal  McCloskey.  It  was  the 
grandest  ceremony  ever  seen  in  the  capital  of  New  England.  On  the  same 
day  and  occasion  the  first  high  Mass  was  celebrated  in  the  Cathedral  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  by  the  first  American  cardinal.  "  Your  venerable  archbishop," 
said  Dr.  De  Goesbriand  in  the  sermon  delivered  on  that  memorable  day,  "  is 
one  of  your  own,  born  in  your  city,  brought  up  amongst  you.  He  knows 
you  and  you  know  him.  You  love  him  as  your  father.  His  new  glory  is 
your  joy." 

The  new  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Cross  was  solemnly  dedicated  by  Arch- 
bishop Williams,  on  December  S,  1875,  the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  New  England  no  event 
has  attracted  more  attention  among  the  clergy  and  laity  than  the  celebration 
of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the  Most  Rev.  John 
J.  Williams,  archbishop  of  Boston.  The  services  in  the  Cathedral  of  the 
Holy  Cross  on  Thursday,  March  12,  1891,  were  of  the  grandest  and  most 
impressive  character,  and  were  attended  by  the  largest  concourse  of  people 
ever  assembled  in  that  vast  edifice.  The  day  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
of  the  season,  and  Catholics  came  from  far  and  near  to  be  present  at  the 
Jubilee  Mass  of  their  beloved  archbishop. 


WUKpttv  gW. 


THE  kIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY 


In  the  Palmetto  State. — Catholics  Long  Tabooed. — Father  O'Gallagher  the 
First  Priest. — The  Holy  See  Grants  a  Bishop. — A  Young  Corkonian. — 
"The  Little  Papist." — Becomes  a  Priest  and  Editor.— Fined  for  Bold 
Speech. — In  Bigoted  Bandon  Town. — Created  an  American  Bishop. — Vol- 
unteers for  the  Mission — A  Diocese  of  Only  Two  Churches — Incessant 
Preaching,  Teaching  and  Traveling. — Scattered  Children  of  the  Faith. 
— Talking  to  Cherokee  Chiefs. — Lectures  and  Conversions. — At  Home  in 
a  Protestant  Church. — Establishing  a  Magazine. — Adventures  on  the 
Mission. — Father  O'Neill's  Flute. — "Give  Us  a  Sermon,  Mr.  Bishop." — 
Politeness  to  "  Paul." — Many  Great  and  Good  Achievements. — A  Holy 
Death. — Bishop  England's  Successors. 


S  English  colonization  advanced  southward,  Catholics  had  no 
part  in  the  settlement  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  were  expressly 
excluded  by  the  charter  of  the  latter  colony.  For  this  reason  the 
Acadian  Catholics,  when  sent  there  in  1 755?  were  sent  back  in  the 
following  spring,  and  Carolina  gave  her  exiled  guests  every  facility 
for  departing. 

In  1775,  two  men,  discovered  to  be  Irishmen  and  Catholics,  were  tarred 
and  feathered,  and  then  banished  ;  but  the  Revolution,  though  anti-Catholic  in 
its  origin,  opened  the  South  to  Catholicity.  As  the  war  went  on  some 
Catholics  came  in,  among  others  the  learned  yEdanus  Burke. 

In  17S6,  a  priest  arrived  in  Charleston,  in  a  vessel  bound  to  South 
America,  and,  during  the  stay  of  the  vessel  in  the  port,  ministered  to  the 
Catholics,  saying  Mass  for  them.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Ryan  was  sent  there  by 
Bishop  Carroll,  in  1788,  and  remained  for  two  years,  till  his  health  compelled 
him  to  retire,  early  in  1790.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Keating,  sent  by  Bishop  Carroll, 
organized  the  little  flock;    a  piece  of  ground  on  Hafel  street,  near  the   city, 

276 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY. 


277 


with  a  ruinous  Methodist  church  on  it,  was  purchased,  and  fitted  up  for  wor- 
ship as  St.  Mary's  Church,  apparently  aided  by  the  generosity  of  the  king 
of  Spain. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Charleston  was  incorporated  in  1791 
by  the  legislature,  which  had  the  year  previous  removed  all  disability  from 
the  faithful. 

From  1793,  for  several  years,  the  Rev.  S.  F.  O'Gallagher,  a  priest  of 
great  learning  and  eloquence,  ministered  to  the  flock,  supporting  himself  by 
acting  as  professor  in  Charleston 
College.  When  the  French  Rev- 
olution and  the  troubles  in  St. 
Domingo  sent  many  Catholics  to 
Charleston,  a  new  brick  church, 
sixty  feet  by  forty,  was  erected  in 
place  of  the  old  tottering  structure. 
The  progress  of  the  Church  was 
checked  by  dissensions  and  troubles, 
which  gave  great  uneasiness  to 
Archbishop  Carroll.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Le  Mercier  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
de  Cloriviere  were  here  for  some 
years  ;  and,  in  1817,  the  Rev.  B. 
J.  Fenwick  was  sent  with  the  Rev. 
Mr,  Wallace. 

The  Catholics  in  the  South- 
ern states  solicited  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  bishop,  and  the  Holy 
See,  on  the  nth  of  July,  1820, 
erected  the  see  of  Charleston,  and  aj^pointed  as  its  first  bishop  the  Rev.  John 
England,  of  Bandon,  Ireland.  The  life  of  this  noble  prelate,  being  closely 
identified  with  the  growth  of  Catholicity  in  the  South  will  reasonably 
demand  our  attention.  Bishop  England,  indeed,  has  been  called  "the  light 
of  the  American  hierarchy."  Had  he  lived  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  in  the  ages  of  Faith,  or  in  the  times  of  the  so-called  Reformation, 
the  world  would  have  ranked  him  among  the  foremost  men  and  heroes  of 
heroic  times. 

John  England  was  born  in  Cork,  Ireland,  on  September  23,  1786.     His 


RT.    REV.    JOHN    ENGLAND,    BISHOP    OF 
CHARLESTON,    S.    C 


278  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

boyhood  was  in  the  days  of  his  country's  trial  and  persecution.  The  wrongs 
he  saw  and  suffered  made  a  lasting  impression  on  his  gifted  mind  and  char- 
acter. Indeed,  the  enthusiastic  love  of  his  faith  and  his  native  isle  were  ever 
the  cherished  affections  which  dwelt  down  deepest  in  his  great  heart.  His 
first  instruction  was  received  in  a  Protestant  school,  as  there  was  no  other  to 
which  he  could  go.  Here  the  soul  of  the  brave  boy  was  daily  pained  by 
insult.  Often  to  expose  him  to  the  contempt  of  the  class,  the  bigoted  teacher 
would  sneeringly  call  him  "  the  little  Papist." 

Young  England  began  his  career  in  life  by  the  study  of  law.  Two 
years  spent  in  the  office  of  an  eminent  barrister  had,  no  doubt,  a  beneficial 
effect  in  developing  his  precise  and  practical  mind.  His  own  pious  inclina- 
tions, and  the  designs  of  Providence,  however,  led  him  to  enter  the  Church 
— to  give  himself  to  God.  His  excellent  parents  encouraged  his  noble  reso- 
lution, and  he  began  his  theological  studies  in  Carlow  College.  Here  his 
splendid  talents  were  brought  out  in  all  their  shining  greatness.  Before  he 
was  ordained,  Dr.  Moylan,  the  venerable  bishop  of  Cork,  recalled  him  to 
his  own  diocese,  and  appointed  the  student  of  theology  president  of  the  Dio- 
cesan Seminary  at  Cork.  He  was  ordained  in  October,  1S08,  Dr.  Moylan 
having  obtained  a  dispensation,  as  Mr.  England  had  not  reached  the  canon- 
ical age  of  twenty-five. 

His  career  as  a  fearless  priest  and  patriot  now  made  him  a  man  of  mark 
— revered  and  loved  by  the  Irish  people — feared  and  hated  by  the  govern- 
ment. As  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Cork  Chronicle,  he  hurled  forth 
articles  that  fell  like  thunderbolts  among  his  political  and  religious  enemies. 
On  one  occasion  he  was  even  fined  the  round  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds 
for  his  freedom  of  speech.  But  though  rich  in  truth,  he  was  poor  in  money ; 
and  while  he  continued  to  give  out  the  former  with  a  lavish  hand,  he  took 
good  care  not  to  pay  cash  that  he  did  not  owe.  Father  England  was  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  illustrious  O'Connell ;  and  by  his  powerful  pen  he 
did  much  to  hasten  Catholic  emancipation  in  Ireland. 

In  18 17  Rev.  Mr.  England  was  appointed  parish  priest  of  Bandon,  a 
place  of  such  bitter  bigotry  that  over  the  entrance  was  placed  the  famous 
inscription  which  warmly  welcomed  "the  Turk,  the  Atheist,  and  the  Jew," 
but  severely  warned  "the  Papist"  to  keep  away.  The  fearless  priest,  how- 
ever, entered  on  his  duties,  undeterred  even  by  this  inscription.  On  several 
occasions  his  hair-breadth  escapes  from  murder  are  thrilling  enough  to  have 
occurred   in   border   Indian  life.     But  even  in  these  dangerous  adventures, 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  279 

God  had  His  designs  on  the  future  American  prelate.  Such  training  admira- 
bly fitted  him  for  the  toilsome  and  thorny  road  which  he  was  to  travel  in 
our  own  republic. 

During  the  first  three  years  of  his  episcopate,  Bishop  England  kept  a  diary ; 
and  from  it  we  make  some  selections.     It  opens  thus: 

"  On  Monday,  the  10th  of  July,  1820,  I  received  in  Bandon  a  letter  from 
the  Rev.  Henry  Hughes,  dated  June  17,  1820,  at  Rome,  informing  me  that 
on  the  preceding  Monday  I  had  been  appointed  bishop  of  Charleston,  in 
South  Carolina,  and  requesting  of  me,  for  various  reasons  therein  alleged,  to 
accept  of  this  appointment. 

"September  21st. — I  received  the  grace  of  episcopal  consecration  in  the 
Catholic  Church  of  St.  Finbar,  in  the  city  of  Cork,  from  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr. 
Murphy,  bishop  of  the  diocese,  assisted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Maram,  bishop 
of  Ossory,  and  Kelly,  first  bishop  of  Richmond  (Va.),  whose  appointment 
was  subsequent  to  mine,  but  whose  consecration  took  place  at  Kilkenny,  on 
the  24th  of  August.  There  were  present  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Everard, 
archbishop  of  Mytelene,  coadjutor  of  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Bray,  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Drs.  Coppinger,  of  Cloyne  and  Ross,  Sughrue, 
of  Ardfert  and  Aghadoc  (Kerry),  and  Tuohy,  of  Limerick. 

"October  nth. — Having  many  applications  from  priests  and  candidates 
for  places  on  the  American  mission,  I  appointed  my  brother,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
R.  England  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  O'Keefe,  my  vicars-general,  for  the  pur- 
pose principally  of  selecting  such  of  those  as  I  may  afterwards  want,  and  if 
necessary,  having  them  ordained. 

"  This  day  was  the  anniversary — twelve  years — of  my  ordination  to  the 
priesthood.  On  this  day  I  parted  from  my  family,  to  go  whither  I  thought 
God  had  called  me,  but  whither  I  had  no  other  desire  to  go.  Should  this  be 
read  by  a  stranger,  let  him  pardon  that  weakness  of  our  common  nature 
which  then  affected  me,  and  does  now,  after  the  lapse  of  three  months. 

"December  26th. — Found  soundings  in  thirty-five  fathoms  water,  and  on 
the  next  day  saw  the  Hunting  Islands,  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  after 
a  very  tedious  and  unpleasant  passage.  On  the  evening  of  the  27th,  came  to 
anchor  off  Charleston,  and  on  the  2Sth  crossed  it,  and  worked  up  the  channel, 
and  came  to  anchor  in  the  evening. 

"  December  30th. — Came  on  shore  in  Charleston;  saw  the  Rev.  Benedict 
Fenwick,  S.  J.,  who  was  vicar-general  of  the  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  who 
exhibited  to  me  his  papers.     I  gave  him  my  bulls  and  certificates,  received  the 


28o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

resignation  of  his  authority,  and  renewed  his  faculties  of  vicar-general  for  mv 
diocese,  as  bishop  of  Charleston,  which  he  accepted. 

"December  31st. — Being  Sunday,  I  had  the  happiness  of  celebrating 
Mass,  took  possession  of  the  church,  had  my  bulls  published,  and  preached." 

It  may  be  said  that  Bishop  England  began  his  labors  in  America  on 
New  Years' day,  1 82 1.  His  newly-erected  diocese  embraced  three  states — 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  The  Catholic  Church  had 
barely  an  existence  in  this  region.  The  people  were  extremely  bigoted. 
The  difficulties  of  Dr.  England,  therefore,  can  be  imagined,  rather  than  por- 
trayed ;  but  his  master-spirit  pointed  out  the  line  of  duty,  and  the  success  of 
his  toils  was  one  of  the  noblest  triumphs  of  the  Faith  in  this  republic. 

On  making  a  rapid  survey  of  the  situation,  he  found  but  two  churches 
open  in  his  large  diocese;  and  his  clergy  were  as  numerous  as  the  houses  of 
worship!  The  annointed  herald  of  the  cross,  however,  came  bravely  up  to 
his  work.  Around  him  churches  began  to  rise.  He  traveled,  preached, 
taught,  and  confirmed.  Wherever  he  found  a  few  scattered  Catholic 
families  in  hamlet,  town,  or  city,  he  assembled  them,  formed  an  organization, 
and  encouraged  them  to  hold  together  until  he  could  send  them  a  pastor.  As 
for  himself,  he  performed  all  the  labors  and  endured  all  the  hardships  of  a 
missionary  priest.  He  traveled  hundreds  of  miles.  His  noble  spirit  of 
poverty  and  self-sacrifice  reminds  us  of  the  illustrious  De  Br^beuf.  Such, 
indeed,  was  this  great  bishop's  personal  poverty  that  he  often  walked  the 
burning  sands  and  pavements  of  Charleston  with  his  bare  feet  on  the  ground 
The  soles  of  his  shoes  had  been  worn  away,  and  the  upper  leather  only 
remained  decent! 

The  first  thing  Dr.  England  did  after  his  arrival,  was  to  make  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  his  poor  but  widely-spread  diocese. 
He  found  upon  inquiry,  that  there  was  a  congregation  at  Savannah,  but  that  it 
had  been  deserted.  He  therefore  determined,  without  delay,  to  visit  Savannah, 
Augusta,  Columbia,  and  other  towns  within  his  jurisdiction.  Appointing 
Father  Benedict  J.  Fenwick,  S.  J.,  his  vicar-general,  with  full  powers,  until 
his  return  to  Charleston,  and  requesting  him  to  purchase  ground  for  a  second 
church  in  that  city,  and  if  possible  procure  a  good  site  for  a  cathedral,  the 
apostolic  bishop  boarded  the  sloop  Delight,  and  sailed  for  Savannah  on  the 
15th  of  January,  1821. 

He  found  that  there  had  been  no  priest  in  that  city  since  the  previous 
October;  and   to  repair  the   evil  caused   by   the  want  of  a  clergyman  tor   so 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  28 1 

long  a  time,  he  commenced  a  vigorous  course  of  instruction,  followed  by  the 
administration  of  the  holy  sacraments.  The  following  entry  in  his  diary 
affords  an  idea  of  Dr.  England's  energy,  and  of  the  attention  which,  in  a  few 
days,  he  had  excited  among  non-Catholics. 

"January  21st. — Heard  confessions,  celebrated  the  Holy  Mass  and 
administered  the  Holy  Communion  to  twenty-seven  persons.  Gave  confir- 
mation to  fifteen  persons.  At  half-past  ten  o'clock,  I  spoke  on  the  erection  of 
the  see,  on  my  own  authority,  and  publicly  committed  the  flock  of  Savannah 
to  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Browne  until  I  should  think  proper  to  remove 
him;  and  after  Mass  I  preached  to  a  large  congregation,  amongst  whom 
were  the  principal  lawyers  of  Savannah,  and  many  other  strangers.  In  the 
evening  I  had  vespers,  and  gave  an  exhortation  and  benediction — church 
crowded  and  surrounded." 

The  next  entry  records  the  same  round  of  duty  with  this  added :  "  Was 
asked  by  the  mayor  and  others  to  preach  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
which  I  declined  for  the  present." 

Appointing  "John  Dillon  to  read  prayers  for  Mass  on  Sunday,"  until 
the  return  of  Rev.  Father  Browne,  whom  he  took  with  him  on  his  visitation. 
Dr.  England  proceeded  to  Augusta,  which  he  reached  only  after  two  days  of 
hard  traveling.  After  some  brief  but  energetic  work  in  this  city,  where  he 
administered  confirmation  "  to  John  McCormack,  Esq.,  and  forty-eight 
others,"  he  set  out  for  Locust  Grove,  whose  Catholic  congregation  had  not 
seen  a  priest  for  several  years. 

"  Arrived  there  at  nightfall,"  continues  the  diary,  "  and  was  most  kindly 
received  by  old  and  young  Mrs.  Thompson,  to  the  former  of  whom  great 
merit  is  due  before  God,  for  preserving  the  Faith  in  this  country.  This  was 
the  first  Catholic  congregation  in  Georgia;  it  was  formed  in  1794  or  1795,  by 
the  settlement  of  Mrs.  Thompson's  family  and  a  few  others  from  Maryland. 
Bishop  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  sent  the  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Mercier  to  attend  them. 
After  eighteen  months  he  went  to  Savannah;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Sajet  then 
remained  seventeen  months,  and  returned  to  France.  There  was  no  clergy- 
man there  until  November,  1S10,  when  the  Rev.  Robert  Browne  came  to  take 
charge  of  Augusta  and  its  vicinity,  and  remained  until  18 15.  This  place  was 
occasionally  visited  by  Rev.  Mr.  Egan  and  Rev.  Mr.  Cooper." 

It  was  at  Locust  Grove  that  Bishop  England  preached  his  first  open-air 
sermon.  "  The  church  being  too  small,"  he  writes,  "  and  several  persons 
having  collected  from  various  parts  of  the  neighborhood,  I  preached  from  an 
elevation  outside  to  about  four  hundred  persons." 

Of  Warrington  he  says :"  I  met  three  Cherokee   Indians,  viz.,  Colonel 


282  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Dick,  who  speaks  a  ljttle  English,  John  Thompson,  and  Sampson,  to  whom 
I  gave  their  breakfast.  I  showed  the  colonel  my  r#lg  and  cross,  of  which  he 
took  particular  notice,  and  I  told  him  I  intended  visiting  his  nation ;  he  said  he 
would  know  me." 

On  reaching  Columbia,  Dr.  England  found  a  flock  consisting  "  of  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  principally  Irish  laborers  employed  in  making 
the  canal."  There  was  no  church,  and  the  bishop  "  therefore  preached  in  the 
court-house  that  night  to  a  very  numerous  congregation,"  mostly  Protestants. 
He  made  strenuous  efforts  to  begin  a  church;  and  on  his  committee  of  collec- 
tion we  see  such  genuine  Irish  Catholic  names  as  Peter  McGuire  and  John 
Heffernan. 

Bishop  England  now  returned  to  Charleston,  and  addressed  himself  to 
the  great  labor  of  his  life.  He  began  a  course  of  lectures,  which  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  fame  that  ere  long  spread  through  every  state  in  the  Union. 
During  the  Lent  he  discussed  the  principal  truths  of  religion  in  a  way  which 
did  not  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  most  thoughtful  and  intellectual. 
Nor  was  this  labor  without  its  reward.  In  his  diary  we  find  the  names  of 
several  converts  recorded,  including  that  of  "  a  lawyer  of  eminence." 

In  the  last  week  of  Lent,  we  find  this  sleepless  toiler  in  God's  vineyard 
issuing  his  first  book.  It  was  a  catechism,  which,  he  says,  "  I  had  much  labor 
in  compiling  from  various  others,  and  adding  several  parts  which  I  considered 
necessary  to  be  explicitly  dwelt  upon  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  my 
diocese." 

In  the  spring  of  1821  he  established  the  "Book  Society,"  and  had  the 
necessary  measures  taken  to  form  a  general  committee,  and  to  have  the 
society  extended  throughout  the  whole  diocese. 

The  following  quotation  from  Dr.  England's  diary  is  sadly  suggestive  in 
relation  to  the  state  of  the  Catholics  at  the  South.  It  was  written  of  Wilming- 
ton, but  might  be  truthfully  applied  to  many  other  places: 

"May  1 6th  (1S21). — Celebrated  Mass  at  my  lodgings,  and  gave  an  ex- 
hortation to  those  who  attended.  After  breakfast  met  the  Catholics,  about 
twenty  men — not  a  woman  or  child  of  the  Catholic  faith.  No  priest  had 
ever  been  fixed  here,  nor  in  the  neighborhood.  A  Rev.  Mr.  Burke  had 
spent  a  fortnight  here,  about  twenty-five  years  before,  and  a  Jesuit,  going  to 
some  Spanish  settlement,  spent  two  or  three  days  in  the  town,  about  the  year 
1815,  and  baptized  the  children  of  Mr. ;  but  their  mother  being  a  Method- 
ist, they  were  not  educated  in  the  Faith. 

"  The  Catholics  who  live  here,  and   they  who  occasionally   come   here, 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  283 

were  in  the  habit  of  going  to  other  places  of  worship — Episcopal,  Protestant, 
Methodist,  and  Presbyterian — and  had  nearly  lost  all  idea  of  Catholicity.  I 
spoke  on  the  necessity  of  their  assembling  together  on  Sundays  for  prayer 
and  instruction,  and  of  their  forming  a  branch  of  the  Book  Society,  to  both 
of  which  they  readily  agreed,  and  then  recommended  their  entering  into  a 
subscription  to  procure  a  lot  for  a  church,  and  to  commence  building,  as  I 
would  take  care  they  should  be  occasionally  visited  by  a  priest.  I  also 
exhorted  them  to  prepare  for  the  sacraments. 

"  I  received  an  invitation  from  the  pastor  and  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  use  their  building  (the  best  in  the  town),  which,  upon  considera- 
tion, I  accepted.  I  was  waited  upon  by  the  Protestant  minister,  who  offered 
me  his  church  also,  which,  of  course,  I  declined,  as  having  accepted  of  the 
other.  In  the  evening  I  preached  to  a  very  large  congregation,  on  the  nature 
of  the  Catholic  religion." 

As  years  went  on  so  did  the  fame  of  Bishop  England  increase,  until  the 
time  came  when,  from  one  end  of  the  republic  to  the  other,  his  bright  name 
became  a  household  word  with  Catholics  of  every  nationality,  who  recog- 
nized in  him  a  heroic  champion,  fully  equipped,  and  equal  to  the  good  fight. 
The  feelings  of  his  own  countrymen  towards  him  cannot  be  described,  so 
intense  was  their  pride  in  his  great  qualities — his  matchless  power  of  tongue 
and  pen,  his  resistless  force  as  a  controversialist,  his  wonderful  capacity  for 
public  affairs — the  nobleness  and  grandeur  of  his  nature,  which  all  men 
respected,  and  which  made  for  him  the  fastest  friends,  even  among  those  who 
were  not  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

There  were,  it  is  true,  other  great  and  good  bishops  who,  by  their  holy 
lives  and  lofty  characters,  commanded  a  respectful  toleration  for  their  faith; 
but  Dr.  England  extorted  respect  for  his  religion  by  the  magic  power  with 
which  he  unfolded  its  principles  to  those  who  crowded  around  him  wherever 
he  went,  and  refuted  the  calumnies  and  misrepresentations  that  had  been  the 
stock-in-trade  of  the  enemies  of  the  ancient  Faith  for  centuries.  Like  all 
Catholic  Irishmen  of  that  day,  as  also  of  the  present,  the  great  prelate  became 
an  American  citizen  as  soon  as  the  law  would  permit;  nor  did  he  ever  cease 
to  identify  himself  thoroughly  with  his  adopted  country,  proud  of  her  great- 
ness, jealous  of  her  honor,  loving  her  beyond  all  others,  save  that  dear  old 
land  whose  recollections  lay  fondly  cherished  down  deep  in  his  heart. 

The  great  aim  of  Bishop  England's  life  in  this  country  seems  to  have 
been  to  present  the  Catholic  Church,  her  doctrines  and  practices,  in  all  their 
truth  and  beauty  and  grandeur  before  the  American  people.  In  his  efforts 
to  do  this,  his  labors,  perhaps,  have  never  been  equalled  by  any  other  man. 


2g4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

It  was  with  this  object  he  established  the  United  States  Catholic  Miscellany, 
in  1822.  On  his  arrival  in  America  he  found  the  Catholic  Church  compara- 
tively defenseless;  but  he  soon  rendered  it  a  dangerous  task  to  attack  or  vilify 
the  Faith  of  ages.  Many  who  ventured  on  this  mode  of  warfare  were  glad 
to  retreat  from  the  field  before  the  crushing  weapons  of  logic,  erudition,  and 
eloquence  with  which  he  battled  for  his  Church,  his  creed,  and  his  people. 

He  was  the  real  founder  of  Catholic  journalism  in  this  republic.  He 
saw  that  our  religion  was  regarded  with  contempt;  and  to  him  fell  the  splen- 
did work  of  changing  the  current  of  public  opinion,  of  giving  the  Catholic 
Church  a  certain  respectability — a  status  in  this  republic.  A  prelate  endowed 
with  such  grasp  of  mind  at  once  perceived  the  value  of  the  press.  For 
twenty  years  the  product  of  Dr.  England's  magic  pen  appeared  in  the  col- 
umns of  the  Catholic  Miscellany.  His  accomplished  young  sister  was  for  a 
time  his  second  self  in  the  management  of  the  paper;  and  it  is  said  she  often 
toned  down  the  fierce  logic  of  his  bold  and  pointed  articles,  while  by  her  own 
contributions  the  pages  of  the  journal  were  frequently  graced  and  enriched. 
But  God  called  away  this  gifted  and  beautiful  girl,  and  the  illustrious  bishop 
shed  many  a  tear  on  her  untimely  grave.  Under  such  noble  auspices  began 
our  first  American  Catholic  newspaper. 

Bishop  England's  diocese,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  embraced  three 
large  states,  with  a  poor  and  scattered  population.  It  was  a  vast  territory, 
and  everything  was  to  create.  But  the  energy  and  zeal  of  this  extraordinary 
man  were  equal  to  the  difficulties  of  his  mission.  He  toiled  and  traveled  in 
this  manner. 

He  possessed  a  little  carriage  and  two  strong  ponies,  which  he  managed 
to  purchase,  with  the  aid  of  a  few  moneyed  friends,  and,  accompanied  by  a 
negro  boy  as  driver,  he  would  push  on  from  place  to  place,  preaching, 
instructing,  and  administering  the  sacraments;  and  on  his  return — it  might  be 
in  three,  six,  or  even  nine  months — he  would  readily  and  even  profitably  dis- 
pose of  his  cattle,  then  more  valuable  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  journey, 
owing  to  the  training  to  which  they  had  been  subjected. 

Many  a  strange  incident,  and  even  startling  adventure,  occurred  to  the 
apostolic  traveler  during  his  long  journeys,  at  a  time  when  the  roads  were  lit- 
tle better  than  mere  tracks.  The  population  was  thinly  scattered,  and  even  the 
rudest  sort  of  accommodation  was  not  always  to  be  had.  Often  the  shelter 
of  the  forest  was  all  that  could  be  obtained  for  the  traveler. 

Once  in  a  town  or  city,  he  was  sure  of  being  well  received.     Prejudice,,. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  285 

it  is  true,  kept  some  aloof  from  the  "  popish  bishop,"  but  American  curiosity 
and  the  irrepressible  desire  to  listen  to  sermons,  discourses,  and  lectures  of 
any  description,  impelled  numbers  to  hear  a  man  who  was  famous  for  his 
eloquence.  Halls,  court-houses,  concert-rooms,  churches  and  chapels,  would, 
be  freely  placed  at  his  disposal ;  and,  indeed,  the  probability  is  that  he  rarely 
suffered  from  lack  of  hospitality  under  such  circumstances. 

There  were  occasions,  however,  when  the  bishop  found  it  difficult 
enough  to  make  out  a  dinner,  or  secure  the  shelter  of  a  roof  against  the  night. 
Even  in  the  Southern  states,  which  are  proverbial  for  the  unaffected  hospi- 
tality of  their  people,  churls  were  to  be  met  with — at  least,  in  Dr.  England's 
time. 

One  evening,  as  the  bishop  of  Charleston  was  traveling  along,  accom- 
panied by  Father  O'Neill,  one  of  his  few  priests,  he  drew  up  at  a  house  of 
rather  moderate  dimensions.  The  master  proved  to  be  a  mixture  of  surliness 
and  bad  nature.  Dinner  was  called,  and  given,  and  an  exorbitant  price 
charged.  But  there  was  to  be  no  further  accommodation.  "You  cannot 
stop  to-night,  no  how,"  exclaimed  the  agreeable  owner  of  the  mansion;  and 
his  ugly  features  seemed  to  be  as  emphatic  as  his  language. 

After  dinner,  Dr.  England  took  a  chair  on  the  piazza,  and  read  his  office. 
Father  O'Neill,  having  no  desire  to  enjoy  the  company  of  his  unwilling  enter- 
tainer, sauntered  towards  the  carriage,  a  little  distance  off,  where  the  boy  was 
feeding  the  horses;  and  taking  his  flute  from  the  portmanteau,  he  sat  on  a  log, 
and  began  his  favorite  air,  "  The  Last  Rose  of  Summer."  The  toil-worn 
Irish  priest  seemed  to  breathe  the  very  soul  of  tenderness  into  this  exquisite 
melody.  From  one  beautiful  air  the  player  wandered  to  another,  while  the 
negro  boy  grinned  with  delight,  and  even  the  horses  seemed  to  enjoy  their 
food  with  a  keener  relish.  Here,  indeed,  was  exemplified  the  saying  that — 
"Music  hath  charms  to  soothe  the  savage  breast." 

As  the  sweet  notes  stole  along  on  the  soft  air  of  a  southern  night,  and 
reached  the  inhospitable  residence,  a  head  was  eagerly  thrust  forth,  and  the 
projecting  ears  thereof  appeared  eagerly  to  drink  in  the  flood  of  melody.  It 
seemed  celestial.  Another  lovely  air  began — one  of  those  which  bring  pearly 
tear-drops  to  the  eye,  and  fill  the  heart  with  the  balm  of  happiness — and  was 
playing  with  lingering  sweetness,  when  a  voice,  husky  with  suppressed  emo- 
tion, was  heard  uttering  these  words:  "Strangers!  don't  go! — stay  all  night. 
We'll  fix  you  somehow." 

It  was  the  voice  of  the  surly  but  now  charmed  host!     That  evening  the 


286  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

two  guests  enjoyed  the  best  seats  around  the  hearth,  Father  O'Neill  playing 
till  a  late  hour  for  the  family. 

Next  morning  the  master  of  the  house  would  not  accept  of  the  least 
compensation.  "No,  no,  bishop!  No,  no,  Mr.  O'Neill! — not  a  cent!  you're 
heartily  welcome  to  it.  Come  as  often  as  you  please,  and  stay  as  long  as  you 
wish;  we'll  be  always  glad  to  see  you;  but — "  as  he  directed  his  words  to 
Father  O'Neill — "be  sure  and  don't  forget  the  flute!" 

The  eager  desire  to  hear  Bishop  England  was  not  confined  to  any  par- 
ticular class.  It  was  common  to  all.  A  somewhat  curious  instance,  illustra- 
tive of  his  popularity  as  a  preacher,  occurred  during  one  of  his  journeys. 
Arriving  at  a  kind  of  wayside  inn,  or  what  may  be  described  as  a  carman's 
stage,  Dr.  England  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  large  convoy  of  cotton- 
wagons,  drawn  by  mules  and  horses,  with  a  number  of  drivers  and  attendants, 
both  white  and  colored. 

The  prelate's  ponies  had  been  fed,  and  he  was  just  about  to  resume  his 
journey,  when  a  grave,  elderly  man,  who  seemed  to  be  in  command, 
approached  him,  with  every  mark  of  respect,  and  said:  "Stranger,  are  you 
Bishop  England?  " 

The  bishop  answered,  "Yes." 

"Well,  Mr.  Bishop,"  continued  the  grave  personage,  "we've  heard  tell 
of  you  much.  The  folks  around  say  you  are  the  most  all-fired  powerful 
preacher  in  this  country.  I  had  to  leave  Washington  before  you  got  there; 
and  I  can't  get  to  Milledgeville  till  you're  gone.  Would  you,  Mr.  Bishop,  mind 
giving  us  a  bit  of  a  sermon  right  here?  It'll  obleege  me  and  my  friends 
much — do,  Mr.  Bishop." 

"Do,  Mr.  Bishop!"  was  taken  up  in  full  chorus,  by  the  rest. 
The  appeal  so  urged  was  irresistible,  and  the  zealous  missionary  yielded 
a  ready  assent. 

The  bishop  took  his  stand  on  the  stump  of  a  tree  which  had  been  cut 
down  to  widen  the  road.  The  branches  of  a  huge  elm  flung  their  welcome 
shadow  over  the  preacher  and  the  attentive  group  that  clustered  around  in 
mute  expectation. 

It  was  a  scene  for  a  painter — the  dense,  overhanging  forest,  the  rude, 
weather-stained  log-house,  the  open  clearing,  lit  up  by  a  glowing  southern 
sun,  the  large,  rough  wagons,  with  their  horses  and  mules,  the  hardy, 
bronzed  countenances  of  the  whites,  and  the  great  rolling  eyes  and  gleaming 
teeth  of  negroes  of  every  hue  and  tint.     But  the  chief  figure  of  all  was  not 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  2S7 

unworthy  of  its  prominence — a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  of  well-knit  and 
powerful  frame.  His  face  was  strong,  massive,  dark,  and  full  of  power  and 
passion.  His  eye  gleamed  with  the  fire  that  glowed  within,  and  his  look 
seemed  to  search  the  very  depths  of  the  soul.  This  was  Dr.  England,  as  he 
stood  upon  that  stump  by  the  wayside. 

Soon  the  willing  audience  was  bound  by  the  spell  of  his  eloquence,  as  he 
unfolded  before  them  the  solemn  truths  of  religion,  and  explained  to  them 
their  duties  to  God  and  to  their  fellow-men.  He  had  been  about  twenty 
minutes  addressing  the  crowd,  when  the  leader  stepped  forward,  and,  raising 
his  hand,  said:  "That  will  do,  Mr.  Bishop,  that  will  do.  We're  much 
obleeged  to  you,  Mr.  Bishop.  Its  all  just  as  the  folks  say — you're  an  all-fired 
powerful  preacher.  We'd  like  to  hear  you  always,  but  we  mustn't  stop  you 
now.     Thank  you,  Mr.  Bishop — thank  you,  Mr.  Bishop." 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Bishop,"  cried  the  rest  in  chorus.  And  amid  a  wild 
cheer  that  would  have  tried  the  nerves  of  horses  less  trained  than  his,  Bishop 
England  continued  his  journey. 

The  illustrious  bishop's  tact  and  fund  of  wit  were  equal  to  his  eloquence, 
and  more  than  once  he  had  occasion  to  summon  them  into  service.  We  have 
but  room  for  an  instance.  He  was  traveling,  on  one  occasion,  in  the  same 
stage  with  a  conceited  young  preacher.  The  young  man  would  break  a 
lance  with  the  great  "  popish  bishop ;"  and,  perhaps,  the  happy  result  might 
become  known  even  in  the  halls  of  the  Vatican.  Dr.  England  was  engaged 
in  earnest  conversation  with  some  fellow-passengers;  but  that  did  not  prevent 
the  preacher  from  asking  questions  about  the  "  scarlet  woman,"  "  anti-Christ," 
the  "  pope,"  etc.  Paul  was  continually  quoted.  It  was  nothing  but  Paui 
here,  and  Paul  there,  and  how  could  the  "  Romanists"  answer  Paul? 

At  first  the  bishop  paid  no  attention.  But  as  the  ill-bred  preacher  stuck  to 
his  points  with  the  pertinacity  of  a  gad-fly,  the  nuisance  became  intolerable. 
Confronting  the  uncourteous  vender  of  texts,  Dr.  England  directed  the  blaze 
of  his  great  eyes,  which  gleamed  with  fun  and  fire,  upon  him,  and  gave  utter- 
ance to  this  strange  rebuke:  "Young  man!  if  you  have  not  faith  and  piety 
sufficient  to  induce  you  to  call  the  apostle,  <  Saint  Paul,'  at  least  have  the  gooa 
manners  to  call  him  'Mister  Paul;'  and  do  not  be  perpetually  calling  him 
'  Paul,'  '  Paul,'  as  if  you  considered    him  no  better  than  a  negro." 

The  words,  assisted  by  the  comical  gravity  with  which  they  were  uttered, 
and  enforced  by  the  roar  of  laughter  with  which  they  were  received  by  the 
delighted    passengers,  extinguished    the    poor    preacher,    who    rapidly    hid 


2^8  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

himself  in  the  town  at  which  the  stage  arrived.  Nor  did  the  affair  end  here. 
The  story  got  abroad,  and  the  next  Sunday,  while  the  preacher  was  enlight- 
ening an  audience,  some  irreverent  wag  interrupted  him  by  repeating, 
"  Mister  Paul — Mister  Paul."  The  absurdity  of  the  affair  even  obliged  him 
\o  leave  for  parts  unknown ! 

Bishop  England  was  the  reviver  of  classical  learning  in  South  Carolina. 
With  the  object  of  providing  a  clergy  of  his  own  for  the  diocese,  several 
candidates  having  applied  to  him,  he  opened  at  Charleston  a  classical  school, 
in  which  these  aspirants  to  the  holy  ministry  were  made  teachers,  while  they 
pursued  their  theological  studies  under  Dr.  England  himself.  This  school 
received  numerous  scholars  from  the  best  families  of  the  city,  and  yielded  a 
sufficient  income  to  support  the  theological  students  while  preparing  for  the 
priesthood. 

The  exercises  of  the  school,  and  its  public  exhibitions,  gave  boundless 
satisfaction  to  its  patrons  and  friends.  The  scholars  increased  to  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty,  and  the  bishop,  encouraged  by  the  bright  prospects 
before  him,  incurred  a  heavy  liability  in  securing  the  services  of  additional 
teachers  of  the  highest  capacity.  But,  unhappily,  at  this  juncture  the  pent-up 
bigotry  of  the  opposing  sects  burst  forth  into  a  storm  of  opposition  against 
the  school,  and,  in  general,  against  "  the  errors  and  deformities  of  popery." 

The  press  and  the  pulpit  rang  loudly  with  the  denunciations  of  fanaticism. 
Bigotry  grew  loud-mouthed.  Protestants  were  told  that  they  were  taxing 
themselves  to  set  up  the  "  Romish"  Church,  and  to  educate  a  "  Romish" 
clergy.  The  public  assurances  of  Dr.  England,  that  his  school  was  exclusively 
classical,  and  that  no  religious  exercises  or  instructions  were  used,  had  no  effect. 

Protestantism  was  alarmed.  The  Protestant  schools  were  re-opened, 
The  College  of  Charleston — which  had  been  suspended  for  some  time — was 
revived,  and  a  new  impetus  given  to  sectarianism. 

The  bishop's  school  and  seminary,  though  enfeebled,  was  not  annihilated. 
It  continued  to  bestow  a  thorough  classical  and  mathematical  education  upon 
the  students  who  resorted  to  it,  and  supported  the  ecclesiastical  seminary* 
This  seminary,  under  Dr.  England's  care,  trained  up  an  able,  educated  clergy 
for  the  diocese  of  Charleston,  and  prepared  for  the  ministry  some  of  the  most 
honored  clergymen  of  other  dioceses. 

Thus  the  great  Catholic  bishop  found  time  amidst  his  pressing  avoca- 
tions to  promote  the  spread  of  literary  and  scientific  knowledge  in  the  city  of 
Charleston;   and   as  a  minister   of  peace,  he   fulfilled   his  vocation    by    the 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  289 

formation  of  an  Anti-Dueling  Association,  of  which  General  Pinckney,  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  was  the  president.  Dr.  England's  address  before  this 
association,  against  the  wildly  stupid  practice  called  dueling,  is  one  of  the 
most  forcible  and  masterly  productions  ever  penned  in  any  language. 

At  the  suggestion  of  some  of  the  southern  members  of  congress,  the 
bishop  was  invited  to  preach  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  at 
Washington.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  was  the  first  Catholic  clergy- 
man ever  occupying  that  place.  His  discourse  was  a  noble  production,  full  of 
charity,  kindness,  and  winning  grandeur. 

There  was  no  portion  of  the  American  Church  in  which  Dr.  England's 
influence  was  not  felt.  He  was  constantly  consulled  by  bishops,  priests,  and 
laymen  from  every  part  of  the  country.  At  Rome  his  influence  in  Church 
matters  in  this  country  was  very  great.  The  cardinals  called  him  the 
*'  Steam  Bishop"  of  America. 

Wherever  the  Church  was  afflicted  or  wounded,  he  left  no  remedy  unap- 
plied. His  gifted  mind  and  sound  judgment  brought  all  their  forces  to  bear 
on  such  troubles.  His  efforts  to  heal  the  schism  in  the  Church  at  Philadel- 
phia were  untiring  and  generous;  and  although  his  endeavors,  like  so  many 
others,  proved  unavailing,  no  one  could  have  struggled  more  than  he  did  to 
achieve  success. 

Thus  we  see  that  his  zeal  was  not  confined  to  his  own  diocese.  In  com- 
pliance with  the  invitations  of  the  bishops  and  priests  of  other  states,  this 
extraordinary  man  often  went  to  herald  the  truths  of  the  Catholic  Church,  or 
to  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  poor  and  afflicted,  in  his  own  matchless  style.  We 
learn  that  in  the  summer  of  1830  he  lectured  in  Cincinnati;  and,  as  a  writer 
of  the  time  says,  "  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  the  enquiry  for  religious  truth 
by  a  course  of  lectures  preached  in  the  Cincinnati  Cathedral  by  the  illustrious 
John  England,  bishop  of  Charleston." 

During  one  of  his  visitations,  Dr.  England  had  been  obliged  with  the 
loan  of  a  Protestant  church  for  the  purpose  of  delivering  a  course  of  lectures 
on  the  Catholic  religion.  On  Saturday  evening  the  regular  pastor  came  to 
him  to  "  ask  a  favor." 

"  I  am  sure,"  said  the  bishop,  "  you  would  not  ask  what  I  would  not 
readily  grant." 

"  Occupy  my  pulpit,  then,  to-morrow!"  continued  the  minister.     "I  have 

been  so  much  engrossed  by  your  lectures  through  the  week  that  I  have  utterly 

forgotten  my  own  pastoral  charge,  and  I  am  unprepared  with  a  sermon." 
20 


2go  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  I  should  be  most  happy  to  oblige  you,"  returned  the  prelate  ;  "but  are 
you  aware  that  we  can  have  no  partnerships?" 

"I  have  thought  of  all  that,"  replied  the  minister.  "Regulate  everything 
as  you  think  proper." 

"  At  least,  I  can  promise  you,"  said  Dr.  England,  "  that  nothing  shall  be 
said  or  done  which  you  or  any  of  your  congregation  will  disapprove." 

On  the  morrow  the  novel  spectacle  was  seen  of  a  Catholic  bishop, 
arrayed  in  his  ordinary  episcopal  vesture,  advancing  to  the  pulpit  of  this 
Protestant  congregation.  He  invited  them  to  sing  some  hymns  he  had  pre- 
viously selected  from  those  they  were  accustomed  to  use.  He  then  read  to 
them  from  the  Douay  translation  of  the  bible,  recited  appropriate  prayers — 
such  as  all  could  freely  join  in — from  a  Catholic  prayer-book,  preached  them 
a  sound,  sensible  discourse,  and  dismissed  them  with  a  blessing.  And  that 
congregation  went  away,  wondering  if  such  could  be  the  doctrine  and  the 
worship  which  they  had  so  often  heard  denounced  as  "  the  doctrine  of  devils." 

It  was  the  custom  of  Bishop  England  to  wear  his  ordinary  episcopal 
robes — soutane,  rochet,  and  short,  purple  cape — whenever  he  was  preaching, 
whether  in  a  public  court-house  or  in  a  Protestant  church.  Many  of  these 
latter  buildings  being  in  his  time  rather  primitive  structures,  and  affording 
little  accommodation  for  robing,  he  was  frequently  compelled  to  perform  his 
ecclesiastical  toilet  behind  the  pulpit.  This  happened  on  one  occasion,  when 
his  fame  was  at  its  height,  and  people  of  every  creed,  as  well  as  class  and 
condition,  rushed  to  hear  the  famous  preacher.  One  of  the  robes  worn  by 
a  bishop,  the  rochet,  is  a  kind  of  surplice,  usually  made  of  muslin  or  fine 
linen,  and  trimmed  with  lace.  Dr.  England  remained  some  time  hidden 
from  the  view  of  the  audience,  probably  engaged  in  prayer  ;  and  the  expec- 
tation was  somewhat  increased  in  consequence. 

At  length,  one,  more  impatient  or  more  curious  than  the  rest,  ventured 
on  a  peep,  and  saw  the  bishop  in  his  rochet,  and  before  he  had  time  to  put 
on  his  cape  ;  and,  rather  forgetting  the  character  of  the  place,  and  the  nature 
of  the  occasion,  he  cried  out,  in  a  voice  that  rang  throughout  the  building — 
"Boys  !  the  bishop's  stripped  to  his  shirt! — he's  in  earnest,  I  tell  you  ;  and 
darn  me,  if  he  ain't  going  to  give  us  hell  this  time."  The  bishop,  who,  Irish- 
man-like, dearly  loved  a  joke,  and  who  frequently  told  the  story,  ever  with 
unabated  relish,  mounted  the  steps  of  the  pulpit,  and  looked  upon  his  audi- 
ence as  calmly  and  with  as  grave  a  countenance  as  if  these  strange  words  had 
never  reached  his  ears. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  291 

Dr.  England's  generous  heart  found  in  the  colored  population  of  his 
diocese  objects  of  his  most  paternal  care  and  tenderest  solicitude.  To  instruct 
them,  chiefly  in  relation  to  their  moral  and  religious  duties  and  obligations, 
was  a  favorite  work  of  his  zeal  and  charity.  His  own  Mass  on  Sundays  at 
the  Cathedral  was  offered  up  for  them,  and  the  house  of  God,  on  such  occa- 
sions, was  reserved  for  their  exclusive  accommodation. 

He  instructed  them  himself  at  Mass  from  the  same  pulpit  which  was 
made  famous  by  his  eloquence.  He  also  had  a  vesper  service  for  their  ben- 
efit. So  wonderful,  in  truth,  were  the  good  effects  of  his  ministry  amongst 
them,  especially  in  promoting  their  conscientious  regard  for  duty  and  fidelity 
in  their  peculiar  positions,  that  many  Protestant  planters  declared  their  wil- 
lingness to  give  him  every  facility  in  ministering  in  person,  or  by  his  clergy, 
on  their  plantations,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  ministers. 

It  was,  however,  when  Charleston  was  scourged  by  disease  that  the 
charity  and  heroism  of  the  bishop  were  put  to  the  test.  "  When  that  fright- 
ful scourge,"  writes  W.  G.  Read,  "the  yellow  fever,  desolated  Charleston, 
he  was  ever  at  his  post."  This  is  nothing  new  or  strange  to  those  who  know 
the  Catholic  priesthood.  But  when  the  Protestants  of  Charleston  saw  this 
apostolic  man  hurrying  under  the  fiery  noons  of  August  and  September,  or 
the  deadly  midnight  dew,  to  assist  and  console  the  victim  of  the  plague, 
usually  of  the  humblest  and  the  poorest,  they  could  not  but  exclaim,  in  the 
sincerity  of  their  wonder  and  admiration:  "  This  is  Christian  charity!" 

"A  near  relative  of  mine,  speaking  of  him  to  me,  said:  'I  met  him  one 
forenoon,  while  the  fever  was  at  its  highest,  brushing  along  through,  perhaps, 
the  hottest  street  in  the  city.  When  I  tell  you  he  was  blazing,  I  no  not 
exaggerate — he  was  literally  blazing!  The  fire  sparkled  from  his  cheeks, 
and  flashed  from  his  eyes!  I  shook  hands  with  him,  and  as  we  parted,  I 
thought  to  myself,  my  dear  fellow,  you  will  soon  have  enough  of  this! ' 

"  But  his  work  was  not  yet  done.  No!  Season  after  season,  amid  vice, 
squalidity,  and  wretchedness,  where  intemperance,  perhaps,  kept  maudlin 
watch  by  the  dying  and  the  dead ;  while  the  sob  of  sorrow  was  broken  by  the 
shriek  of  destitution  and  despair — there  still  stood  Bishop  England,  the  priest, 
the  father,  and  the  friend — to  assure  the  penitent — to  alarm  the  sinner — to  pity 
and  to  succor — baptized  again  and  again — unto  his  holy  function,  in  that 
frightful  black  vomit — the  direct  symptom  of  the  malady!" 

Too  soon,  alas!  was  the  life  of  the  great  heroic  bishop  to  come  to  a 
close.        Returning    from    Europe    in    a     ship     amongst     whose    steerage 


2q2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

passengers  malignant  dysentery  broke  out,  this  noble  Christian  minister 
labored  incessantly  in  the  service  of  the  sick.  He  was  at  once  priest,  doctor, 
and  nurse,  and  during  the  voyage  he  scarcely  ever  slept  in  his  cabin;  an  occa- 
sional doze  on  a  sofa  was  all  that  his  zeal  and  humanity  would  allow  him 
to  enjoy. 

Exhausted  in  mind  and  body,  and  with  the  seeds  of  the  fatal  disease  in 
his  constitution,  Dr.  England  landed  in  Philadelphia;  but  instead  of  betak- 
ing himself  to  his  bed,  and  placing  himself  under  the  care  of  a  physician,  he 
preached,  and  lectured,  and  transacted  an  amount  of  business  suited  only  to 
the  most  robust  health. 

In  Baltimore  he  stayed  four  days,  and  preached  five  times. 

"When  he  arrived  here,"  says  Mr.  Read,  "his  throat  was  raw  with  con- 
tinued exertion.  I  discovered  the  insidious  disease  that  was  sapping  his 
strength.  I  saw  his  constitution  breaking  up.  He  was  warned,  with  the 
solicitude  of  the  tenderest  affection,  against  continuing  these  destructive 
efforts.  The  weather  was  dreadful.  But  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  go  on.  He 
said  only,  '  I  hope  I  shall  not  drop  at  the  altar — if  I  do,  bring  me  home.' 
He  wished  to  do  the  work  he  was  sent  to  perform. 

"  Exhausted  by  fatigue,  overwhelmed  with  visitors,  he  was  yet  ready  at 
the  last  moment  to  give  an  audience  to  a  stranger  who  begged  admission  for 
the  solution  of  a  single  doubt;  and  never  did  I  listen  to  so  precise,  so  clear, 
so  convincing  an  exposition  of  the  transubstantiated  presence  of  our 
Redeemer  in  the  Holy  Eucharist.  His  auditor  was  a  person  of  intelligence 
and  candor,  and  the  bishop  exhausted,  for  his  instruction,  the  resources  of 
philosophical  objection  to  the  sacred  tenet;  to  show  how  futile  are  the  cavils 
of  man  in  opposition  to  the  explicit  declaration  of  God. 

His  death  was  worthy  of  his  grand  life.  Nothing  could  be  more  in 
keeping  with  the  character  of  the  Christian  bishop.  The  dying  words  of 
this  great  prelate  of  the  American  Church,  addressed  to  his  clergy,  who 
were  kneeling  round  his  bed,  were  noble  and  impressive,  full  of  paternal  sol- 
icitude for  his  flock,  and  the  most  complete  resignation  to  the  will  of  his 
Divine  Master.  He  humbly  solicited  the  forgiveness  of  his  clergy,  for  what- 
ever might  at  the  time  have  seemed  harsh  or  oppressive  in  his  conduct ;  but 
he  truly  declared,  that  he  had  acted  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  in  the  manner 
best  adapted  to  the  end  he  had  in  view — their  good. 

"I  confess,"  said  the  dying  prelate,  "it  has  likewise  happened,  owing 
partly  to  the  perplexities  of  my  position,  and  chiefly  to  my  own  impetuosity, 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  293 

that  my  demeanor  has  not  always  been  as  meek  and  courteous  as  it  ever 
should  have  been;  and  that  you  have  experienced  rebuffs,  when  you  might 
have  anticipated  kindness.  Forgive  me!  Tell  my  people  that  I  love  them — 
tell  them  how  much  I  regret  that  circumstances  have  kept  us  at  a  distance 
from  each  other.  My  duties  and  my  difficulties  have  prevented  me  from 
cultivating  and  strengthening  those  private  ties  which  ought  to  bind  us 
together;  your  functions  require  a  closer  and  constant  intercourse  with  them. 
Be  with  them — be  of  them — win  them  to  God.  Guide,  govern,  and  instruct 
them,  that  you  may  do  it  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief." 

In  this,  his  last  address,  he  did  not  forget  his  infant  institutions,  which 
were  never  so  dear  to  his  paternal  heart  as  at  that  moment,  when  he  appealed 
to  his  weeping  clergy  in  their  behalf;  and  to  the  sisters,  who  afterwards 
knelt  by  his  bedside,  he  bequeathed  lessons  of  wisdom  and  courage.  Almost 
his  last  words  were:  "I  had  hoped  to  rise — but  I  bow  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  accept  what  He  appoints."    He  calmly  expired  on  the  nth  of  April,  1S42. 

Bishop  England  was  a  fearless  man.  He  quailed  neither  before  deadly 
pestilence,  the  bloody  hand  of  the  assassin,  or  the  blind  passions  of  the  rabble. 
When  the  anti-Catholic  spirit  seized  on  the  mob  of  Charleston,  and  they 
threatened  to  burn  the  convent,  a  gallant  band  of  Irishmen  rallied  to  its 
defense;  and  Dr.  England  himself  coolly  and  carefully  examined  the  flints  of 
their  rifles,  to  be  satisfied  that  there  would  be  no  missing  fire — no  failure  of 
swift  and  summary  justice.  But  the  preparation  was  enough.  It  was  a  les- 
son the  ruffians  never  forgot. 

He  has  been  justly  styled  "the  author  of  our  provincial  councils."  His 
far-reaching  intellect  saw  the  imperfect  organization  of  the  American  Church 
— its  bishops  far  apart,  and  battling  with  poverty  and  countless  difficulties. 
He  wrote  to  his  brother  prelates,  urging  upon  them  the  necessity  of  assem- 
bling and  taking  counsel  for  united  action.  He  lived  to  see  this  cherished 
desire  of  his  heart  accomplished,  and  his  solid  and  brilliant  mind  shed  its  rays 
of  light  and  wisdom  on  the  first  councils  of  Baltimore. 

As  a  bishop  of  vast  mental  capacity,  as  a  profound  scholar,  eloquent 
preacher,  and  powerful  writer,  the  Catholic  Church  of  America  has  not  seen 
the  superior  of  Dr.  England.  His  influence,  when  he  could  gain  a  candid 
hearing,  was  simply  irresistible,  and  many  who  heard  the  surpassing  thrill  of 
his  eloquence  came  at  once  to  profess  the  ancient  Faith.  His  controversial 
writings  and  sermons  are  masterpieces.  Their  style  has  been  likened,  by  one 
who  often  heard   them,  "to  a  straight  bar  of  polished  steel,  connecting  his 


294  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

conclusions  with  his  premises,  with  the  light  of  heaven  Mazing  and  flashing 
about  it." 

On  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  England,  the  Very  Rev.  Richard  S. 
Baker  became  administrator,  till  March  19,  1844,  when  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Ignatius  Aloysius  Reynolds,  D.D.,  was  consecrated.  He  found  his  large  dio- 
cese, with  its  scattered  flock,  burthened  with  debt,  which  he  set  to  work  to 
meet,  and  eventually  discharged  almost  entirely.  The  cathedral,  seminary, 
and  bishop's  house  were  in  a  ruinous  condition.  After  satisfying  himself  of 
the  wants  of  his  flock,  he  went  to  Europe  to  obtain  aid,  and  on  his  return 
made  a  thorough  visitation  of  his  diocese,  held  a  synod,  and  promulgated  the 
decrees  of  the  Baltimore  councils.  Convinced  that  religion  would  gain  by  a 
division  of  the  diocese,  he  solicited  the  erection  of  a  see  at  Savannah;  and,  in 
1850,  Georgia,  with  East  Florida,  was  formed  into  a  separate  diocese.  This 
left  to  Charleston  the  two  Carolinas,  with  only  about  5,000  Catholics, 
attended  by  sixteen  priests.  The  Ursuline  community  had  meanwhile 
removed  to  Ohio. 

He  proceeded  to  collect  means  for  the  erection  of  a  Cathedral,  and  in 
May,  1S50,  began  that  edifice,  and  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  it  consecrated, 
April  6,  1854.  It  was  a  Gothic  Cathedral  of  brown  stone,  150  feet  in  length, 
with  a  spire  200  feet  high.  Another  great  work  was  the  foundation  of  St. 
Mary's  College,  at  Columbia.  Bishop  Reynolds  was  eloquent,  learned,  chari- 
table, and  zealous.  He  gave  himself  entirely  to  his  duties,  laboring  for  the 
good  of  his  people.  To  his  predecessor  he  erected  a  lasting  monument  by 
collecting  and  publishing  his  works  in  five  large  volumes. 

After  a  long  illness,  he  died  on  the  9th  of  March,  1855,  and  the  Very 
Rev.  P.  N.  Lynch,  D.D.,  became  administrator;  and,  having  been  appointed 
bishop,  was  consecrated  March  14,  1858.  He  presided  over  the  see  for 
more  than  twenty  years. 

The  Church  gained  slowly;  the  Ursulines  restored  their  convent  near 
Columbia,  and  the  Catholics  of  South  Carolina  had  eleven  churches  in  various 
parts  of  the  state  when  the  sound  of  cannon  on  Charleston  harbor  proclaimed 
the  opening  of  the  great  Civil  War.  To  the  diocese  of  Charleston  it  was  espe- 
cially disastrous.  During  the  bombardment  of  the  city,  the  Cathedral  and 
the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  were  laid  in  ashes.  The  churches  at 
Sumter  and  Beaufort  were  ruined;  at  Columbia,  church,  convent,  and  college 
disappeared.  With  the  state  in  the  hands  of  the  negroes  and  unprincipled 
whites,  nothing  could  be  done  to  repair  these  disasters.     Oppressive  taxes  and 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  295 

imposts  made  it  almost  impossible  to  retrieve  the  losses,  or  save  what  was  left, 
and  the  Catholic  flock  was  scattered  to  the  winds.  In  time,  however,  improve- 
ment came;  a  new  emigration  began  to  enter  the  state;  the  Church  was  free 
to  offer  the  negro  the  blessings  of  Christianity ;  St.  Paul's  Church,  for  the 
Germans,  at  Charleston,  and  St.  Peter's  for  colored  Catholics,  mark  the  new 
era.  The  Cathedral  chapel  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  replaces  St.  Finnbar's. 
The  Ursulines  are  still  at  Columbia;  the  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy  at 
Charleston  and  Columbia. 

As  we  have  seen,  Catholicity  was  excluded  by  law  from  the  soil  of 
Georgia.  When  the  Revolution  had  opened  the  state,  some  Catholics,  about 
1793,  removing  from  Maryland  to  Georgia,  began  a  settlement  near  Augusta, 
called  after  their  old  state.  Bishop  Carroll  was  unable  to  give  them  then 
a  pastor,  but  in  a  few  years  a  French  priest,  the  Abbe"  Le  Moine  was  sent, 
and  a  church  was  soon  built.  This  clergyman,  visiting  Savannah  and  Augusta, 
ministered  to  the  little  congregations  of  Irish  Catholics  there.  The  city  of 
Savannah  gave  the  Catholics  a  lot,  on  which  they  erected  the  neat  little 
church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The  Abbe"  Le  Moine  died  in  1 796,  just  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Mercier.  The  people  of  Savannah  regarded 
him  with  the  greatest  respect  and  consideration,  and  his  funeral  was  attended 
by  the  officers  and  crews  of  a  French  and  of  a  Spanish  privateer  then  in 
the  harbor. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Mercier  arrived  soon  after,  and  was  distinguished  for  his 
zeal  and  his  charity  for  the  poor.  He  died  at  sea,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
Rev.  Anthony  Carles,  who  arrived  from  St.  Domingo  in  1803. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  see  of  Charleston,  Bishop  England  gave 
new  life  to  the  Catholic  body  in  Georgia,  where  he  found  but  one  priest,  the 
convert,  Rev.  S.  S.  Cooper,  at  Augusta.  By  the  visitations  of  the  bishop 
and  the  efforts  of  the  clergyman  stationed  by  him,  many  were  recalled  to 
their  duties  who  had  almost  lost  the  faith.  The  growth  was  slow,  however. 
In  1832,  Bishop  England  estimated  the  Catholic  congregation  of  Savannah 
at  only  five  hundred.  That  at  Locust  Grove,  swelled  by  Irish  settlers,  had 
replaced  the  log  chapel  by  a  neat  wooden  church.  Nearly  twenty  years  later. 
in  1S50,  St.  Patrick's  Church  at  Washington,  the  church  of  the  Assumption 
at  Macon,  and  that  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  served  from  it,  were  the 
only  marks  of  increase;  but  Savannah  had  its  convent  of  Sisters  of  Our 
Lady  of  Mercy,  and  the  zealous  Rev.  John  Barry  had  an  orphan  asylum  and 
a  day  school  at  Augusta. 


296  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Such  was  Catholicity  in  Georgia  when  Savannah  was  made  a  see,  and 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  X.  Gartland  consecrated  bishop  September  10, 
1850.  In  his  diocese,  which  embraced  also  East  Florida,  there  were,  he 
estimated,  about  five  thousand  five  hundred  Catholics.  He  visited  Europe  to 
solicit  aid,  and  on  his  return  enlarged  the  Cathedral,  established  an  orphan 
asylum  at  Savannah,  a  convent  of  Mercy  at  Augusta,  and  free  schools  in 
various  places.  All  these  were  required  to  meet  the  steady  increase  of  the 
faithful. 

In  1854  the  yellow  fever  visited  Savannah.  Bishop  Gartland  labored 
incessantly,  visiting  the  sick,  aided  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  D.  Barron,  who  had 
been  a  missionary  bishop  in  Africa.  Both  were  stricken  down,  and,  as  they 
lay  hovering  between  life  and  death,  a  tornado  struck  the  house,  and  injured 
it  so  that  they  had  to  be  removed  to  die — Bishop  Barron,  September  12th, 
*  and  Bishop  Gartland,  September  20th;  two  heroic  Sisters  of  Mercy  also  laid 
down  their  lives  as  martyrs  of  charity. 

The  Very  Rev.  John  Barry,  of  Augusta,  who  had  long  been  identified 
with  the  progress  of  Catholicity  in  Georgia,  and  who  had  gone  through  all 
the  perils  of  the  cholera  and  yellow  fever,  became  administrator,  and  on  the  2d 
of  August,  1857,  was  consecrated  bishop.  Florida  was  at  this  time  made  a 
vicariate,  and  the  diocese  of  Savannah  embraced  only  Georgia.  He  labored 
as  earnestly  and  zealously  in  his  capacity  of  bishop  as  he  had  in  that  of  priest, 
but  his  health  was  broken.  Going  to  Europe  to  recruit  it,  he  was  prostrated 
at  Paris,  and  died  there,  November  19,  1859,  aged  fifty. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Augustine  Verot,  D.  D.,  a  French  priest  of  known  learn- 
ing and  zeal,  was  made  bishop  of  Savannah,  July  14,  1861,  having  been  for 
three  years  vicar-apostolic  of  Florida.  The  Civil  War  had  already  begun, 
and  Catholicity  in  Georgia  suffered  in  the  general  desolation  of  the  South. 
The  new  church  at  Augusta  was  completed  amid  all  the  din  of  war,  and 
dedicated  April  12,  1863;  but  the  church  at  Atlanta  was  saved  with  great 
difficulty;  St.  Mary's  in  Camden  County  was  destroyed;  the  elegant  church 
at  Dalton  perished. 

When  the  war  ended  the  bishop  went  zealously  to  work  to  meet  the  new 
condition  of  affairs;  churches  were  restored  and  a  new  one  erected  at  Albany; 
new  schools  were  established,  and  an  impulse  given  by  the  devoted  relig-. 
ious,  by  tne  Ur6ulines  at  Macon,  and  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  of  the  Irish 
Rule,  who,  during  the  war,  began  their  holy  work  at  Columbus.  The  Sis- 
ters of  St.  Joseph  also  began  their  labors  among  the  negro  population. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  297 

The  Rev.  Ignatius  Persico,  who  had  been  a  missionary  bishop  in  India,, 
zealously  performed  the  duties  of  a  missionary  in  this  diocese,  and  when,  in 
1870,  St.  Augustine  was  made  a  bishop's  see,  Dr.  Verot  returned  to  Florida, 
and  Dr.  Persico  was  made  bishop  of  Savannah  on  the  nth  of  March,  1870. 
Bishop  Persico's  health  did  not  permit  him  long  to  give  his  energies  to  the 
vast  work  of  building  up  the  Church  in  Georgia.  He  resigned  in  1S72,  and 
the  Rt.  Rev.  William  H.  Gross,  of  the  congregation  of  the  Most  Holy 
Redee-mer,  was  consecrated  bishop  in  1873.  His  diocese  containing  20,000 
Catholics  had  but  twelve  priests.  He  undertook  with  energy  to  meet 
the  great  wants  of  his  flock.  At  his  invitation  the  fathers  of  the  Soci- 
ety of  Jesus  began  a  house  of  their  order  at  Augusta,  where  they  established 
the  church  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  opened  a  school  for  boys  under  the 
Brothers  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  a  school  for  girls.  The  fathers  of  the 
ancient  order  of  St.  Benedict  began  at  Savannah  a  mission  to  the  colored 
people,  which  was  subsequently  removed  to  the  Isle  of  Hope,  and  continued 
till  the  zealous  Dom  Gabriel  Bergier  died  of  yellow  fever,  November  4, 
1875.  It  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  abandoned,  but  Father  Oswald  Moosmuller 
revived  it,  established  a  monastery,  and  labored  earnestly  to  make  it  a  cen- 
ter of  religion  to  the  colored  race. 


WlmpUv  £% 


A  PRINC6  IN  A  RGPUlJblC. 


Carolina  Late  in  the  Fold. — The  Darkness  Dispelled.— Rt.  Rev.  James  Gib- 
bons Made  Vicar-Apostolic. — A  Boy  From  Maryland. — Sent  to  Ireland 
for  Education.— Noticed  by  "John  of  Tuam." — A  Brilliant  Priesthood.— 
His  Zeal  as  a  Prelate. — Publishes  "The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers." — Knots 
of  Southern  Converts. — Called  to  the  Primacy  of  Baltimore. — A  Ven- 
erable Mother  Rejoices. — Raised  to  the  Cardinalate. — The  Prince's 
Attitude  in  the  Republic. — All  Just  Governments  Alike  to  the  Church. 
—How  the  Cardinal  Thanked  the  Pontiff. — Americans  of  All  Creeds 
Delighted. — Grave  Reflections  on  Church  and  State. — Relations  of 
Catholicity  to  Civil   Rulers. 


*N  North  Carolina,  down  to  the  Revolution,  there  was  neither  priest 
nor  altar  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Cleary,  canon 
of  the  church  of  Funchal,  was  the  first  to  officiate  in  the  state.  He 
came  over  in  1784  to  settle  the  estate  of  a  relative  at  New  Berne, 
and  ministered  to  the  Catholics  there  till  his  death.  He  said  Mass 
in  the  house  of  Mrs.  Gaston.  In  181 2  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cloriviere,  on 
his  way  to  Charleston,  said  Mass  for  about  twenty  Catholics  at  Fayetteville. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Kearney,  of  Norfolk,  visited  New  Berne  in  1819.  The 
Laity's  Directory  for  1822  said:  "In  North  Carolina  there  is  no  Catholic 
Church;"  but  when  Dr.  England  visited  North  Carolina  he  found  many 
descendants  of  Irish  Catholics  utterly  lost  to  the  faith;  many  ready  to  join  the 
Church  if  they  had  a  church  and  a  priest.  The  neat  church  of  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  at  Washington,  in  Beaufort  County,  was  soon  built;  a  church  and 
ground  were  given  in  Fayetteville,  but  St.  Patrick's  was  destroyed  in  a  general 
conflagration.  Steps  were  taken  to  rebuild  it,  and  to  erect  a  church  on  a  fine 
Bite  at    New  Berne,  but  this  took  many  years,  and  only  in  1S40  did  St.  Paul's 

298 


A  PRINCE  IN  A  REPUBLIC.  299 

begin  to  arise.  Small  as  the  Catholic  body  in  the  state  was  it  numbered 
among  its  members  the  famous  lawyer  and  judge,  William  H.  Gaston. 

In  1839  Raleigh,  the  capital  of  the  state,  saw  its  first  Catholic  Church; 
New  Berne  Catholics  greeted  St.  Patrick's  in  1844;  and  a  church,  dedicated 
to  St.  Mary  and  St.  Joseph,  arose  in  Lincoln  County,  the  first  fruits  of  Bishop 
Reynold's  episcopate;  Wilmington  boasted  of  a  neat  Gothic  church,  dedicated 
to  St.  Thomas,  in  1847;  St.  Peter's  in  Charlotte,  and  St.  Joseph's  in  Gaston 
County,  were  the  next  light-houses  of  Christianity  in  a  state  steeped  in 
Calvinism. 

War  desolated  the  state,  but  it  broke  up  the  old  chill  of  death.  Catho- 
licity became  known.  Churches  at  Halifax,  Tarboro,  and  Edenton  appear. 
When  the  Holy  See  believed  that  a  bishop  on  the  spot  might  give  the  Church 
some  conquests  in  the  most  un-Catholic  of  all  states  in  the  Union,  a  bull  of 
his  holiness,  the  revered  Pius  IX,  dated  March  3,  1S6S,  erected  North  Caro- 
lina into  a  vicariate-apostolic,  the  first  to  assume  its  duties  being  the  Rt. 
Rev.  James  Gibbons. 

James  Gibbons  was  born  in  Baltimore  on  July  23,  1834,  but  was  taken  to 
Ireland,  the  land  of  his  forefathers,  at  the  age  of  ten  years.  While  making 
his  juvenile  studies  there,  he  was  brought  under  the  notice  of  Archbishop 
McHale  of  Tuam,  who  was  much  interested  by  his  fervor  and  diligence. 
Returning  to  his  native  country,  he  entered  the  preparatory  seminary,  St. 
Charles'  College,  and  after  his  course  there  entered  St.  Mary's  College,  Bal- 
timore. He  was  ordained  on  June  30,  1861,  and  assigned  to  St.  Patrick's 
Church,  but  in  a  few  months  received  charge  of  St.  Bridget's  Church,  Canton, 
with  the  care  of  St.  Lawrence's  at  Locust  Point,  as  well  as  of  the  Catholic 
soldiers  at  Fort  McHenry.  The  zeal  of  the  young  priest  in  this  laborious 
duty  showed  his  merit,  and  Archbishop  Spalding  made  him  his  secretary 
and  assistant  in  the  Cathedral.  The  peculiar  charm  of  his  manner,  the  influence 
his  piety  exercised,  made  him  a  marked  man,  and  at  the  Second  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimoi-e  he  was  selected  as  the  priest  best  fitted  to  organize  the 
new  vicariate-apostolic  in  North  Carolina,  a  state  where  Catholicity  had  made 
least  impression.  He  did  not  shrink  from  the  difficult  task.  Everything  was 
to  be  created;  the  scattered  Catholics  were  fewer  in  the  whole  state  than 
would  be  found  in  a  Maryland  parish.  He  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Adramyttum  in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  August  16,  1S68,  and  proceeded 
to  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  making  St.  Thomas'  Church  his  residence. 
He   found  one  or    two    priests    in  the    state,    and    seven  hundred   Catholics 


3oo 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


scattered  in  a  population  of  a  million.  He  drew  devoted  priests  to  him,  and 
labored  in  person  with  the  gentle  zeal  of  a  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  winning  a 
way  to  hearts  that  the  profoundest  erudition  or  the  highest  eloquence  failed 
to  reach.  He  visited  every  part  of  the  state,  preaching  and  lecturing  in 
court-houses,  meeting-houses,  any  hall  that  could  be  had,  and  everywhere  pre- 
senting the  unknown  truth  with  irresistible  power.  His  method  can  be  best 
understood  by  his  wonderful  little  book,  "The  Faith  of  our  Fathers,"  a  work 
that  has  been  more  effective  than  any  other  since  Milner  published  his  "  End 
of  Controversy."  Little  communities  of  converts  began  to  form,  and  the 
ministers  of  God  began  to  feel  courage.  Churches  sprang  up  in  the  larger 
cities,  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  came  to  open  an  academy,  and  the  ancient  order 
of  St.  Benedict  prepared  to  found  a  monastery.  On  the  death  of  Bishop 
McGill,  Doctor  Gibbons  was  transferred  to  the  see  of  Richmond,  July  30, 
1872,  retaining,  however,  the  charge  of  his  vicariate.  His  labors  in  the  larger 
field  were  even  more  fruitful,  and  the  influence  was  gradually  extending,  when 
Archbishop  Bayley,  finding  his  health  precarious,  asked  that  he  should  be 
appointed  coadjutor  of  Baltimore.  On  the  29th  of  May,  1877,  he  was  made 
bishop  of  Janopolis  and  proceeded  to  Maryland.  He  left  with  reluctance  the 
flocks  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  to  assume  the  charge  of  the  ancient 
diocese  of  Baltimore,  of  which  he  became  archbishop  on  the  death  of  Arch- 
bishop Bayley  in  the  following  October.  The  pallium  was  conferred  upon 
him  on  the  10th  of  February,  1878.  His  venerable  mother,  who  had  lived 
to  see  her  son  enthroned  in  the  Cathedral  where  he  had  been  baptized,  died 
soon  after  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Raised  thus  to  the  highest  position  in  the 
American  hierarchy,  he  enjoys  the  respect  of  all,  and  was  chosen  by  Pope 
Leo  XIII  to  preside  in  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  in  November, 
1884,  having  been  invited  to  Rome  with  other  archbishops  and  bishops  in 
the  previous  year  in  order  to  deliberate  on  the  most  urgent  matters  to  be  con- 
sidered in  that  assembly. 

In  the  Consistory  held  by  Pope  Leo  XIII  in  June,  1886,  the  archbishop 
of  Baltimore  was  created  a  cardinal  priest,  and  the  insignia  of  his  new  dignity 
were  soon  after  borne  to  him  across  the  Atlantic.  The  career  of  this  prince 
of  the  Church,  has  since  then  been  written  in  the  hearts  of  American  Catho- 
lics. It  were  vain  to  attempt  a  recital  of  all  he  has  accomplished  for  the 
growth  and  glory  of  the  Faith.  Here  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  noting 
his  attitude  toward  the  American  Republic,  as  the  subject  has  been  reviewed 
by  the  late  Very  Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  the  founder  of  the  Paulist  Fathers  and 


A  PRINCE  IN  A  REPUBLIC. 


301 


long  the  editor  of  our  ablest  and  most  popular  magazine,  7Vie  Catholic  World. 
Father  Hecker  writes: 

The  following  was  the  address  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  as  published  in  the 
daily  papers,  on  his  taking  possession  of  his  titular  church  in  Rome,  March 

25,  1887: 

"  The  assignment  to  me  by  the  holy  father  of  this  beautiful  basilica  as 
my  titular  church  fills  me  with  feelings  of  joy  and  gratitude  which  any  words 
of  mine  are  wholly  inadequate  to  express.  For  as  here  in  Rome  I  stand 
within  the  first  temple  raised  in  honor  of  the  ever-blessed  Virgin  Mary,  so 
in  my  far-off  home  my  own  cathedral  Church,  the  oldest  in  the  United  States, 
is  also  dedicated  to  the  Mother  of  God. 

"  That  never-ceasing  solicitude  which  the  sovereign  pontiffs  have  exhi- 
bited in  erecting  those  material  temples  which  are  the  glory  of  this  city,  they 
have  also  manifested  on  a  larger  scale  in  rearing  spiritual  walls  to  Sion 
throughout  Christendom  in  every  age.  Scarcely  were  the  United  States  of 
America  formed  into  an  independent  government  when  Pope  Pius  VII 
established  therein  a  Catholic  hierarchy  and  appointed  the  illustrious  John 
Carroll  the  first  bishop  of  Baltimore.  Our  Catholic  community  in  those  days 
numbered  only  a  few  thousand  souls,  and  they  were  scattered  chiefly  through 
the  states  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland.  They  were  served 
by  the  merest  handful  of  priests.  But  now,  thanks  to  the  fructifying  grace 
of  God,  the  grain  of  mustard-seed  then  planted  has  grown  a  large  tree, 
spreading  its  branches  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  fair  land. 
Where  only  one  bishop  was  found  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  are 
now  seventy-five  exercising  spiritual  jurisdiction.  For  this  great  progress  we 
are  indebted,  under  God  and  the  fostering  care  of  the  Holy  See,  to  the  civil 
liberty  we  enjoy  in  our  enlightened  republic. 

"Our  holy  father,  Leo  XIII,  in  his  luminous  encyclical  on  the  consti- 
tution of  Christian  states,  declares  that  the  Church  is  not  committed  to  any 
particular  form  of  civil  government.  She  adapts  herself  to  all.  She  leavens 
all  with  the  sacred  leaven  of  the  Gospel.  She  has  lived  under  absolute 
empires,  under  constitutional  monarchies,  and  in  free  republics,  and  every- 
where she  grows  and  expands.  She  has  often,  indeed,  been  hampered  in  her 
divine  mission.  She  has  often  been  forced  to  struggle  for  existence  wherever 
despotism  has  cast  its  dark  shadow,  like  a  plant  shut  out  from  the  blessed  sun- 
light of  heaven.  But  in  the  genial  atmosphere  of  liberty  she  blossoms  like 
the  rose. 

"  For  myself,  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  without  closing  my 
eyes  to  our  shortcomings  as  a  nation,  I  say  with  a  deep  sense  of  pride  and 
gratitude  that  I  belong  to  a  country  where  the  civil  government  holds  over 
us  the  aegis  of  its  protection  without  interfering  with  us  in  the  legitimate 
exercise  of  our  sublime  mission  as  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Our 
country  has  liberty  without  license,  and  authority  without  despotism.  She 
rears  no  wall  to  exclude  the  stranger  from  coming  among  us.  She  has  few 
frowning  fortifications  to  repel  the  invader,  for  she  is  at  peace  with  all  the 
world.  She  rests  secure  in  the  consciousness  of  her  strength,  and  her  good 
will  toward  all.  Her  harbors  are  open  to  welcome  the  honest  immigrant,  who 
comes  to  advance  his  temporal  interests  and  find  a  peaceful  home.  But  while 
we  are  acknowledged  to  have  a  free  government,  perhaps  we  do  not  receive 
the  credit  that  belongs  to  us  for  having  also  a  strong  government.     Yes,  our 


302  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

nation  is  strong  and  her  strength  lies,  under  the  overruling  guidance  of  Provi- 
dence, in  the  majesty  and  supremacy  of  the  law,  in  the  loyalty  of  her  citi- 
zens, and  in  the  affection  of  her  people  for  her  free  institutions. 

"There  are,  indeed,  grave  social  problems  now  engaging  the  earnest 
attention  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that,  with 
God's  blessing,  these  problems  will  be  solved  by  the  calm  judgment  and 
sound  sense  of  the  American  people  without  violence  or  revolution  or  any 
injury  to  individual  right. 

"  As  an  evidence  of  his  good-will  for  the  great  republic  in  the  West,  and 
as  a  mark  of  his  appreciation  of  the  venerable  hierarchy  of  the  United  States, 
and  as  an  expression  of  his  kind  consideration  for  the  ancient  see  of  Balti- 
more, our  holy  father  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  elevate  its  present 
incumbent,  in  my  humble  person,  to  the  dignity  of  the  purple.  For  this 
mark  of  his  exalted  favor  I  beg  to  tender  the  holy  father  my  profound  thanks 
in  my  own  name  and  in  the  name  of  the  clergy  and  the  faithful.  I  venture 
to  thank  him,  also,  in  the  name  of  my  venerable  colleagues  the  bishops,  as 
well  as  the  clergy  and  the  Catholic  laity  of  the  United  States.  I  presume  to 
also  thank  him  in  the  name  of  our  separated  brethren  in  America,  who, 
though  not  sharing  our  faith,  have  shown  that  they  are  not  insensible — indeed, 
that  they  are  deeply  sensible — of  the  honor  conferred  upon  our  common 
country,  and  have  again  and  again  expressed  their  warm  admiration  for  the 
enlightened  statesmanship  and  apostolic  virtues  and  benevolent  character  of 
the  illustrious  pontiff  who  now  sits  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter." 

Cardinal  Gibbons'  office  is  one  that  outranks  all  others  in  the  Church  in 
America,  and  his  interpretation  of  our  American  institutions  is  worthy  of  his 
position.  The  convictions  he  has  expressed  have  doubtless  animated  his 
whole  life  as  a  Catholic  and  a  citizen,  and  all  his  countrymen  will  rejoice  that 
he  has  uttered  them  with  so  much  emphasis  and  bravery,  and  that  he  has 
done  it  in  the  center  of  Christendom.  Americans  will  thank  him  for  it,  and 
accept  him  as  their  representative  there,  for  he  is  fitted  by  his  thorough-going 
American  spirit  to  interpret  us  to  the  peoples  and  powers  of  the  Old  World. 
Americans  do  not  want  the  pope  at  the  head  of  the  most  august  assembly  in 
the  world,  representing  the  whole  Christian  Church,  to  speak  in  favor  of 
empires,  monarchies,  or  republics;  that  we  do  not  want.  What  we  want  is 
the  American  cardinal  to  do  what  he  has  done;  to  have  the  courage  of  his 
convictions  there  and  everywhere  else,  as  becomes  our  cardinal,  so  far  as  he 
represents  the  American  republic. 

It  reminds  one  of  Benjamin  Franklin  championing  our  cause  in  Europe 
before  and  during  the  Revolutionary  era.  What  Franklin  maintained  was 
that  we  wrere  not  in  rebellion;  the  American  colonies  were  not  guilty  of 
that  kind  of  revolution  which  is  a  crime.  They  were  fighting  for  principles 
which  had  always  been  an  Englishman's  birthright,  and,  I  may  add,  part  of 
the  inheritance  of  all   Catholic  peoples.     Franklin  held   that  the  rebels  and 


A  PRINCE  IN  A  BE  PUBLIC.  303 

revolutionists  were  the  members  of  the  British  government.  And  the  fact 
was  that  that  was  an  intense  personal  conviction  with  him  added  immensely 
to  his  force  as  our  ambassador.  The  Americans  never  intended  to  be  rebels; 
they  were  not  rebels.  Nowhere  in  their  fundamental  law  will  you  find  rebel- 
lion erected  into  a  principle.  So,  like  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  American  car- 
dinal holds,  if  not  officially  yet  morally,  a  like  place  as  representing  America 
to  those  monarchists  of  Europe  who  are  suspicious  of  us  and  who  do  not 
appreciate  our  institutions.  The  cardinal  will  be  accepted  as  an  American 
representative,  locate  him  where  you  please — Rome,  Paris,  Madrid,  Berlin, 
or  London.  His  office  constitutes  him  our  high  commissioner,  and  his  utter- 
ances are  in  the  serene  atmosphere  of  the  Roman  Curia,  itself  not  unknow- 
ing of  liberty  and  equality  in  their  true  sense.  St.  Augustine's  words  have 
ever  described  the   Church's   view  of   human  authority,  civil  or  ecclesiastical: 

Christians  in  office  "rule  not  from  a  love  of  power,  but  from  a  sense  of 
the  duty  they  owe  to  others;  not  because  they  are  proud  of  authority,  but 
because  they  love  mercy.  This  is  prescribed  by  the  order  of  nature;  it  is 
thus  God  created  man.  For  'let  them,'  he  says,  'have  dominion  over  the  fish 
of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth.'  He  did  not  intend  that  his  rational  creature,  who 
was  made  in  his  image,  should  have  dominion  over  anything  but  the  irrational 
creation — not  man  over  man,  but  man  over  the  beasts.  And  hence  the 
righteous  men  in  primitive  times  were  made  shepherds  of  cattle  rather  than 
kings  of  men,  God  intending  thus  to  teach  us  what  the  relative  position  of 
the  creatures  is,  and  what  the  desert  of  sin;  for  it  is  with  justice,  we  believe, 
that  the  condition  of  slavery  is  the  result  of  sin."  (City  of  God,  book  xix. 
chap.  14-15.) 

And  how  often  soever  the  Holy  See  may  have  counseled  men  to  respect 
legitimate  authority,  her  great  battles  have  ever  been  with  those  who  have 
abused  authority. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  flourished  under  all  forms  of  government. 
Her  divine  Founder  has  given  her  an  organism  capable  of  adjustment  to 
every  legitimate  human  institution.  She  tends  to  make  the  people  loyal  to 
the  reasonable  authority  of  the  state,  and  her  influence  will  strengthen  them 
in  the  virtues  necessary  for  the  public  welfare;  she  has  always  done  so.  But 
the  form  of  government  of  the  United  States  is  preferable  to  Catholics  above 
other  forms.  It  is  more  favorable  than  others  to  the  practice  of  those  virtues 
which  are  the  necessary  conditions  of  the  development  of  the  religious  life  of 
man.  This  government  leaves  men  a  larger  margin  for  liberty  of  action, 
and  hence  for  co-operation  with  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  than  any 
other  government  under   the  sun.     Speaking  of    the   affirmation  of   human 


o0a  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

rights  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  present  writer  has 
said  that — 

"  They  are  divine  inasmuch  as  they  declare  the  rights  of  the  Creator  in 
his  creature;  they  are  fundamental,  for  without  the  enjoyment  of  the  natural 
rights  which  they  proclaim  man  is  not  a  man,  but  a  slave  or  a  chattel ;  they 
are  practical,  for  man  is,  or  ought  to  be,  under  his  Creator,  the  master  of  his 
own  destiny  and  free  from  any  dominion  not  founded  in  divine  right.  The 
Creator  invested  man  with  these  rights  in  order  that  he  might  fulfill  the  duties 
inseparably  attached  to  them.  For  these  rights  put  man  in  possession  of 
himself,  and  leave  him  free  to  reach  the  end  for  which  his  Creator  called  him 
into  existence.  He,  therefore,  who  denies  or  violates  these  rights  offends 
God,  acts  the  tyrant,  and  is  an  enemy  of  mankind.  And  if  there  be  any 
superior  merit  in  the  republican  polity  of  the  United  States  it  consists  chiefly 
in  this:  that  while  it  adds  nothing,  and  can  add  nothing,  to  man's  natural 
rights,  it  expresses  more  clearly,  guards  more  securely,  and  protects  more 
effectually  these  rights;  so  that  man  under  its  popular  institutions  enjoys 
greater  liberty  in  working  out  his  true  destiny."  ("  The  Catholic  Church  in 
the  United  States,"  the  Catholic  World,  July,  1879.) 

The  Catholic  Church  will,  therefore,  flourish  all  the  more  in  this  repub- 
lican country  in  proportion  as  Catholics  in  their  civil  life  keep  to  the  lines  of 
their  republicanism.  This  proposition  will  still  be  true  even  should  the  New 
England  mind  become  the  prevailing  type  among  us. 

In  the  light  of  these  principles  it  is  an  error,  radical  and  gross,  to  say 
that  the  basis  of  the  American  character  is  the  spirit  of  political  and  religious 
rebellion.  The  character  that  is  formed  by  the  institutions  of  our  country  and 
the  Catholic  character  are  not  antagonistic.  American  institutions  tend  to 
develop  independence,  personal  independence  and  love  of  liberty.  Christianity 
rightly  understood  is  seen  to  foster  these  qualities.  For  what  other  object 
did  the  martyrs  die  than  to  establish  their  personal  convictions  against  the 
decrees  of  emperors?  "You  keep  the  laws  of  your  sovereign,"  said  the 
martyr  St.  Lucy  to  the  Roman  official ;  "  I  keep  the  laws  of  my  God.  You 
fear  Caesar;  I  fear  the  one  true  God,  whom  I  serve.  You  are  desirous  of 
pleasing  men;  I  desire  to  please  Jesus  Christ  alone.  Do  you  pretend  to 
deprive  me  of  the  right  of  acting  according  to  the  dictates  of  my  reason  and 
conscience?"  Said  Sts.  Perpetua  and  Felicitas,  as  they  entered  the  amphi- 
theater to  be  martyred :  "  We  have  willingly  come  hither,  that  our  freedom 
might  suffer  no  interference.  We  gladly  lay  down  our  lives  to  avoid  doing 
•anything  contrary  to  our  holy  religion."  And  in  like  manner  the  peaceful 
triumphs  of  Catholic  virtue  have  had  no  other  motive  than  a  heroic  purpose 
to  serve  God  alone  in  true  liberty  of  spirit,  whether  as  hermits  in  the  wilder- 
ness, or  Benedictines  in  the  abbeys  that  were  the  centers  of  religious  and  civil 


A  PRINCE  IN  A  REPUBLIC. 


3°5 


life  in  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  rushing  down  of  the 
barbarians,  or  in  the  various  orders  and  societies,  founded  since  then,  in  which 
the  Church  has  ever  offered  a  method  for  souls  to  combine  together  for  free- 
dom and  peace,  for  their  own  and  their  neighbor's  sanctification. 

What  we  need  to-day  is  men' whose  spirit  is  that  of  the  early  martyrs. 
We  shall  get  them  in  proportion  as  Catholics  cultivate  a  spirit  of  independence 
and  personal  conviction.  The  highest  development  of  religion  in  the  soul  is 
when  it  is  assisted  by  free  contemplation  of  the  ultimate  causes  of  things. 
Intelligence  and  liberty  are  the  human  environments  most  favorable  to  the 
deepening  of  personal  conviction  of  religious  truth  and  obedience  to  the 
interior  movements  of  an  enlightened  conscience.  Mr.  Lilly,  in  one  of  his 
brilliant  essays,  affirms  that  the  question  of  the  hour  is  the  existence  of  the 
supernatural.  This  is  well  said  for  agnostics;  but  for  a  well-ordered  mind  I 
should  say  that  the  question  of  the  hour  is  how  the  soul  which  aspires  to  the 
supernatural  life  shall  utilize  the  advantages  of  human  liberty  and  intelligence. 

We  do  not  need  the  imperial  or  kingly  ideas  of  the  Old  World  as  aids  to 

our  spiritual  life  as  Catholics,  any  more  than  we  want  its  anarchical  ideas  as 

helps  to  civil  freedom  as  citizens.     Neither  do  we  wish  to  plant  our  American 

ideas  in  the  soil  of  other  nations.     The  mission  of  the  American  Catholic  is 

not  to  propagate  his  form  of  government  in  any  other  country.     But  there  is 

one  wish   he  cherishes  in  respect  to  his  fellow-Catholics  abroad:  he  wants  to 

be  rightly  understood,  and  that  is  a  wish  not  easily  granted.     You,  reader,  if 

you  had  been  brought  up  in  a  monarchy  and  sympathized  with  its  institutions, 

as  you  naturally  would   have  done,  would  not  easily  understand  other  forms 

of  government.     In  such  things  most  men  are  what  their  surroundings  make 

them — you  might  say  all  men  are,  if  by  the  word  surroundings  you  take  in 

the  sum   of    influences,  external   and   internal,  to   which    they  are    subject. 

Where  will  you  find  a  man  whose  most  potent  teachers  have  not  been  his 

race  and  country  ?     Honest  men  in  Europe  feel  about  democracy  as  we  feel 

about  monarchy.     And   how  do  you   feel  about  monarchy?      Your   truest 

answer  must  be,  "  I  don't  understand  it."     And,  unless  you  made  your  home 

there,  you  might  live  in  a  monarchy  for  years  and  not  understand  it,  and  you 

would  not  wish  to  understand  it.     It  does  not  belong  to  you.     The  place  is 

not  your  home;  your  home  is   far  away  and   far  different,  and  you  expect 

sooner  or  later  to   go  back  there.     Therefore  you  are  not  to  be  blamed  for 

not  understanding  them,  nor  are  they  to  be  blamed  for  not  understanding  us. 

Whftn  we  are  abroad,  unless  called  upon  to  speak,  as  the  cardinal   was,  it  is 
21 


306  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

better  for  us  to  keep  our  mouths  shut.  So  should  foreigners  act  when  in 
this  country. 

I  do  not  blame  Europeans  for  not  understanding  us.  I  only  wish  to  call 
attention  to  the  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of  getting  into  the  minds  of 
Europeans  true  views  of  American  affairs.  These  difficulties  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons has  known  how  to  cope  with.  He  has  been  able  to  express  the  Ameri- 
can idea  in  such  terms  as  not  to  be  misunderstood.  And  this  was  not  the  triumph 
of  diplomatic  cunning,  but  rather  that  of  sincerity  and  frankness — the  true 
cunning  of  honest  souls.  He  has  carried  his  point  by  the  simplicity  of  his 
thought  and  the  earnestness  of  its  utterance.  There  is  often  more  in  the 
courage  of  saying  the  thing  than  there  is  in  the  thing  itself:  there  is  both  in 
Cardinal  Gibbons'  address.  For  what  is  a  commonplace  in  this  country  is  strik- 
ing and  singular  elsewhere,  especially  in  a  state  of  society  so  differently  organ- 
ized. It  took  courage  to  say  what  he  did.  It  was  needed  to  be  said  long 
ago,  but  others  did  not  say  it.  Was  it  lack  of  courage  on  their  part,  or  indif- 
ference to  the  providential  lessons  of  the  times? 

In  such  cases  courage  is  genius,  and  we  now  rejoice  in  its  triumph.  It 
was  fitting  that  the  best  expression  of  the  good  of  civil  freedom  as  a  favorable 
human  environment  for  the  development  of  the  religious  character  should  be 
left  to  be  made  by  an  American  cardinal  in  the  center  of  Christendom.  And 
if  I  were  asked  in  what  the  American  system  of  government  contributed  most 
to  this  development,  I  should  say  that  it  is  by  declaring  itself  incompetent  in 
spirituals.  That  is  what  Europeans,  especially  men  in  high  station,  can  not 
or  will  not  understand. 

"  Philip  II  of  Spain,"  says  Baron  Hubner  in  his  Memoir  of  Sixtus  V, 
vol.  ii.  chap,  ii.,  "  looked  upon  himself  as  a  civil  vicar  of  Christ.  Whenever, 
in  the  fulfillment  of  this  imaginary  mission,  he  met  with  a  doubt,  he  some- 
times laid  it  before  his  ministers,  but  he  preferred  to  submit  it  to  his  confessor, 
or  to  theologians,  or  to  committees  specially  appointed  to  examine  it,  or  to  con- 
gregations composed  of  doctors  of  theology.  He  believed  he  had  two  mis- 
sions to  fulfill.  He  was  king  and  also  a  little  of  a  pontiff;  just  as  the  pope  is 
first  a  pontiff,  then  king.  In  this  groove  ran  all  his  ideas.  Sixtus  V  indig- 
nantly rejected  such  pretensions.  .  .  .  The  deeply-rooted  conviction  that 
he  was  the  civil  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth  can  be  frequently  traced  in  Philip's 
letters  and  is  reproduced  in  the  language  of  his  agents." 

Potentates  wished,  and  still  wish,  to  be  pontiffs.  When  dynasties  giv« 
place  to  oligarchies,  aristocrats  wish  to  be  on  a  par  with  cardinals.  When 
the  tide  of  atheistic  revolution  has  swept  them  all  away,  and  blasphemers  of 


A  PRINCE  IN  A  REPUBLIC. 


307 


the  prime  verities  of  reason  and  revelation  are  floated  into  power,  they  in  turn 
feel  under  obligation  as  civil  rulers  to  care  for  the  supreme  interests  of 
religion.  King  Philip  and  Gambetta,  Louis  Quatorze,  the  two  Napoleons, 
and  Bismarck  and  Paul  Bert,  must  nominate  bishops;  each  must  play  censor 
deputatus  for  catechisms  and  theologies;  monarchy,  aristocracy,  bureaucracy, 
anarchical  and  atheistic  democracy,  each  inherits  from  its  predecessor  the 
craving  for  ecclesiastical  authority.  The  throne  of  the  fisherman  has  not  had 
authority  enough  to  publish  in  Catholic  countries  its  own  apostolic  decrees 
without  an  incessant  diplomatic  war  over  the  state's  placet.  In  Joseph  IPs 
case  this  meddling  of  the  state  with  spirituals  was  carried  into  the  very  sacristy. 
Without  wishing  to  go  too  far  the  other  way,  I  affirm  that  this  interference 
by  government  can  never  be  imposed  on  the  American  people.  We  are  glad 
to  see  the  American  cardinal  of  the  same  mind.  When  church  and  state 
were  brought  into  contact  in  Philip's  reign  he  posed  as  the  Constantine  of 
Christendom,  and  Louis  Quatorze  did  worse.  Here  in  America,  when  church 
and  state  come  together,  the  state  says,  I  am  not  competent  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs;  I  leave  religion  in  its  full  liberty.  That  is  what  is  meant  hereby  sepa- 
ration of  church  and  state,  and  that  is  precisely  what  Europeans  cannot  or 
will  not  understand.  They  want  to  make  out  that  the  American  state  claims 
to  be  indifferent  to  religion.  They  accuse  us  of  having  a  theory  of  govern- 
ment which  ignores  the  moral  precepts  of  the  natural  law  and  of  the  Gospel. 
Such  is  not  the  case,  and  never  has  been  from  the  beginning.  That  is  a  false 
interpretation  of  the  American  state.  By  ecclesiastical  affairs  we  mean  that 
organic  embodiment  of  Christianity  which  the  Church  is  in  her  creeds,  her 
hierarchy,  and  her  polity.  The  American  state  says  in  reference  to  all 
this,  I  have  no  manner  of  right  to  meddle  with  you;  I  have  no  jurisdiction. 
By  morals,  on  the  other  hand,  we  mean  those  influences  of  natural  and  revealed 
religion  whose  sway  is  general  among  the  vast  popular  electorate  of  our 
country,  uniform  and  definite  enough  to  be  a  quickening  influence  upon  our 
public  life.  To  disregard  this  has  ever  been  deemed  a  crime  against  good 
government  among  us,  and  punished  accordingly. 

The  cardinal's  address,  taken  in  connection  with  other  events  in  Pope 
Leo's  pontificate,  marks  an  epoch  in  the  world's  history.  If,  as  many  think, 
democracy  will  soon  assume  control  of  public  affairs,  the  question  is,  what 
kind  of  a  democracy  will  it  be;  what  influence  will  be  powerful  enough  to 
guide  it  morally  aright?  No  sectarian  form  of  Christianity  can  be  the  guide 
of  mighty  human  forces.     So  far  as  men  are  sectarians,  so  far  do  they  deviate 


308  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

from  the  universal  truth;  and  only  the  universal  principles  of  reason  and  rev- 
elation grasped  and  wielded  by  such  an  organic  world-power  as  the  Catholic 
Church  can  guide  aright  the  tumultuous  masses  of  mankind  when  the  transi- 
tion from  one  phase  of  civilization  to  another  has  begun.  The  power  that 
could  tame  the  barbarian  ancestors  of  the  civilized  world  exhibits  in  such  men 
and  such  utterances  as  have  been  herein  considered  a  force  competent  to  guide 
to  its  proper  destiny  the  baptized  democracy  of  our  day.  And  we  may  say 
in  passing  that  it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  majesty  and  power  a  body  of 
men  representing  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  as  the  Council  of  Trent 
intended  the  cardinals  to  do,  would  possess  and  exert  the  world  over ; 
the  decision  of  such  a  body,  with  the  pope  at  its  head,  could  not  fail  to  be  final. 


MmpUv  gm. 


THE  OHIO   VAbfcEy. 


The  Old  Diocese  of  Bardstown. — Catholic  Marylanders  First  to  Enter- 
Father  Whelan's  Fruitless  Mission. — A  French  Seminarian  in  the 
Revolution. — The  Weak-kneed  Bishop  of  Orleans. — Father  Badin  our 
First  Ordained  Priest.  —  Off  to  Kentucky.  —  Missionaries  Traveling 
Afoot. — The  Journey  Finished  in  a  Flatboat. — First  Mass  at  MacCarthy's. 
— A  Clapboard  Hut  for  a  Church. — Judge  Twyman  Rebukes  Bigotry. — 
Antechrist  Gramatically  Settled. — Appointment  of  Bishop  Flaget. — 
Death  of  Our  Protopriest. — The  Apostolic  Father  Nerinckx. — Another 
Exile  of  the  Revolution. — A  Heroic  Missionary  Career. — Sketch  of  a 
"  Son  of  Benediction." — An  Episcopal  Palace  Sixteen  Feet  Square. — 
Monuments  of  Piety. — Cincinnati  a  Bishopric. — Career  of  Bishops  Fen- 
wick    AND   PURCELL. — ARCHBISHOP   ELDER. 


HE  diocese  of  Bardstown,  Kentucky,  is  a  part  of  that  vast  extent 
of  country  known  in  our  ancient  geographies  by  the  name  of 
Louisiana.  It  is  situated  in  the  center  of  the  United  States,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Ohio,  on  the  west  by  the  Mississippi, 
on  the  south  by  the  state  of  Tennessee,  and  on  the  east  by  Virginia. 
When,  in  1792,  Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a 
state,  its  population  was  about  seventy  thousand.  About  twenty  poor  Cath- 
olic families  from  Maryland,  descendants  of  the  English  colonists,  came  here 
to  reside  in  1785,  as  then  good  land  could  be  procured  almost  for  nothing. 
Their  number  rapidly  increased,  and  in  the  year  1788  Father  Charles  Whe- 
lan,  an  Irish  Franciscan,  was  sent  to  them.  As  they  were  then  at  war  with  the 
natives,  and  as  this  was  continued  until  1795,  this  missionary,  two  of  his  suc- 
cessors, and  the  colonists  were  compelled  to  cross  the  hostile  country  to  arrive 
at  the  misson,  even  on  reaching  which  their  lives  were  sometimes  exposed  to 

3°9 


3 !  0  THE  COL  U MB  I  AN  J  UBILEE. 

imminent  dangers.  Besides  being  at  a  distance  from  a  priest,  they  had  also  to 
struggle  against  poverty,  heresy,  and  vulgar  prejudices  with  regard  to  the 
pretended  idolatry  of  Catholics,  etc.  Finally  Father  Whelan,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  two  years  and  a  half,  abandoned  a  post  so  difficult  to  hold,  without 
even  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  single  chapel  built.  It  was  then  impossible 
to  find  another  missionary  to  succeed  him,  and  the  faithful  "were  afflicted 
because  they  had  no  shepherd." 

Among  the  good  and  gifted  men  that  the  French  Revolution  cast  upon 
our  shores  was  Stephen  Theodore  Badin.  He  was  born  at  Orleans,  France, 
on  the  17th  of  July,  1768.  He  received  a  finished  classical  education  at  the 
College  Montagu,  Paris;  and  pursued  his  theological  studies  in  the  seminary 
of  his  native  city.  The  bishop  of  Orleans,  however,  had  taken  the  odious 
constitutional  oath.  Young  Badin  decided  not  to  receive  ordination  at  the 
hands  of  such  a  man,  and  as  the  rumble  of  the  terrible  Revolution  became 
every  day  more  distinct,  he  sailed  for  the  United  States,  arriving  at  Philadel- 
phia in   March,  1792.     Bishop  Carroll  received  him  with  great  kindness. 

Father  Badin  was  raised  to  the  sacred  dignity  of  the  priesthood  on  the 
25th  of  May,  1793 — being  the  first  priest  ordained  in  this  republic.  Prince 
Gallitzin,  as  we  have  already  learned,  was  the  second. 

The  Catholics  of  Kentucky  had  no  priest.  Bishop  Carroll  hinted  to 
Father  Badin  his  intention  of  sending  him  to  that  distant  mission.  It  is  not 
surprising  to  learn,  however,  that  the  inexperienced  young  priest,  with  a 
slight  knowledge  of  English,  exhibited  some  reluctance  about  plunging  into 
the  wilderness.  The  bishop  listened  to  his  reasons.  It  was  proposed  to 
commend  the  matter  to  God  by  making  a  novena.  After  nine  days  they 
met  again. 

"  Well,"  said  Bishop  Carroll,  "  I  have  prayed  and  am  still  of  the  same 
mind." 

"  I  have  also  prayed,"  replied  Father  Badin,  smiling,  "and  I  am  likewise 
of  the  same  mind.     Of  what  use  then  has  been  our  prayer  for  nine  days?" 

Bishop  Carroll  smiled,  too,  and  after  a  pause,  said,  with  great  sweetness 
and  dignity:  "  I  lay  no  command;  but  I  think  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  you 
should  go."  Father  Badin,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  answered  with 
great  earnestness — "I  will  go,  then." 

It  seems  there  were  no  large  trunks  to  be  packed,  and  the  energetic 
young  missionary  was  soon  ready  for  the  journey.  He  was  assigned,  as 
companion,  a  more  aged  clergyman,  Father  Barrieres,  who  was   made  vicar- 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  3II 

general.  Leaving  Baltimore  with  staves  in  their  hands,  on  the  6th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1793,  the  two  priests,  on  foot,  pushed  along  the  muddy  roads  to 
Pittsburg,  where  they  embarked  in  a  flat-boat  with  a  company  of  emigrants 
for  Kentucky.  Their  passage  was  full  of  adventure.  On  landing  at  Mays- 
ville,  they  again  started  on  foot  for  Lexington,  a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles. 
This  journey  could  not  be  accomplished  in  one  day.  Night  came  on.  It 
was  passed  in  an  open  mill,  lodging  on  the  mill-bags  without  the  slighest 
covering,  during  a  cold  period  toward  the  close  of  November.  On  reaching 
their  destination,  the  priests  commenced  their  labors.  Father  Badin  said  his 
first  Mass,  in  that  region,  at  the  house  of  Denis  MacCarthy,  an  Irish  Catho- 
lic. After  four  months,  however,  he  found  himself  alone,  as  his  colleague 
was  glad  to  leave  Kentucky. 

Nothing  daunted,  the  youthful  apostle  fixed  his  residence  near  the  little 
chapel,  and  began  his  career  of  toil.  Referring  to  this  temple  of  worship  in 
the  wilderness  Dr.  Spalding  says,  "it  was  a  temporary  hut,  covered  with  clap- 
boards, and  was  unprovided  with  glass  in  the  windows.  A  slab  of  wood, 
roughly  hewed,  served  for  an  altar.  Such  was  the  first  Catholic  Church  in 
Kentucky." 

No  pen  can  picture  the  hardships,  anxieties,  and  privations  which  fell  to 
the  lot  of  Father  Badin  in  the  vast  field  committed  to  his  care.  During  all 
seasons — and  often  at  night — he  had  to  travel  through  unbroken  forests,  cross 
flooded  rivers,  expose  his  life  to  the  tomahawk  of  the  Indian,  and  contend, 
single-handed,  with  the  ignorance,  prejudices,  and  bitter  hostility  of  sectarians 
He  was  alone  for  nearly  three  years;  and  at  one  period  he  was  twenty-one 
months  without  an  opportunity  of  going  to  confession. 

He  found  about  three  hundred  Catholic  families  scattered  all  over  the 
state;  and  during  his  missionary  career  in  Kentucky  he  must  have  ridden  on 
horseback  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  miles.  He  often  rode  from  fifty  to 
eighty  miles  on  a  sick  call.  "After  one  of  these  long  rides,"  writes  Dr. 
Spalding,  "he  found  the  sick  man  sitting  on  a  stool  eating  hard-boiled  eggs 
to  cure  the  pleurisy!" 

The  ignorant  bigotry  of  the  times  called,  once  in  a  while,  for  relig- 
ious controversy;  and  skill  and  learning  never  failed  Father  Badin  on 
such  occasions.  Some  of  his  flock  were  also  excellent  controversialists.  One 
of  these  was  Judge  Twyman,  who,  while  attending  the  court  in  Mason 
County,  happened  to  be  taking  his  dinner  at  a  hotel  where  religious  discus- 
sion was  brought  to  the  front.     Catholics  were  loudly  abused  and  laughed  at 


312 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


as  a  lot  of  fools.  "They  adore  images,  and  worship  the  Virgin,"  remarked 
one  of  the  wiseacres.  The  judge  listened  in  silence.  When  the  conversa- 
tion had  ceased,  he  arose,  and  said,  with  great  slowness  and  deliberation: 
"Look  at  me!  Do  you  think  I  am  a  fool?  I  am  a  Catholic.  I  was  brought 
up  a  Protestant,  but  embraced  the  Catholic  religion  after  a  long  and  careful 
examination."  This  little  speech  created  quite  a  sensation,  and  not  a  word 
more  was  said  against  Catholics. 

A  minister  once  remarked  to  a  lady  member  of  Father  Badin's  flock,  that 
he  was  "  surprised  to  see  a  person  of  her  good  sense  a  follower  of  the  pope 

who  was  certainly  Antichrist,  and 
.--  "  the  beast  of  the  Revelations."  The 

lady  continued  her  knitting  until 
he  was  through;  and  then  raising 
her  eyes,  she  quietly  asked  the 
infallible  Bibleman:  "Do  you 
know  grammar,  sir?"  He  said, 
"Yes."  "Well,"  resumed  the 
lady,  "  is  Antichrist  singular  or 
plural?"  "Singular,"  he  answered, 
feeling  rather  uncomfortable. 
"Are  two  hundred  and  fifty-six 
popes  singular  or  plural?"  she 
said.  He  was  obliged  to  say, 
"  Plural. "  "Therefore,  the  pope 
is  not  Antichrist,"  she  remarked 
with  emphasis;  and  the  preacher 
took  his  way  in  sadness  from  that 
house. 

After  some  years,  two  fellow- 
laborers  came  to  the  indefatigable  Father  Badin's  assistance.  One  of  them, 
Rev.  Mr.  Salmon,  died  from  the  effects  of  an  unhappy  accident — a  fall  from 
his  horse.  "  The  accident,"  writes  Father  Badin,  "  happened  about  noon,  at 
a  little  distance  from  a  residence.  A  servant,  who  found  him  half  dead  in  the 
woods,  went  to  solicit  aid,  which  was  denied  him  by  an  impious  and  cruel 
farmer,  simply  because  the  unfortunate  man  was  a  priest.  It  was  only 
towards  night  that  a  good  Catholic  of  the  neighborhood  was  informed  of 
the  fact." 


\ 


RT.  REV.  BISHOP  WATTERSON,  D.D., 
COLUMBUS,  OHIO. 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  3^ 

One  by  one,  other  priests  came,  and  at  length,  in  1808,  Bardstown,  Ky., 
became  an  episcopal  see;  and  three  years  later,  Bishop  Flaget  was  welcomed 
to  Father  Badin's  sixteen-feet-square  log  cabin.  The  growth  of  the  Church 
was  remarkable  in  "the  dark  and  bloody  ground." 

Father  Badin  paid  a  visit  to  his  native  land,  and  after  his  return,  continued 
his  missionary  labors  in  Kentucky,  Illinois,  and  Ohio.  A  vigorous  constitu- 
tion and  active  habits  enabled  him  to  get  through  an  immense  amount  of 
work.  To  preach  and  sing  Mass  was  his  delight.  His  mind  was  highly 
cultivated.  Roaming  the  woods  of  Kentucky  did  not  make  him  forget  his 
Homer  and  Virgil.  He  was  an  excellent  Latin  scholar,  and  his  Latin  poem 
in  praise  of  Perry's  victory  over  the  English  on  Lake  Erie  was  much  admired. 
His  "Principles  of  Catholics,"  printed  at  Bardstown  in  1807,  was  the  first 
Catholic  work  published  in  the  West.  This  apostolic  man  died  at  Cincinnati 
on  the  15th  of  April,  1S53,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years.  And 
thus  rested  from  his  labors,  after  nearly  sixty- years'  toil  in  the  holy  ministry, 
the  first  priest  ordained  in  the  United  States. 

Among  the  priests  last  referred  to  as  having  joined  Father  Badin  was 
the  holy  and  renowned  Father  Charles  Nerinckx.  This  famous  missionary 
was  born  in  the  province  of  Brabant,  Belgium,  on  October  2,  1761.  His  par- 
ents were  distinguished  for  their  virtues  and  their  strong  attachment  to  relig- 
ion. His  father  was  a  physician  of  some  eminence,  and  his  mother  seems  to 
have  been  a  most  estimable  woman. 

Having  a  pronounced  vocation  for  the  holy  ministry  Charles  pursued  the 
necessary  studies  and  was  in  due  time  regularly  ordained,  his  first  priestly 
labors  being  at  the  period  when  the  French  Revolution  was  convulsing 
society  and  menacing  the  very  existence  of  religion.  In  time  like  numbers 
of  his  brethren,  he  could  only  escape  persecution  by  living  in  a  state  of 
concealment. 

Seeing  the  fierce  storm  that  swept  over  Europe,  and  his  own  inability  to 
do  all  the  good  he  desired,  Father  Nerinckx  turned  his  eyes  towards  the  West. 
There,  indeed,  "  the  harvest  was  great  and  the  laborers  few."  With  some 
difficulty  he  escaped  from  his  hiding-place,  reached  Amsterdam,  and  sailed 
for  the  United  States  on  August  14,  1804.  After  a  long  and  dangerous  pas- 
sage of  ninety  days,  he  reached  Baltimore,  and  at  once  offered  his  services 
to  Bishop  Carroll. 

Father  Nerinckx,  with  his  accustomed  energy,  began  to  prepare  himself 
for   his  new  sphere   of  activity.     To  study   English — with    which    he   was 


3I4  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

wholly   unacquainted— he   retired  to  Georgetown  College.      Though  in   his 
forty-fifth  year,  he  worked  at  our  language  with  all  the  ardor  of  youth. 

In  the  spring  of  1S05,  he  was  sent  among  the  wilds  of  Kentucky,  which, 
after  a  painful  journey,  he  reached  only  on  the  5th  of  July.  At  this  time  the 
only  priest  in  the  state  was  Rev.  Father  Badin,  with  whom,  for  the  first  seven 
years,  he  resided. 

The  apostolic  Nerinckx,  with  his  whole  soul  and  strength,  now  devoted 
himself  to  the  sublime  work  of  saving  souls.  He  seemed  to  court  labors. 
To  him  toil  and  suffering  were  luxury.  Of  powerful  frame  and  herculean 
constitution,  he  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  spare  himself.  His  rest  was 
brief.  He  generally  rose  several  hours  before  day.  For  God  and  his  neigh- 
bor only  did  he  appear  to  live.  The  performance  of  his  duty  was  his  daily 
bread.  In  short,  his  missionary  labors  were  incredible;  for  he  became  "ail 
to  all  that  he  might  gain  all  to  Christ." 

Father  Nerinckx  was  a  man  of  unsurpassed  courage.  He  feared  no  dif- 
ficulties, nor  could  any  dangers  appall  him.  He  penetrated  the  wilderness,  • 
swam  rivers,  slept  in  the  woods  among  the  wild  beasts;  and  while  under- 
going all  this,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  fasting  and  mortifying  himself  in  many 
ways.  On  one  occasion  he  narrowly  escaped  drowning.  In  crossing  a  flood 
he  was  swept  from  his  horse,  which  lost  its  footing  and  was  carried  away  by 
the  current.  The  rider  barely  saved  himself.  He  reached  the  other  shore  by 
clinging  firmly  to  the  horse's  tail. 

On  another  occasion  he  was  placed  at  the  mercy  of  a  pack  of  hungry 
wolves.  Passing  through  a  gloomy  forest  on  horseback,  the  good  priest  lost 
his  way.  It  was  in  mid-winter.  Night  came  on..  The  famished  brutes  sur- 
rounded him,  and  made  the  forest  resound  with  their  unearthly  howlings.  He 
sat  on  his  horse,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  prepared  himself  for  death.  A 
mvsterious  Providence,  however,  watched  over  him.  He  remained  on  his 
horse  the  whole  night,  with  hundreds  of  glaring  eyes  fixed  on  him.  The  wolves 
disappeared  with  dawn,  and  Father  Nerinckx  calmly  continued  his  journey. 
In  the  course  of  his  laborious  life,  Father  Nerinckx  often  manifested  his 
great  bodily  strength.  He  erected  no  less  than  ten  churches  in  Kentucky. 
Nor  was  he  content  with  directing  the  labors  of  others.  With  his  own 
vigorous  arms,  he  cut  logs,  and  generally  worked  bare-headed  under  the  broil- 
ing sun.  In  removing  heavy  timber,  he  usually  lifted  against  two  or  three 
men.  He  built  his  residence  chiefly  with  his  own  hands;  and  he  was  wont  to 
say  cheerfully,  "that  his  palace  had  cost  him  just  $6.50  in  cash." 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 


315 


An  anecdote,  too  good  to  be  omitted,  is  related  of  this  heroic  priest.  He 
was  rigid  in  enforcing  order  in  his  churches  during  divine  service.  More 
than  once  curiosity-seekers,  who  forgot  to  be  courteous  in  the  house  of  God, 
received  severe  and  merited  rebukes  from  Father  Nerinckx.  He  was  little 
swayed  by  human  respect,  and  was  rather  plain  and  frank.  On  one  occasion 
a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Hardin,  of  powerful  frame  and  somewhat  of  a 
bully,  took  mortal  offense  at  something  said  by  the  zealous  priest.  He  openly 
declared  that  he  would  be  avenged.  An  opportunity  soon  occurred.  Father 
Nerinckx  was  going  through  the  forest  to  St.  Charles'  church,  when  Hardin 
waylaid  him.  Springing  from  his  hiding-place  the  young  bully  seized  the 
reins  of  the  priest's  horse  and  ordered  him  to  stop,  "for  that  he  intended  to 
give  him  a  sound  drubbing."  Cutting  off  one  of  the  stirrups  he  commanded 
the  priest  to  dismount.  Father  Nerinckx  promptly  complied;  reasoned  with 
the  young  man;  told  him  that  he  had  never  meant  to  offend  or  injure  him, 
and  that  his  profession  wholly  forbade  him  to  fight  or  wrangle.  Hardin, 
however,  persisted,  and  was  in  the  act  of  striking  the  priest,  when  the  latter 
took  hold  of  him  and  quietly  laid  him  on  the  ground  as  if  he  were  a  mere 
child.  "I  will  neither  strike  nor  injure  you,"  smiled  Father  Nerinckx;  "but 
I  feel  authorized  in  keeping  you  from  injuring  me."  The  young  bully 
promised  to  be  "  a  good  boy,"  and  the  priest  put  him  on  his  feet  again. 
Quietly  remounting  his  horse,  the  missionary  proceeded  on  his  journey. 
Hardin  as  quietly  moved  off  in  another  direction.  When  Father  Nerinckx 
arrived  at  the  church,  a  friend  inquired  how  the  stirrup-leather  had  been  cut. 
In  a  few  words  the  priest  related  his  adventure,  adding  with  a  smile,  "  that 
these  young  buckskins  could  not  handle  a  Dutchman."  After  this  he  was 
never  heard  to  speak  of  the  affair. 

Hardin,  however,  more  than  once  said  that  "he  often  thought  he  could 
handle  men,  but  that  he  really  never  had  hold  of  one  before  he  met  Priest 
Nerinckx,  who,  he  really  believed,  had  something  supernatural  about  him." 

He  had  charge  of  six  large  congregations,  besides  many  stations  scattered 
over  the  whole  extent  of  Kentucky.  To  visit  all  his  flock  required  at  least 
six  weeks.  He  was  unceasing  in  his  labor  to  make  his  people  devout  to  the 
most  Blessed  Virgin,  and  to  her  he  dedicated  his  first  church.  He  seldom 
made  a  missionary  tour  without  receiving  some  one  into  the  true  fold.  In 
one  of  these  excursions,  he  made  no  fewer  than  thirteen  converts. 

When  Father  Nerinckx  learned  that  Bishop  Carroll  had  recommended 
him    for  the  see   of   New   Orleans,  and  that   the  pope  had    confirmed    the 


3I6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

nomination,  his  humility  was  alarmed.      He   quietly,  but   firmly,  refused  the 

dignity. 

The  masterwork  of  Father  Nerinckx's  apostolic  life  was  the  establish- 
ment of  a  new  religious  society  —  "The  Sisters  of  Loretto."  For  over  half 
a  century  those  pious  and  cultured  ladies  have  been  an  inestimable  blessing  to 
Kentucky  and  to  other  states,  and  to-day,  in  this  jubilee  year,  they  continue 
their  glorious  work. 

Worn  out  by  the  labors  and  trials  of  the  mission,  Father  Nerinckx  went 
to  receive  the  reward  of  the  faithful  servant  on  the  12th  of  August,  1824, 
being  in  his  sixty-third  year.  Behind  him  he  has  left  the  memory  of  shining 
deeds  and  a  spotless  and  venerable  name.  His  remains,  deposited  in  a  suitable 
monument,  rest  in  the  center  of  the  conventual  cemetery  of  the  mother- 
house  of  his  society  at  Loretto,  in  that  old  Kentucky,  which,  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  was  blessed  by  his  presence.  As  his  worthy  spiritual 
daughters  daily  and  reverently  gaze  on  his  honored  tomb,  they  recall  to  mind 
the  sublime  maxim  which  he  was  wont  to  repeat:  "Do  not  forsake  Provi- 
dence, and  He  will  never  forsake  you." 

We  have  indicated,  in  these  sketches,  the  condition  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  Kentucky  when  the  see  of  Bar-dstown  was  established,  and  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Flaget  appointed  bishop.  Dr.  Flaget  was  one  of  the  great 
bishops  of  our  early  Church.  He  was  born  in  France  in  1763.  At  his  birth 
he  was  named  Benedict,  because  some  one  exclaimed  that  "he  was  a  son  of 
benediction."  Young  Flaget  made  his  course  of  philosophy  in  the  University 
of  Clermont,  after  which  he  entered  the  congregation  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  was 
ordained  priest.  For  several  years  after  his  ordination,  he  filled  the  chair  of 
theology  in  the  seminary  of  Nantes.  The  terrors  of  the  French  Revolution 
led  him  to  direct  his  eyes  towards  America.  After  making  a  spiritual  retreat 
and  consulting  his  superior,  he  sailed  from  Bordeaux  in  January,  1792?  m  com- 
pany with  Rev.  Messrs.  David  and  Badin.  Bishop  Carroll  received  him  with 
joy,  and  appointed  him  to  the  distant  mission  of  Vincennes,  Indiana.  Bear- 
ing letters  of  introduction  from  the  bishop  to  General  Anthony  Wayne,  he 
was  received  and  entertained  by  that  gallant  soldier  with  the  greatest  friend- 
ship and  consideration.  He  departed  from  Pittsburg  in  a  flat-boat,  stopped 
at  Cincinnati,  then  only  a  fort,  and  pushed  on  to  Louisville,  which,  at  that 
time,  contained  only  three  or  four  small  cabins.  In  December,  1792,  he  reached 
Vincennes.  Here  he  found  both  church  and  people  in  a  most  neglectful  and 
unhappy   condition.     Religion    had  almost    died    out  at    this    old    French; 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  317 

settlement.  The  whites  were  little  removed  in  barbarism  from  the  wandering 
Indian.  On  the  Christmas  following  his  arrival  there  were  only  twelve  com- 
municants. It  would  be  impossible  to  detail  in  brief  space  the  hardships  and 
dangers  encountered  by  this  holy  missionary.  However,  after  two  years  and 
a  half  of  zealous  labor,  he  was  recalled  by  his  superiors.  Upon  his  arrival  in 
Maryland,  he  was  appointed  professor  in  Georgetown  College.  While  in 
this  position  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Gen.  Washington,  then  president 
of  the  United  States.  The  Abbe"  Flaget  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  illus- 
trious patriot,  and  fifty  years  after  Washington's  death  he  used  to  refer  to 
him  in  language  of  unbounded  praise. 

In  1 80 1,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  and 
for  the  eight  following  years  his  life  passed  quietly  away  in  that  institution. 
At  the  suggestion  of  Rev.  Mr.  Badin,  Bishop  Carroll  recommended  the 
Abbe  Flaget  as  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  new  see  of  Bardstown,  Ky.  The 
good  priest's  humility  was  alarmed,  but  he  finally  allowed  himself  to  be  con- 
secrated in  18 10. 

Such  was  Bishop  Flaget's  apostolic  poverty  that  he  had  not  the  means 
necessary  to  convey  him  to  his  diocese.  Yet  he  utterly  refused  any  assistance 
from  his  poor  flock,  declaring  that  he  would  rather  walk  on  foot  to  Ken- 
tucky than  commence  his  career  by  thus  taxing  his  people.  Some  generous 
friends  in  Baltimore  defrayed  his  expenses.  He  arrived  at  Louisville  in 
June,  181 1,  and  his  welcome  by  the  warm-hearted  Catholics  was  truly  mag- 
nificent. His  diocese  counted  seven  priests — Fathers  Nerinckx,  Badin,  and 
O'Flynn,  and  four  Dominicans  at  the  convent  of  St.  Rose.  On  the  Christ- 
mas following,  the  bishop  raised  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chabrat  to  the  priesthood. 
He  was  the  first  priest  ordained  in  the  West.  At  this  time  Kentucky  had 
about  six  thousand  Catholics,  comprising  thirty  congregations,  with  only  ten 
churches.  The  bishop  took  up  his  abode  with  Father  Badin,  at  Loretto,  his 
episcopal  residence  being  a  log  cabin  sixteen  feet  square. 

With  a  somewhat  sad  and  heavy  heart  he  surveyed  the  vast  field  of  his 
labors — the  Mississippi  Valley.  But  his  zeal  and  activity  knew  no  bounds. 
He  visited  all  the  congregations  of  Kentucky  twice  before  the  year  1S15. 
During  one  missionary  trip  he  confirmed  nearly  one  thousand  three  hundred 
persons.  Not  even  the  most  remote  French  and  Indian  missions  escaped  his 
watchful  care.  One  of  his  journeys  extended  over  a  distance  of  2,000  miles. 
"Wherever  Bishop  Flaget  pitched  his  tent,"  says  a  writer,  "he  laid  the  foun- 
dations of   a  new  church,  and   each  of   his  principal   halts  was  destined  to 


3 1 8  THE  COL  UMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

become  a  bishopric.  There  is  Vincennes,  in  Indiana;  Detroit,  in  Michigan; 
Cincinnati,  the  principal  city  of  Ohio;  Erie  and  Buffalo,  on  the  borders  of 
the  lakes;  and  Pittsburg,  which  he  evangelized  in  returning  to  Louisville, 
after  thirteen  months  absence  —  after  having  given  missions  wherever  on  his 
route  there  was  a  colony  of  whites,  a  plantation  of  slaves,  or  a  •  village  of 
Indians." 

The  vast  extent  of  his  jurisdiction  gave  him  great  influence  as  a  member 
of  the  American  hierarchy.  When  attending  the  council  of  Baltimore  in 
1829,  on  being  introduced  for  the  first  time  to  the  illustrious  Dr.  England, 
Bishop  Flaget  exclaimed:  "  Allow  me  to  kiss  the  hand  that  has  written  so 
many  fine  things!"  Dr.  England  promptly  replied:  "  Permit  me  to  kiss  the 
hands  which  have  done  so  much  good !  " 

During  his  protracted  episcopate,  Bishop  Flaget  consecrated  Bishops 
David,  Fenwick,  Brute\  Kenrick,  Chabrat,  Spalding,  and  Purcell,  long  the 
venerable  metropolitan  of  Cincinnati. 

The  saintly  and  heroic  prelate  died  in  1850,  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of 
his  age,  during  fifty-seven  of  which  he  had  labored  in  America.  The  Missis- 
sippi Valley  is  covered  with  monuments  of  piety  that  mutely  proclaim  his 
praise.  He  left  behind  him  a  diocese  so  flourishing  that  it  was  once  called 
"  The  Garden  of  the  American  Church."  Where,  in  the  beginning,  he  could 
not  find  a  priest  without  undertaking  a  week's  journey,  he  lived  to  see  two 
archbishops  and  eight  bishops  presiding  over  a  numerous  clergy  and  an 
innumerable  laity. 

Bishop  Flaget's  exertions,  and  the  influence  of  his  holy  life,  were  of 
incalculable  service  to  Kentucky  and  the  other  parts  of  his  charge.  He  was 
the  first  Catholic  bishop  ever  seen  in  the  West.  On  his  first  visitation  he  trav- 
eled nearly  a  thousand  miles,  and,  crossing  the  Mississippi,  ministered  to  the 
priestless  Catholics  of  St.  Louis.  He  was  so  constantly  engaged  that  he 
solicited  a  coadjutor;  and  in  1817  his  old  friend  and  associate,  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
M.  David,  was  appointed  coadjutor  of  Bardstown. 

Two  years  later  his  Cathedral  was  completed,  a  fine  edifice  in  the  Roman 
Corinthian  style,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  9th  of  August,  18 19.  He  was 
relieved  of  part  of  his  heavy  burthen  in  1821,  when  the  see  of  Cincinnati  was 
erected,  with  jurisdiction  over  Ohio,  Michigan  Territory,  and  the  Northwest. 
The  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic  were  established  in  1821,  adding  to  the  institu- 
tions of  the  diocese. 

The  diocese  in  1824  lost  the  venerable  Mr.  Nerinckx;    but  a  few  years 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 


3*9 


later  a  number  of  Jesuit  fathers  arrived  from  France  and  assumed  direction  of 
St.  Mary's  College. 

Indiana  was  next  formed  into  a  diocese,  and  in  1837  the  see  of  Nashville 
was  established.  The  Rev.  G.  Chabrat  was  consecrated  as  coadjutor  in  1S34, 
in  place  of  Bishop  David,  who  had  resigned ;  but,  after  Bishop  Flaget's  visit 
to  Europe,  his  second  coadjutor  also  resigned,  and  the  Rev.  Martin  J.  Spald- 
ing was  consecrated  on  the  10th  day  of  September,  1848. 

Bishop  Spalding,  who  succeeded,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  educated  at 
Rome,  where  he  had  sustained  his  theses  in  a  manner  to  excite  general  admira- 
tion. He  had  been  pastor  of  the  Cathedral,  president  of  St.  Joseph's  College, 
and  vicar-general.  When  he  became  bishop  the  diocese  had  a  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  about  thirty  thousand,  served  by  forty  priests,  who  attended  forty- 
three  churches  and  ten  chapels. 

Bishop  Spalding's  first  efforts  were  devoted  to  a  visitation  of  his  diocese, 
to  the  establishment  of  orphan  asylums,  and  the  erection  of  a  suitable  Cathe- 
dral, which  was  solemnly  consecrated  October  3,  1852,  in  the  presence  of 
two  archbishops,  eight  bishops,  a  mitered  abbot  and  a  host  of  priests.  He  next 
introduced  the  Xaverian  Brothers  and  Brothers  of  Christian  Instruction,  to 
conduct  parochial  schools  for  boys. 

With  Bishop  Lefebvre  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Col- 
lege, at  Louvain,  to  increase  the  number  of  priests  for  the  mission  in  this 
country.  His  diocese  embraced  the  state  of  Kentucky;  but,  in  1853,  the  see 
of  Covington  was  erected,  the  diocese  embracing  the  eastern  part  of  the  state. 

During  the  Know-nothing  excitement  of  1855  the  mob  made  an  attack 
on  the  Catholics,  killing  many  in  the  streets  or  burning  them  alive  in  their 
houses.  The  churches  were  threatened,  but  none  destroyed,  on  a  day  still 
remembered  in  Louisville  as  Bloody  Monday. 

The  Civil  War  made  Kentucky  a  scene  of  warlike  preparation  and  of 
frequent  bloody  engagements;  colleges  became  hospitals;  and  sisters,  leaving 
their  quiet  schools,  became  hospital  nurses,  dying  in  their  charitable  work. 
In  the  violence  of  the  times  a  law  was  passed  imposing  an  oath  on  any  clergy 
man  celebrating  marriage;  against  this  the  bishop  protested,  on  the  ground 
that  the  state  could  not  impose  conditions  on  a  priest  in  a  purely  spiritual  act. 

In  the  three  provincial  councils  of  Cincinnati,  1855,  1858,  and  1861,  Dr. 
Spalding  bore  a  leading  part.  As  a  distinguished  reviewer,  author,  contro- 
versialist, and  champion  of  the  Faith,  he  acquired  great  reputation.  To  his 
priests  he  was  exceedingly  kind — a  father.     In  his  own  diocese,  he  introduced 


32o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

a  system  of  church  government,  intended  to  secure  the  rights  of  the  inferior 
clergy  and  to  preserve  them  from  arbitrary  rule. 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Kenrick,  of  Baltimore,  Dr.  Spalding  was 
chosen  his  successor,  and  in  June,  1864,  was  installed  as  seventh  archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  in  the  presence  of  forty  thousand  spectators.  In  this  new  and 
exalted  office  he  labored  arduously.  He  never  spared  himself.  He  gave  all 
he  had  to  his  church,  his  schools,  and  his  charitable  institutions.  One  of  his 
first  cares  was  to  found  an  industrial  school  for  boys.  It  was  intrusted  to  the 
care  of  the  Xaverian  Brothers,  and  opened  in  1866.  In  the  same  year,  as 
apostolic  delegate,  Dr.  Spalding  convened  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore.  He  had  the  principal  part  in  preparing  the  measures  submitted  to 
that  august  body,  and  in  drawing  up  the  acts  of  the  council  so  as  to  render 
the  work  a  standard  manual  of  American  canon  law. 

Dr.  Spalding  attended  the  Ecumenical  Council  of  the  Vatican  at  Rome, 
where  he  was  distinguished  by  his  labors  and  his  zeal.  On  his  return  he  was 
hailed  with  acclamation  by  his  people,  and  received  public  honors  both  at  Bal- 
timore and  Washington.  His  last  years  were  as  active  and  laborious  as  those 
of  his  early  priesthood.  For  his  flock  he  truly  spent  himself.  After  a  long 
and  painful  illness  he  went  to  receive  the  reward  of  a  virtuous  life,  on  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1872. 

If  the  United  States  ever  produced  a  man  who  was  great  and  good,  learned 
and  amiable,  that  man  was  Archbishop  Spalding.  In  his  character,  he  united 
the  simplicity  of  the  child  with  all  the  vigor  of  manhood.  His  affection  for 
his  people,  his  love  of  children,  his  devotion  to  his  faith,  to  his  duties,  and  to 
his  country,  endeared  him  to  all.  His  holy  and  beautiful  memory  is  one  of 
those  bright  lights  which  illuminates  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
America. 

In  1810,  the  Dominicans  of  Kentucky  had  borne  the  cross  into  Ohio. 
Father  Edward  Fenwick,  a  native  of  Maryland,  who  won  his  way  among 
men  of  all  creeds  and  none,  pushed  his  way  through  the  rising  state  in  all 
directions.  Near  the  center  of  Ohio,  not  far  from  Somerset,  he  found  three 
Catholic  families,  who  had  not  seen  a  priest  for  ten  years;  after  ministering 
to  them  he  found  others;  and,  as  twice  a  year  he  continued  his  missionary 
excursions,  the  number  of  his  scattered  flock  increased  till  he,  to  his  joy,  found 
seven  families  in  Cincinnati,  the  venerable  Michael  Scott  being  one  of  these 
pioneers  of  the  faith. 

Bishop  Flaget  visited  Ohio  in  October,  18 12,  and  said  Mass  at  the  house 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 


321 


of  the  Dittoes,  near  Somerset,  who  were  already  projecting  a  church,  and  for 
which  Peter  Dittoe  gave  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  ground.  Here 
the  log  chapel  of  St.  Joseph,  for  a  congregation  of  ten  families,  was  blessed, 
December  6,  1818,  by  Father  Fen  wick  and  Father  N.  D.  Young,  who, 
outliving  all  his  contemporary  priests,  died  in  the  autumn  of  1878.  A  stone 
addition  was  soon  needed,  and,  in  a  short  time,  a  brick  church. 

Pope  Pius  VII  on  the  19th  of  June,  1821,  at  the  advice  of  Bishop  Flaget, 
erected  the  see  of  Cincinnati,  appointing  as  first  bishop  Father  Edward  Fen- 
wick,  who  was  consecrated  in  St.  Rose's,  Kentucky,  January  13,  1822,  by 
Bishop  Flaget.  Besides  the  state  of  Ohio,  Michigan  Territory,  including  what 
is  now  Wisconsin,  was  placed  under  his  administration. 

He  took  possession  of  his  see,  hired  a  house,  and  sent  out  for  his  first  meal. 
He  then  began  to  see  the  extent  of  the  calls  upon  him.  He  bought  a  lot,  and 
erected  a  wooden  chapel,  thirty  feet  by  fifty-five,  for  his  Cathedral.  The  next 
year  he  set  out  for  Rome  to  lay  before  the  holy  father  the  wants  of  his 
diocese.  From  his  personal  examination,  he  estimated  the  Catholics  of  Ohio 
at  eight  thousand,  and  two  thousand  Indians  on  Seneca  River;  in  Michigan 
he  estimated  the  Catholics  at  ten  or  twelve  thousand. 

Already  Ohio  had  four  or  five  wooden  churches  built,  and  as  many  more 
in  progress;  converts  were  coming  in,  but  he  had  no  priests,  no  seminai-y,  no 
means. 

His  appeal  in  Europe  was  successful — he  returned  with  substantial  aid, 
vestments,  a  rich  tabernacle  given  by  Pope  Leo  XII,  paintings.  He  then 
began  the  erection  of  a  Cathedral,  which  was  dedicated  the  first  Sunday  of 
Advent,  1826.  After  this  he  made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  preceded  by 
some  priests,  who  gave  a  kind  of  mission  in  preparation ;  the  result  was  nearlv 
a  thousand  communions,  the  reclaiming  of  many  sinners,  and  the  conversion 
of  many  to  the  faith.  Sectarians  took  alarm.  They  cried  out  that  the  three 
Catholic  families  in  Ohio  in  18 10,  had  increased  to  14,000  souls  in  1830. 
Bishop  Fenwick  extended  his  visitation  to  Michigan;  then  attended  the  pro- 
vincial council  at  Baltimore,  returning  to  resume  his  visitations.  These  he 
continued  without  relaxation.  In  the  dangerous  season  of  1832  he  was 
attacked  by  cholera,  at  Sault  St.  Mary's,  and  recovering  kept  on  his  duties  till 
he  was  again  stricken  down  in  the  stage-coach  going  to  Wooster,  where  he 
died  September  26th. 

Living  only  for  his  flock,  and  laboring  for  them,  he  had  called  in  to  aid 

him  the  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  the  Poor  Clares.     He 
22 


222  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

founded  at  Cincinnati  the  Athenaeum,  now  St.Xavier's  College;  and,  in  1831, 
established  the  "  Catholic  Telegraph,"  now  the  oldest  of  our  Catholic  papers. 

Dr.  Fenwick  was  succeeded  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  who 
was  consecrated  October  13,  1833,  and  occupied  the  see  for  more  than  forty- 
five  years,  living  to  behold  two  other  sees  erected  in  the  state,  and  to  be  him- 
self invested  with  the  pallium  as  archbishop;  attend  numerous  provincial  and 
plenary  councils  at  Baltimore;  hold  provincial  councils  in  his  own  city,  and 
attend  a  general  council  of  the  Church. 

John  Baptist  Purcell  was  born  in  the  little  town  of  Mallow,  County 
Cork,  Ireland,  on  the  26th  of  February,  1800,  of  a  poor,  but  most  pious  and 
faithful  Catholic  family.  Having  completed  his  humanities  at  his  birthplace, 
he  came  to  America  in  his  eighteenth  year,  and  made  his  course  of  philoso- 
phy, and  began  that  of  theology  in  the  seminary  of  Mount  St.  Mary's, 
Emmitsburg.  He  finally  went  to  Paris,  and  terminated  his  ecclesiastical 
studies  in  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice.  On  June  4,  1826,  he  was  ordained  by 
Mgr.  de  Quelen,  archbishop  of  Paris.  Father  Purcell  then  traveled  through 
England  and  Ireland,  and,  on  concluding  a  retreat  at  the  Sulpitian  Solitude 
at  Jos,  he  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1827.  He  was  professor  of  phil- 
osophy and  afterward  of  theology,  in  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmits- 
burg. He  also  had  charge  of  the  church  attached  to  the  college.  These 
duties  he  performed  for  seven  years. 

In  1836  Bishop  Purcell  had  a  second  Catholic  Church  in  Cincinnati, 
while  others  arose  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese;  the  next  year  he  could  count 
thirty-two  churches  and  stations,  twenty-one  priests,  a  seminary,  a  college,  a 
female  academy  and  an  asylum.  Protestants  took  alarm  at  the  progress  of 
Catholicity  in  the  West.  Beecher  had  issued  his  "Plea  for  the  West;" 
Morse,  who  was  to  be  decorated  with  an  order  by  a  pope,  issued  his  "  Brutus;" 
and  a  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell  began  a  controversy  with  Bishop  Purcell.  It  was 
the  occasion  of  a  new  triumph  for  Catholic  truth;  and, in  the  general  interest 
the  controversy  caused,  a  society  for  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  was 
established.  The  Dominicans  began  to  erect  a  fine  Gothic  church  at  St. 
Joseph's;  the  Jesuits,  in  November, 1840,  opened  St.  Xavier's  College;  temper- 
ance societies  were  organized  under  the  guidance  of  the  Church.  Then  the 
bisters  of  Notre  Dame,  from  Namur,  came  to  open  academies  and  schools. 

In  1844,  the  diocese  received  some  fathers  of  the  congregation  of  the 
Most  Precious  Blood,  founded  by  the  Ven.Gaspar  di  Bufalo,  led  by  the  Rev. 
Francis  de  Sales  Brunner,  who  have  now  for  more  than  thirty  years  labored 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 


323 


in  the  West.  Thus  increased,  the  diocese  could,  in  1846,  boast  seventy 
churches,  seventy-three  priests,  and  70,000  people.  The  Ursuline  nuns  had 
also  come  and  founded,  in  Brown  County,  a  convent  and  academy,  which  to 
this  day  have  been  the  greatest  benefit. 

It  was  deemed  advisable  at  this  period  to  divide  the  diocese,  and  erect  a 
new  see  at  Cleveland,  with  jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the  state  north  of 
40  degrees  41  seconds.  The  cities  of  Covington  and  Newport,  in  Kentucky, 
which  had  grown  up  opposite  Cincinnati,  and  immediately  under  the  eye  of 
the  bishop  of  that  city,  were  placed  under  his  care. 

The  diocese,  as  thus  reduced,  was  estimated  to  contain  abovit  fifty 
churches  and  priests,  and  as  many  thousand  Catholics. 

The  progress  of  the  diocese,  in  which  great  numbers  of  Catholic 
Germans  had  settled,  was  very  rapid;  and  the  increase  of  population  was 
attended  by  a  development  of  schools  as  well  as  of  churches.  The  Brothers 
of  Mary,  a  community  founded  by  the  Rev.  William  Joseph  Cheminade, 
canon  of  Bordeaux,  and  approved  in  1839,  were  introduced  to  direct  German 
parochial  schools,  and  have  rendered  essential  service.  In  1850  the  province 
of  Baltimore  was  divided,  and  Cincinnati  was  raised  to  an  archiepiscopal  see, 
with  the  bishops  of  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Louisville,  and  Vincennes,  as  suf- 
fragans, the  number  having  been  since  doubled  by  the  division  of  dioceses. 

In  the  following  year,  to  the  consolation  of  the  archbishop,  he  opened  the 
ecclesiastical  seminary  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  of  the  West,  which  he  had 
founded  in  1848.  Its  organization  was  committed  to  the  Rev.  Michael  Halli- 
nan  as  president,  a  learned  priest  educated  at  St.  Sulpice,  Paris.  The  institu- 
tion has  fully  justified  the  hopes  of  the  venerable  founder,  and  in  its  faculty, 
its  thorough  course,  its  extended  library,  ranks  among  the  greatest  theolog- 
ical seminaries  of  the  country. 

The  Ursulines  about  this  time  founded  a  convent  at  Cincinnati,  and 
when  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  in  1852,  affiliated  themselves  to  the  order  of 
Fiance,  those  in  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati  clung  to  the  dress  and  rule  of 
Mother  Seton,  and  remained  as  a  distinct  community  under  the  archbishop. 
They  are  now  in  a  flourishing  state,  with  250  members,  in  several  dioceses^ 
directing  schools  and  charitable  institutions. 

A  pastoral  letter  on  marriage  was  issued  in  December,  1853,  laying  down 
clearly  the  rules  of  the  Church,  and  the  duties  and  obligations  of  Catholics 
who  receive  that  sacrament. 

On  the    13th  of   May,  1855,  tne  Fnst  Provincial  Council  of    Cincinnati 


324  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

convened  in  the  Cathedral,  the  Most  Rev.  archbishop  presiding;  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Dr.  Lefevere,  administrator  of  Detroit;  Rt.  Rev.  A.  Rappe,  bishop 
of  Cleveland;  Rt.  Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding,  bishop  of  Louisville;  Rt.  Rev. 
G.  A.  Carrell,  bishop  of  Covington;  Rt.  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga,  bishop 
of  Amyzonia  and  vicar-ajDostolic  of  Upper  Michigan,  taking  part  in  the 
work  of  the  council,  Bishop  de  St.  Palais  alone  being  absent  of  all  the  suf- 
fragans. Besides  the  bishops,  there  were  present  the  provincials  of  the 
Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and  Jesuits,  the  superior  of  the  priests  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  and  the  vicar  of  the  superior  of  the  priests  Pretiosissimi  Sanguinis. 

The  pastoral  letter  issued  after  the  close  of  the  council  dwelt  especially 
upon  Catholic  schools,  declaring  their  erection,  in  many  respects,  as  important 
an  object  as  the  building  of  new  churches.  Temperance,  zeal  for  the  house 
of  God,  patience  in  persecution,  and  piety,  were  inculcated. 

In  the  pastoral  on  the  decrees  of  the  council  praise  is  given  to  the 
excellence  of  the  German  schools,  which  are  cited  as  models.  It  also  alluded 
to  a  recent  iniquitous  law,  leading  the  way  to  the  confiscation  of  Catholic 
Church  property,  which  had,  however,  been  repealed. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  1858,  the  Most  Rev.  archbishop  celebrated  the 
Silver  Jubilee  of  his  elevation  to  the  see  of  Cincinnati.  Addresses  were 
made  by  the  clergy  and  faithful,  the  venerable  Very  Rev.  J.  Ferneding  lead- 
ing in  this,  as  he  had  done  in  so  many  good  works  of  the  diocese.  The 
bishops  of  the  province  joined  in  their  congratulations  to  their  metropolitan. 

About  the  year  i860,  the  Franciscan  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy,  and  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  began  their  labors  in  this  diocese. 
By  this  time  there  were  in  Cincinnati,  besides  the  Cathedral,  more  than 
twenty  churches,  and  in  the  diocese  there  were  a  hundred  and  forty-eight, 
with  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  priests,  and  the  Catholics  in  the  diocese 
were  estimated  at  160,000;  several  of  the  larger  cities,  as  Chillicothe,  Colum- 
bus, Dayton,  Fayetteville,  Hamilton,  Piqua,  Portsmouth,  and  Zanesville  had 
each  two  churches. 

On  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  in  the  year  1862,  the  Rev.  Sylvester 
H.  Rosecrans,  an  American  who  had,  as  priest  and  professor  in  the  seminary, 
been  laboring  in  the  diocese  since  his  ordination,  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Pompeiopolis,  and  bishop  auxiliar  of  Cincinnati.  With  the  aid  thus  given  to 
the  venerable  archbishop,  religion  continued  to  progress,  although  six  years 
later  his  auxiliary  was  removed  and  made  bishop  of  Columbus. 

On  the  23d  of  May,  1876,  the   Golden  Jubilee   of    the   archbishop   was 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  325 

celebrated  by  his  flock  with  solemn  services  in  the  Cathedral,  attended  by- 
societies  in.  processions,  and  crowds  of  priests  and  laymen,  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  who  came  to  offer  their  congratulations.  It  was  the  bright  and 
brilliant  prelude  of  a  sad  and  terrible  affliction. 

Early  in  1879  financial  affairs  which  had  been  managed  by  the  Very 
Rev.  Edward  Purcell  ended  in  bankruptcy.  How  it  all  came  about  must 
ever  remain  a  mystery.  The  venerable  archbishop,  as  ignorant  as  a  child  of 
the  system  and  its  extent,  at  once  came  forward  and  assumed  the  whole 
responsibility  of  his  brother's  operations.  This  only  complicated  matters  and 
raised  a  host  of  legal  questions  as  to  his  ability,  in  character  of  trustee  for  the 
Catholic  Church  in  his  diocese,  to  assume  an  individual  indebtedness  con- 
tracted by  another;  and  if  he  could,  it  became  necessary  to  decide  what  prop- 
erty became  liable  for  it,  that  owned  by  the  diocese  or  the  property  of  everv 
Catholic  Church  and  institution  in  the  diocese.  If  the  debt  became  a  just 
charge  on  the  whole  diocese  and  all  its  churches  and  institutions,  it  was  a  debt 
on  every  Catholic,  which  he  was  bound  in  conscience  to  pay.  This  extreme 
view  no  theologian  or  canonist  was  found  to  take. 

The  debts  were  at  first  supposed  not  to  exceed  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dol- 
lars, and  attempts  were  made  to  meet  or  reduce  it  materially  by  subscriptions; 
but  when  it  was  found  that  the  indebtedness  reached  nearly  four  millions  of 
dollars  the  attempt  was  abandoned  as  hopeless.  The  Very  Rev.  Edward  Pur- 
cell died  broken-hearted.  The  archbishop  made  an  assignment  of  all  prop- 
erty in  his  name,  and  long  litigations  began.  The  court  ultimately  decided 
that  the  individual  congregations  were  not  liable  except  for  moneys  actually 
advanced  to  them. 

The  venerable  archbishop  asked  to  be  permitted  to  resign  the  see  which 
he  had  so  long  occupied,  but  when  this  was  refused  he  obtained  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  coadjutor.  The  choice  fell  upon  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  H.  Elder, 
then  bishop  of  Natchez,  who  in  May,  1880,  assumed  the  administration  of 
the  diocese. 

Archbishop  Purcell  then  retired  to  a  house  near  the  Ursuline  convent 
in  Brown  County.  Here  early  in  1881  he  was  struck  with  paralysis  and 
lingered  till  July  4,  1883,  when  he  expired  calmly  and  full  of  hope.  His 
career  had  been  humble,  zealous,  and  active.  In  the  great  trial  of  his  life  all 
acknowledged  that  no  money  had  been  spent  for  his  own  purposes  or  extrav- 
agantly. He  had  been  a  prelate  of  great  influence,  forming  many  of  the  best 
bishops  and  clergy  in   the   country,   consecrating   in   his  long   administration 


326 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


eighteen  bishops  and  ordaining  hundreds  of  priests.     His  successor,  in   1880, 
was  the  Most  Rev.  William  Henry  Elder,  former  bishop  of  Natchez. 

A  few  words  may  here  be  added  about  the  important  diocese  of  Cleve- 
land, cut  off  from  Cincinnati  in 
1847,  and  of  which  the  first  shep- 
herd was  Rt.  Rev.  Amadeus 
Rappe.  Bishop  Rappe  devoted 
himself  to  develop  the  resources 
of  his  diocese  to  meet  the  wants 
of  an  increasing  flock.  He  estab- 
lished St.  Mary's  Ecclesiastical 
Seminary,  and  St.  John's  College 
at  Cleveland,  and  introduced  the 
Ursuline  Nuns,  who  founded  an 
academy  in  the  same  city;  the 
Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Mary  took  charge  of  the  orphan 
asylum ;  and  Augustinian  Sisters  of 
a  charity  hospital,  which  is  to  this 
day  the  greatest  and  almost  the  only 
institution  of  the  kind  in  the  city. 
The  bishop  was  a  man  of  sin- 
gular eloquence,  speaking  several 
languages  with  fluency;  but  he 
devoted  himself  especially  to  the 
poor,    and    to    the    education    of 

MOST    REV.    W.    H.    ELDER,  ARCHBISHOP   OF  ^ 

Cincinnati.  children. 

Many  of  the  churches  in  Northern  Ohio  had  already  been  erected  by  his 
exertions.  At  Cleveland  he  found  only  one  church,  St.  Mary's  of  the  Flats. 
He  soon  commenced  the  erection  of  a  suitable  cathedral,  and  gave  an  impulse 
to  the  building  of  a  church  and  school  wherever,  stimulated  by  his  zeal  and 
eloquence,  the  people  could  maintain  them.  He  visited  every  church  and 
station  in  his  diocese  at  least  once  a  year,  and  was  assiduous  in  the  confes- 
sional; and,  in  preaching,  generally  delivering  two  sermons  every  Sunday. 

Under  such  a  bishop  religion  could  not  but  prosper.  After  an  adminis- 
tration of  twenty-three  years  he  saw  100,000  Catholics  under  his  care;  he 
had  a  hundred  and  sixty  churches,  and  a  hundred  and  seven  priests;  a  school 


THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  327 

I 

wherever  there  was  a  resident  pastor,  with  an  average  attendance  ranging  from 

fifty  to  a  thousand  pupils.  Religious  orders,  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis  and  St. 
Ignatius,  Brothers  of  Mary,  Gray  Nuns,  Sisters  of  the  Humility  of  Mary, 
Franciscan  Sisters,  Hospital  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order,  Sisters  of  the  Good 
Shepherd,  and  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  were  all  pursuing  their  especial 
work  for  the  glory  of  God. 

Yet  trouble  arose:  malice  did  not  spare  even  so  excellent  a  bishop;  and  Dr. 
Rappe,  finding  that  his  presence  might  prejudice  instead  of  benefiting  the 
cause  of  religion,  resigned  his  see,  August  2,  1870,  with  no  repining  and  no 
rancor.  He  retired  to  the  diocese  of  his  old  friend  and  fellow-laborer  in  Ohio, 
Bishop  De  Geosbriand,  of  Burlington,  where  he  labored  as  a  zealous  mission- 
ary and  apostle  of  temperance,  till  his  death,  September  8,  1877. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Gilmour,  already  known  as  an  active  and  zeal- 
ous priest,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  education,  was  consecrated  as  bishop  of 
Cleveland,  April  14,  1872.  In  his  struggle  to  save  Catholic  youth,  and  in 
establishing  a  Catholic  paper — The  Universe — to  maintain  Catholic  interests, 
Bishop  Gilmour  aroused  some  of  the  dormant  fanaticism  to  lay  aside  its 
ordinary  mask  of  hypocrisy;  but  the  progress  of  the  faith  was  all  the  more 
solid.  The -old  church  of  St.  Mary's  on  the  Flats,  has  twenty  other  churches 
besides  it  in  the  city  of  Cleveland;  and  the  diocese,  in  1878,  had  no  less  than 
two  hundred  and  three  churches,  a  hundred  and  fifty-eight  priests,  seven  asy- 
lums with  nearly  five  hundred  orphans  rescued  from  ruin,  a  hundred  and  ten 
parish  schools,  with  twenty-two  thousand  pupils,  out  of  a  Catholic  population 
of  150,000.  Bishop  Gilmour  likewise  aided  the  cause  of  education  by  the 
preparation  of  an  excellent  series  of  school  books.  To  the  great  grief  of  his 
flock,  he  died  in  1 891,  and  has  been  followed  in  the  charge  by  Rt.  Rev. 
Dr.  Horstmann,  late  an  eminent  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia. 


mmptcx  ^Wilt 


TH6  CROSS  IN  INDIANA. 


Establishment  of  Fort  Vincennes. — Father  Peter  Gibault. —Bishop  of  Bards- 
town  Rules  in  Indiana. — Father  Brute  Made  Bishop  of  Vincennes. — A 
Scion  of  Good  French  Stock. — Good  Teachers  and  Pious  Practices. — 
Career  of  a  Bright  Scholastic. — Studying  Medicine  in  Paris. — Forsakes 
All  for  the  Church. — Joins  the  Holy  Sulpitians. — Teaching  at  Mount  St. 
Mary's. — Acquaintance  With  Mother  Seton. — Saintly  Days  and  Duties. 
— Poverty  on  Becoming  Bishop. — Salary  Paid  In  Corn. — Giving  All  to  the 
Poor. — Still  Laboring  Though  Dying. — "Going  Home." — Bishop  Hallan- 
diere. — Notre  Dame  and  St.  Mary's  of  the  Wood. — A  Fruitful  Pastorate. 
— Other  Bishops. — Fort  Wayne  and  Terre  Haute. 

BOUT    the  year    1730,  a  French   post    was    established    on    the 

Wabash  by  Bissot,  Sieur  de  Vincennes,  which,  after  his  death  in  the 

Chickasaw  War,  assumed  his  name  and  has  since  retained  it.  Here, 

in    1749,  Father   Sebastian  Louis  Meurin,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 

founded  the  church  and  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  reviving,  as 

some  suppose,  a  temporary  mission  of  Father  Mermet  about  17 10. 

Father  Meurin  was  succeeded  by  others  of  his  holy  order,  who  continued 

to  minister  to  the  French  and  Indians  there  till  the  fall   of    Canada,   and   the 

almost  simultaneous  suppression  of  the  Jesuits. 

At  Fort  Ouiatenon,  near  the  present  Lafayette,  was,  it  is  inferred, 
another  Jesuit  mission  under  Father  Pierre  du  Jaunay.  This  shared  the  fate 
of  that  of  Vincennes,  which  was  without  a  priest  for  six  years  till,  in  1769, 
the  Rev.  Peter  Gibault,  sent  by  the  bishop  of  Quebec  to  look  after  that 
remote  part  of  his  flock,  wintered  there,  and  commenced  his  arduous  labors 
in  the  West,  extending  his  visits  beyond  the  Mississippi.  When  the  colonies 
declared  their  independence,  Father  Gibault  induced  the  French  in  the  West 
to  join  General  Clark,  and  thus  secured  that  part  of  the  country  to  the  United 
States.      He     resided     sometimes    at   Vincennes    and   occasionally   at   other 

328 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  329 

m;s?ions.  He  was  assisted  for  a  time  by  a  Father  Paget,  and  finally  withdrew 
on  Jhe  nth  of  October,  i  7S9. 

The  famous  Father  Flaget  was  sent  to  revive  the  faith  of  these  scattered 
Catholics  in  1792.  This  first  mission  of  the  future  bishop  of  Bardstown 
extended  to  April,  1795.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Rivet  then  ministered  to  the  French 
and  Indians  and  occasional  Irish  Catholics,  till  his  death  in  1S04,  and  in  1799 
opened  the  first  school.  His  services  in  restraining  the  Indians  were  highly 
esteemed  by  the  government  and  the  people.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Oliver,  then 
stationed  near  the  Mississippi,  visited  Vincennes  occasionally. 

Indiana  had  meanwhile  fallen  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Bishop  Flaget, 
and  in  1S12,  his  old  flock  earnestly  implored  him  to  give  them  a  resident  priest. 
He  visited  them  in  18 14,  and  remained  several  weeks,  instructing,  hearing 
confessions,  baptizing,  marrying,  and  on  the  5th  of  June  for  the  first  time 
administered  the  sacrament  of  confirmation.  He  made  a  second  visit  on  his 
way  back  from  the  Mississippi,  for  the  benefit  of  the  hundred  and  twenty 
Catholic  families  there. 

Visits  were  now  frequently  made  to  Vincennes  by  priests  from  Ohio  and 
Kentucky;  but  on  the  6th  day  of  May,  1834,  Pope  Gregory  XVI  erected  Vin- 
cennes into  an  episcopal  see,  and  the  Rev.  Simon  Gabriel  Brute  was  appointed 
bishop.  He  was  consecrated  at  Bardstown,  October  26,  1S34.  The  diocese 
embraced  the  state  of  Indiana  and  Western  Illinois,  and  as  its  first  prelate  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church  we 
deem  well  to  notice  his  career  at  some  length. 

Just  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years  after  the  illustrious  Father  Jogues, 
S.  J.,  had  visited  Rennes — the  capital  of  the  ancient  province  of  Brittany — 
bearing  on  his  person  cruel  marks  of  Mohawk  barbarity,  there  was  born  in 
the  same  city  a  child  who  was  destined  one  day  to  make  his  name  forever 
famous  in  the  annals  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
Simon  Gabriel  Brute\  His  birthday  was  the  20th  of  March,  1779.  He  belonged 
to  an  ancient  and  very  respectable  family.  His  father,  Simon  Gabriel  Brute, 
was  superintendent  of  the  royal  domains  in  Brittany ;  and  there  is  every 
evidence  that  his  mother  was  a  lady  of  great  piety,  intelligence,  and  force  of 
character. 

Simon  Gabriel  was  but  seven  years  of  age  when  his  father  died,  leaving 
his  business  affairs  in  an  embarrassed  condition.  It  was  a  great  misfortune. 
The  family  prospects  were  blasted,  and  a  hard,  weighty  responsibility  fell  on 
Madame  Brute\     But  she  was  not  unequal  to  the  burden.     She  seems  to  have 


33o  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE, 

been  a  wise  woman,  whose  tact  and  common  sense  made  her  equal  to  the 
duties  of  this  world,  without  ever  leading  her  to  forget  the  things  of  heaven. 
Such  was  the  good  educator  who  had  the  first  hand  in  molding  the  tender 
character  of  the  future  bishop. 

Nor  was  he  less^ortunate  in  his  first  confessor.  "  My  first  confessor,"  he 
wrote,  many  years  after,  "  was  Father  Carron,  vicar  of  the  parish  of  St. 
Germain,  then  a  very  young  priest,  but  already  so  remarkable  for  his  exem- 
plary life  and  most  fervent  piety,  that  he  was  called  the  'Abbe"  Te>ese,'  in 
allusion  to  St.  Teresa. 

"  This  was  soon  after  the  death  of  my  father,  when  I  was  about  eight 
years  old.  I  remember  well  that  the  first  time  I  went  to  confession  to  him, 
he  gave  me — as  I  left  his  confessional,  which  stood  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin — a  little  book  in  French  entitled  '  The  Death  of  Abel.'  As  I 
was  retiring,  he  came  out  of  the  confessional  and  gave  me  the  book.  I 
remember  his  face  as  it  appeared  at  that  moment,  with  such  an  expression  of 
amiability  and  piety  upon  it. 

"  I  was  his  penitent  for  several  years,  until  1791,  the  last  year  of  the  free 
exercise  of  religion  in  France,  during  which  year  I  had  the  happiness  of 
making  my  first  Communion.  I  went  regular  to  confession,  but  up  to  that 
time,  thanks  be  to  God,  my  excellent  mother,  and  I  must  add  excellent 
teachers,  I  had  little  to  confess.  Although  I  had  attended  the  public  schools 
for  four  or  five  years,  I  was  an  entire  stranger  to  all  improper  notions  ;  and 
my  chief  matter  of  reproach,  at  the  time  of  making  my  general  confession 
for  first  Communion,  was  the  having  taken  an  apple  from  the  stand  of  an 
old  fruit  woman. 

"  During  the  same  interval,  I  learned  my  catechism  at  school,  though  at 
times  I  attended  the  public  catechism  at  the  parish  church,  to  recite  portions 
of  the  Holy  Scripture,  which  we  learned  by  heart.  I  remember  that  on  one 
occasion,  having  repeated  the  history  of  the  sacrifice  of  Abraham,  I  obtained, 
as  a  reward,  quite  a  large  print  of  the  Annunciation,  pasted  on  a  board  with 
a  margin  of  gilt  paper  around  it.  It  hung  for  long  years  by  the  side  of  my 
bed,  and  I  can  still  call  to  mind  the  strange,  vivid  association  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  good  Father  Carron,  in  my  childish  impressions  of  piety  and 
holiness  of  life. 

"My  first  prayer-book  also  made  a  great  impression  on  my  mind.  It 
was  a  Paroissien,  bound  in  green  morocco,  with  gilt  edges,  and  was  given 
to   me  on  the   very  day  of  my  father's  funeral,    February   28,   1786.     I  had 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  .      33  x 

long  desired  to  have  one,  and  I  presume  there  was  not  a  little  vanity  mixed 
up  with  the  devotion  with  which  I  followed  the  Mass  and  office  in  my  beau- 
tiful prayer-book,  at  the  college  and  the  parish  church.  I  had  it  in  my 
possession  twenty  years  afterwards,  with  its  broken  covers,  defaced  binding 
and  some  torn  leaves;  but  I  lost  it  somehow  or  other  in  my  many  journeyings. 

"  I  made  my  first  Communion,  as  I  have  said,  in  1 79 1 .  There  were  about 
200  of  us  of  the  first  or  second  Communion — for  it  was  the  excellent  custom 
of  those  times  to  make  the  second  Communion  with  the  same  preparation  as 
the  first,  after  a  short  spiritual  retreat.  I  thank  Thee,  O  my  God !  for  the 
state  of  innocence  and  piety  I  was  in  the  day  I  performed  this  most  import- 
ant act." 

Young  Brute"  was  a  hard,  earnest  student.  His  ways  were  kind  and 
winning.  An  astonishing  memory  and  a  lively  imagination  made  him  appear 
unusually  bright.  He  pursued  his  studies  under  private  teachers  when  the 
troubles  and  terrors  of  the  Revolution  closed  the  college  of  Rennes. 

"  He  acquired  in  boyhood  and  youth,"  says  the  venerable  Dr.  McCaffrey, 
"  habits  of  study,  of  close  and  patient  mental  application,  which  he  retained 
through  life.  In  spite  of  that  modesty  which  prevented  him  from  ever  speak- 
ing in  his  own  praise,  I  could  learn  from  a  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  him,  and  from  the  testimony  of  others,  that,  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  city,  he  was  distinguished,  and  eminently  successful. 

"  His  after  life  proved  it.  His  mind  was  too  rich  in  treasures  of  classic 
lore,  too  amply  furnished  from  the  armories  of  science,  for  him  to  have  been 
a  dull  or  careless  student.  Whether  he  conversed  with  a  friend,  or  lectured 
to  a  class,  or  heralded  the  message  of  salvation  from  a  pulpit,  the  evidences  of 
profound  knowledge,  as  well  as  of  remarkable  genius,  incessantly  flashed 
before  you. 

"  Whatever  he  once  read  or  studied  he  remembered.  Even  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life,  when  his  attention  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  theology,  and 
other  branches  of  ecclesiastical  learning,  he  recited  with  ease  all  the  fables  of 
La  Fontaine,  entire  scenes  of  Racine,  Corneille,  and  the  finest  passages  of 
the  other  French  writers,  or  of  the  Latin  poets.  Though  less  familiar  with 
the  Greek  classics,  he  had  read  them  with  advantage  as  well  as  pleasure,  and 
turned  to  good  account  his  knowledge  of  the  language,  in  the  study  of  the 
Greek  Fathers  of  the  Church. 

"  At  one  time  he  had  in  view  to  enter  the  French  Polytechnic  School, 
and    for  this   reason    he    pursued    a   very  extensive  course  of    mathematical 


~3       .  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

science.  Subsequently  he  had  the  best  opportunities,  in  the  medical  schools 
of  Paris,  of  penetrating  deeply  into  the  mysteries  of  chemistry  and  natural 
philosophy.     He  improved  them  with  his  usual  diligence. 

"  While  he  devoted  himself  to  severer  studies,  he  gave  some  share  of 
attention  to  music  and  drawing;  and  in  the  latter  of  these  accomplishments 
he  attained  a  proficiency  which  in  after  years  was  a  source  of  pleasure  and 
advantage  to  himself  and  a  means  which  he  often  happily  employed  for  the 
purpose  of  interesting  and  instructing  others. 

"  His  studies  were  interrupted  by  the  Revolutionary  troubles,  and  he 
spent  about  two  years  in  his  mother's  printing  establishment,  during  which 
he  learned  and  practiced  the  business  of  a  compositor.  It  would  appear 
that  he  was  led  to  this  much  less  by  inclination  than  by  the  reverses  which 
his  family  had  sustained,  and  the  dangers  of  the  times." 

In  the  spring  of  1796,  the  young  student,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  began 
the  study  of  medicine  under  Duval,  an  eminent  surgeon  of  Rennes.  Two 
years  later  we  find  him  at  Paris,  attending  the  schools  of  medicine,  and  listen- 
ing to  the  lectures  of  Pinel,  Bichat  and  other  distinguished  professors.  It 
was,  however,  a  dangerous  period.  Infidelity  ran  wild.  Religion  was  held 
in  scorn  and  contempt;  but  the  firm,  pious,  well-balanced  mind  of  Mr.  Brute 
received  no  injury.  He  kept  the  precious  pearl  of  faith  unharmed.  He 
even  did  his  best  to  stem  the  savage  tide  of  infidelity.  In  1803  he  graduated 
doctor  in  medicine  with  the  highest  honors.  Eleven  hundred  students  were 
following  the  course;  and  of  these  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  best  were 
chosen  to  compete  for  the  first  prize.  It  was  gained  by  Dr.  Brute,  after  a 
severe  examination. 

The  young  physician  was  offered  a  good  position  in  the  capital  of 
France;  but  the  times  had  changed,  and  he  decided  to  dedicate  his  brilliant 
talents  to  the  Church.  It  was  not,  however,  from  any  feelings  of  dislike 
that  he  abandoned  the  profession  of  medicine.  No.  "  He  always  honored 
it,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  McCaffrey,  "as  one  of  the  noblest  to  which  a  highlv 
gifted  and  philanthropic  man  can  devote  himself.  Delightful  as  his  conversa- 
tion was  to  all,  and  to  men  of  science  in  particular,  it  was  peculiarly  so  to  the 
student,  or  to  the  practitioner  and  professor  of  medicine. 

"They  often  expressed  their  astonishment  that,  after  a  lapse  of  twenty 
or  thirty  years,  engrossed  by  pursuits  of  a  very  different  order,  he  retained  so- 
perfect  and  minute  a  knowledge  of  all  that  he  had  studied  in  his  youth,  under 
the  great   masters  of  the   French  capital."     The  only  occasion,  however,  on 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  333 

which  we  have  heard  of  his  attempting  the  practice  was  at  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  when  one  of  the  students  broke  his  arm,  and  the  regular  physician 
could  not  be  had  at  once.  Father  Brute  set  the  arm  so  skillfully  as  to  leave 
nothing  for  the  doctor  to  do  when  he  came. 

The  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  had  now  passed,  and  Christianity 
once  more  took  possession  of  her  profaned  and  ruined  temples.  Zealous 
laborers  were  needed  for  the  divine  work  of  reconstruction.  This  determined 
young  Dr.  Brute  to  enter  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  Paris.  He  began  his 
new  labors  in  1803.  With  eagerness,  his  orderly,  well-trained  mind  pursued 
the  study  of  theology,  canon  law,  church  history,  and  the  other  sacred 
sciences.  He  was  a  model  to  all  in  the  seminary.  It  need  hardly  be  said 
that  he  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  finished  theologian  when  he'  was  raised  to  the 
sacred  dignity  of  the  priesthood,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  in  the  year  1808. 

Father  Brut£  was  offered  a  canonicate  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rennes,  and 
the  bishop  of  Nantes  pressed  him  to  become  assistant  chaplain  to  the 
Emperor  Napoleon.  But  he  refused  both  positions,  and  became  a  member 
of  the  priests  of  St.  Sulpice.  He  was  appointed  professor  of  theology  in  the 
seminary  of  his  native  city,  and  was  thus  devoting  his  time  and  talents  when 
the  venerable  Bishop  Flaget,  of  Kentucky,  visited  France.  This  suggested 
a  fresh  train  of  reflections — the  New  World,  with  its  vast  spiritual  wants  and 
few  laborers.  The  apostolic  Brute  decided  to  go  to  America.  He  bade  a 
tender  adieu  to  his  good  mother,  his  family  friends,  and  his  library,  and 
sailed  from  Bordeaux  in  the  summer  of  18 10. 

Father  Brut£,  in  company  with  Bishop  Flaget,  landed  at  Baltimore  on 
the  1 8th  of  August,  18 10.  For  nearly  two  years  after  his  arrival  he  filled 
the  chair  of  philosophy  at  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice.  He  was  then 
appointed  to  aid  Father  Dubois  in  the  management  of  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  Emmitsburg,  Maryland. 

It  was  during  the  vacation  of  181 2,  while  spending  his  time  in  hard  mis- 
sionary labors,  that  Father  Brute  dropped  a  note  to  Bishop  Flaget.  Arch- 
bishop Bayley  considered  it  "  one  of  his  first  attempts  to  write  in  English." 

"  I  am  trying,"  he  says,  "  to  learn  practically  my  English.  I  have  said 
Mass  and  preached — bad  preaching  as  it  may  be — in  six  different  places.  This 
must  force  this  dreadful  English  into  my  backward  head,  or  I  must  renounce 
forever  to  know  it." 

For  some  years  Mount  St.  Mary's  now  became  the  chief  theater  of  his 
zeal,  learning  and   holy  influence.     He  taught  in  the  college,  and  he  was  the 


334  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

spiritual  director  of  the  saintly  Mother  Seton  and   her  Sisters  of   Charity  at 
St.  Joseph's. 

Mother  Seton  derived  the  greatest  benefit  from  his  excellent  counsels. 
She  and  Father  Brute"  were  such  congenial  spirits  that  their  minds  would 
seem  to  have  been  cast  in  the  same  mold.  A  vivid  fancy  and  ardent  temper- 
ament, with  an  entire  yielding  of  himself  to  the  impulses  of  faith,  caused  this 
apostolic  priest  to  feel  most  powerfully  the  truths  of  religion,  and  with  a  cor- 
responding fervor  to  announce  them  in  word  or  writing. 

His  ideas  flowed  so  rapidly  that  at  times  he  would  not  stop  to  give  them 
full  expression  in  language ;  but  he  poured  forth  his  subjects,  as  it  were,  in 
flashes  of  word  and  sentiment,  leaving  much  to  be  supplied  and  felt  by  those 
to  whom  he  addressed  himself. 

He  found  in  Mother  Seton  a  soul  who  could  follow  him  in  his  lofty  and 
beautiful  flights  on  the  wings  of  faith,  who  could  catch  the  fire  of  his  thoughts 
and  commune  with  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  elevating  power.  From 
him,  in  a  great  measure,  did  this  gifted  lady  learn  the  secret  of  how  to  pre- 
serve her  soul  in  peace  amid  the  trials  of  her  position,  and,  abandoning  her- 
self to  the  will  of  God  in  all  things,  to  look  forward  in  hope  and  joy  to  the 
term  of  all  earthly  sorrow  and  suffering. 

In  1818  Father  Brute"  made  a  visit  to  France  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
over  his  library  and  interesting  the  French  clergy  in  the  American  missions. 
On  his  arrival  at  Baltimore  he  was  appointed  president  of  St.  Mary's  College, 
where  he  remained  until  1818,  when  he  again  returned  to  Emmitsburg. 

Mount  St.  Mary's  College  was  now  placed  on  a  good  footing.  A  theo- 
logical school  was  opened,  and  Father  Brute"  became  professor  of  theology 
and  superior  of  the  school.  Here,  for  many  years  he  molded  the  future 
priests,  bishops,  and  archbishops,  of  the  country,  and  proved  his  greatness  as 
a  learned  and  saintly  teacher. 

"  His  duties,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  McCaffrey,  "  were  multiplied  and  various, 
and  required  to  discharge  them  no  ordinary  share  of  zeal,  industry,  and  ver- 
satility of  powers.  He  was  confessor  to  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  for  many 
years  pastor  of  the  congregation  at  Emmitsburg,  while  he  frequently  exer- 
cised in  this  congregation  some  of  the  most  arduous  functions  of  the  holy 
ministry. 

"  In  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  he  lectured  on  sacred  scripture,  and  was 
professor  of  theology  and  moral  philosophy.  In  the  college  he  taught  at 
different  times  natural  philosophy  and  various  other  branches.     True  greatness 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  335 

dignifies  whatever  sphere  it  moves  in.  His  genius  and  learning  were 
conspicuous,  when  they  expatiated  through  the  palace-halls  of  the  queen  of 
sciences,  Divinity ;  they  were  not  less  admirable  when  they  descended  to  the 
humble  task  of  teaching  youth  geography,  or  explaining  the  little  catechism 
to  children. 

"  His  cheerful  piety,  amiable  manners,  and  lively  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  his  pupils,  were  sure  to  win  their  hearts;  and  his  eminent  holiness  of  life 
secured  not  only  respect  but  veneration.  His  exhortations  to  virtue  and  piety 
could  scarcely  fail  of  effect,  because  he  recommended  only  what  he  practiced 
himself.  No  standard  of  Christian  or  priestly  excellence  to  which  he  pointed 
could  appear  too  high — since  he  was  himself  a  living  instance  of  its  attain- 
ment. If  forgetful  of  this  earth,  he  always  pointed  and  allured  to  heaven,  he 
also  led  the  way 

"His  hours  of  sleep  were  few,  and  long  before  the  morning's  dawn  he 
arose  to  converse  with  God,  and  to  give  Him  the  first  fruits  of  the  day.  Dur- 
ing these  early  meditations  his  soul,  absorbed  in  heavenly  contemplation  and 
intimate  union  with  its  Creator,  was  largely  visited  with  the  refreshing  dews 
of  divine  grace,  and  when  he  approached  the  altar  and  offered  up  the  Holy 
Sacrifice,  his  heart,  already  full  to  overflowing,  was  always  overpowered  by 
mingled  emotions  of  reverential  awe  and  gratitude  and  love,  and  often  found 
relief  in  copious  tears. 

"He  descended  to  the  discharge  of  his  ordinary  duties;  but,  like  Moses, 
he  bore  the  marks  of  converse  with  his  God,  and,  as  words  of  heavenly  wisdom 
fell  from  his  tongue,  you  could  readily  fancy  that  his  lips,  like  those  of  Isaias, 
had  been  touched  by  the  seraph  with  living  coals  of  fire  from  the  altar. 

"  His  time  was  all  divided  between  prayer  and  labor.  He  loved  so  well 
the  beauty  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  place  where  his  glory 
dwells,  that  he  spent  whole  hours  kneeling  before  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment; and  eventually  he  made  it  a  rule  whenever  it  was  practicable,  to  recite 
the  divine  office  in  His  holy  presence.  Thither  he  would  repair  on  returning 
from  a  long  journey  during  the  rigors  of  winter,  and,  until  he  had  satisfied 
his  devotions,  no  persuasions  could  induce  him  to  attend  to  his  personal 
comfort. 

"  At  other  times,  unless  he  was  engaged  in  active  duties,  you  would  find 
him  in  the  midst  of  his  splendid  library,  surrounded  by  the  writings  of  the 
fathers  and  doctors  of  the  Church,  and  whatever  besides  is  most  rare 
and   valuable    in    science    and    literature,  pursuing  his  devoted  studies     with 


„6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

intense  application  and  wonderful  activity  of  mind,  or   committing   to  paper, 
for  the  benefit  of  others,  the  results  of  his  profound  investigations. 

"  His  recreation  was  but  variety  of  labor.  When  his  weaned  mind 
demanded  its  turn  of  relaxation,  the  most  arduous  bodily  toil  succeeded,  and 
this  round  of  exertions,  mental  and  corporeal,  was  kept  up  with  an  elasticity  of 
spirits  and  activity  of  mind  truly  surprising.  After  a  journey  of  fifty  miles, 
performed  on  foot,  in  a  single  day,  book  in  hand,  praying  and  reading  by 
turns,  and  scarcely  stopping  to  take  the  simple  refection  that  nature  required, 
he  would  meet  his  friends  in  the  evening  with  a  freshness  of  spirits  and. 
gayety  of  conversation  that  could  not  be  surpassed. 

"As  professor  of  theology  he  chiefly  excelled  in  two  things — avast 
erudition,  which  left  nothing  unexplored,  and  a  singular  power  of  generaliz- 
ing, which  enabled  him  to  grasp  his  whole  subject  and  handle  it  with  ease, 
by  bringing  all  its  details  under  a  few  general  principles.  In  exhibiting  and 
supporting  these  principles  he  put  forth  all  his  strength.  After  adducing  all 
the  evidence  which  his  extensive  reading  readily  furnished,  elucidating  it  by 
his  luminous  explanations,  and  applying  the  logical  tests  with  cautious  judg- 
ment and  impartial  rigor,  his  excursive  mind  brought  in  a  rich  and  almost 
gorgeous  profusion  of  analogies  and  illustrations  from  every  part  of  the  wide 
domain  of  human  knowledge." 

Among  Father  Brute's  students  at  this  time  might  be  seen  a  bright, 
noble-looking  young  fellow,  who  had  manfully  brushed  a  host  of  difficulties 
aside,  and  pushed  his  way  into  the  class-rooms  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College. 
Many  a  day  he  listened  to  his  illustrious  teacher,  storing  up  the  treasures  of 
knowledge  that  flowed  from  his  lips.  At  length  he  was  raised  to  the  priest- 
hood in  1826.     It  was  John  Hughes,  afterwards  archbishop  of  New  York. 

Young  Father  Hughes  began  his  labors  in  a  new  and  thorny  field ;  but 
the  kind  master  did  not  forget  his  promising  pupil.  "  My  deaf  brother," 
writes  Rev.  Professor  Brut£,  "  may  God  bless  such  wise  and  prudent  begin- 
nings of  your  holy  ministry  amidst  such  difficult  and  perplexing  circumstances 
as  it  has  pleased  Him  to  try  them  by.  May  He  bless  such  worthy  sentiments 
as  expressed  in  your  letter." 

In  all  his  perplexities  the  future  archbishop  had  recourse  to  Father  Brute\ 
He  asks  his  opinion,  now  upon  a  point  of  theology,  again  upon  some  anti- 
quarian subject;  now  he  applies  to  him  to  find  a  passage  in  one  of  the  fathers; 
now  consults  him  upon  a  question  of  philosophy,  or  asks  from  him  a  summary 
of    the    principles    of    canon   law,   which  bear  upon    the    existing    Church 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  337 

difficulties  at  Philadelphia.  Upon  all  points  this  extraordinary  man  was 
ready  to  satisfy  him. 

When  Father  Hughes  erected  St.  John's  Church  at  Philadelphia,  and 
was  about  to  have  it  dedicated  in  1832,  he  wrote  to  his  dear  old  professor: 
"  Could  you  not  be  here  on  that  day  ?  It  would  add  to  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion  and  be  a  subject  of  joy  to  all  your  friends — who  are  all  that  know  or 
ever  heard  of  you." 

"  I  have  heard,"  replies  Father  Brut£,  "  from  all  quarters  of  the  great 
success  that  God  grants  to  your  noble  undertaking.  The  details  you  give  me 
are  of  the  most  pleasing  nature.  The  invitation  you  add  for  the  day  of  con- 
secration I  acknowledge  with  all  my  heart;  but,  be  sure  that  my  good  obscure 
corner  here  is  my  true  place,  and  a  couple  of  miles  of  radius,  just  to  St. 
Joseph's,  the  true  space  of  my  usefulness;  for  the  rest,  nesciri  et  pro  nihilo 
reputari" 

One  day  in  the  month  of  May,  1834,  while  Father  Brut£  was  giving  a 
retreat  to  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  he  was  handed  some  documents  which  had 
come  all  the  way  from  Rome.  He  went  into  the  chapel,  and  on  his  knees 
opened  them — the  bulls  appointing  him  bishop  of  the  newly  erected  see  of 
Vincennes,  Indiana. 

His  humility  was  alarmed.  He  made  a  retreat  to  know  the  will  of  Heaven, 
and  only  after  long  and  careful  reflection  would  he  accept  the  great  responsi- 
bility. "  I  have  been  unusually  engaged  since  I  received  the  news  of  your 
elevation  to  the  episcopacy,"  wrote  his  old  pupil,  Father  John  Hughes,  in 
August,  1834.  "My  congratulations  are  on  this  account  later,  but  not  less 
sincere.  The  place  which  you  have  hitherto  occupied  seemed  to  me  so 
important  for  the  Church,  that  I  confess  it  is  with  regret  I  see  it  vacant. 
But  when  I  think  of  the  ways  by  which  Almighty  God  accomplishes  His 
designs,  especially  in  reference  to  the  Church,  I  have  no  doubt  but  it  will  be 
found  according  to  His  will."  The  new  prelate  was  consecrated  in  the  fall 
of  the  same  year,  and  at  once  set  out  for  Vincennes.  He  arrived  there  in 
company  with  Bishop  Flaget  and  Bishop  Purcell,  on  the  5th  of    November. 

"  Some  miles  before  reaching  the  city,"  writes  Bishop  Brutd,  "  we  were 

met  by  a  number  of  citizens,  Catholics  and  Protestants,  on  horseback,    who 

had  accompanied  the  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Lalumiere,  a  native  of  the  state,  and 

the  first  priest  ordained  for  Vincennes.     He  was,  of  course,  filled  with  joy  in 

seeing  a  bishop  granted  to  his  Indiana,  and    all  the  inhabitants  seemed  to 

share  in  it. 
23 


338  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  The  ceremony  of  installation  took  place  the  same  evening.  Bishop 
Flaget,  who  forty-three  years  before  had  been  the  missionary  priest  here  when 
it  was  a  simple  trading  and  military  post,  in  the  midst  of  the  surrounding 
wilderness,  proceeded  to  address  the  people  with  his  usual  fervor.  Venerated 
and  beloved  by  all,  himself  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age,  he  intro- 
duced to  them  their  new  bishop,  no  longer  young,  being  in  his  fifty-fourth 
year,  and  urged  them  to  make  good  use  of  the  privileges  which  God  in  His 
mercy  had  bestowed  upon  them.  Other  instructions  were  given  during  those 
days.  On  Sunday  I  officiated  pontifically,  and  on  Monday  my  venerable  col- 
leagues took  their  leave,  amid  the  blessings  of  the  whole  population,  to  return 
to  their  respective  dioceses. 

"  They  literally  left  me  alone.  Father  Petit  was  obliged  soon  to  return 
to  his  college  in  Kentucky.  Mr.  Lalumiere  took  charge  of  the  missions  in 
the  vicinity  of  Vincennes,  but  still  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  distant,  and  in 
the  whole  diocese  there  were  but  two  other  priests,  one  Mr.  Ferneding,  in 
charge  of  the  German  missions,  150  miles  distant,  and  Mr.  St.  Cyr,  whom 
Bishop  Rosati  had  permitted  to  assist  me  for  one  year,  and  who  was  stationed 
at  Chicago — 225  miles  off. 

"The  cathedral  Church  is  a  plain  brick  building,  115  feet  long,  and  60 
feet  broad,  consisting  of  the  four  walls  and  the  roof,  unplastered,  and  not 
even  white-washed — no  sanctuary — not  even  a  place  for  preserving  the 
vestments  and  sacred  vessels.  It  has  only  a  simple  altar  of  wood,  with 
a  neatly  gilded  tabernacle,  and  a  cross  and  six  beautiful  candlesticks — 
agift  from  France — which  were  much  in  contrast  with  the  poverty  and  utter 
destitution  of  the  place.  The  house  built  for  the  missionary — and  now  the 
episcopal  residence — consists  of  a  small  comfortable  room  and  closet,  25  feet 
by  12,  without,  however,  a  cellar  under,  or  a  garret  above;  a  small  plot  in  a 
garden  lies  between  it  and  the  church,  on  the  other  side  of  which  is  the 
Catholic  cemetery.  Some  years  since,  the  town  had  a  common  burying 
ground  prepared,  beyond  its  limits,  and  insisted  for  a  while  that  the  Catholics 
should  bury  their  dead  in  it  like  the  rest,  but  they  resisted  so  resolutely  that 
they  were  at  last  permitted  to  bury  in  their  own  cemetery.  An  old  wooden 
building,  a  short  distance  from  the  palace,  is  occupied  by  the  servant,  and 
near  it  is  a  stable  ready  for  the  bishop's   horse — when  he  is  able  to  get  one. 

"The  people  are  mostly  of  French  descent,  poor,  illiterate,  but  of  that 
open,  lively  disposition  which  bespeaks  their  origin.  They  retain  their  Faith, 
love  their  priest,  but  are  negligent  in  attending  to  their  religious  duties.    They 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  339 

are  very  remiss  also  in  teaching  their  children  their  prayers  and  the  catechism, 
and  this  causes  them  to  forget  it  themselves.  Many  also  are  in  the  habit  of 
using  profane  language.  It  is  true,  and  should  be  mentioned,  that  of  late 
years  they  have  been  much  neglected,  and  much  of  their  former  piety  seems 
now  to  be   rekindling  in  their  hearts. 

"  The  kind  reception  I  met  with  on  my  arrival  was  followed  up  by 
generous  gifts  of  provisions  and  other  necessary  things.  Of  money  they 
have  little,  and  consequently  can  give  but  little.  A  subscription  list  which 
was  handed  around  some  months  after  I  came,  with  the  intention  of  providing 
a  yearly  income  for  my  support,  did  not  reach  two  hundred  dollars,  and  most 
of  this  was  to  be  paid  in  grain,  if  they  had  not  money  at  the  time." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  when  Bishop  Brute  began  his  labors  at  Vin- 
cennes,  nearly  everything  was  to  create — a  seminary,  schools,  churches,  and 
all  these  with  an  income  of  less  than  $20  a  month.  He  was  both  bishop  and 
parish  priest,  and  his  round  of  toil  was  ceaseless.  Every  Sunday  he  gave  two 
instructions — one  in  French,  another  in  English.  He  left  no  corner  of  his 
wild  and  widely  scattered  diocese  unvisited.  He  wrote  continually  for  the 
Catholic  press.  His  food  and  clothing  were  of  the  very  plainest.  As  to 
money,  if  he  had  any,  he  knew  only  how  to  give  it  away.  "  If  he  had  five 
dollars,"  said  one  of  his  priests,  "it  went  to  the  first  person  that  asked  him 
for  money."  He  often  gave  away  his  garments,  and  he  was  known  to  bestow 
his  linen  and  underclothes  to  poor  negroes  whom  he  visited  and  solaced. 

The  first  church  he  blessed  was  placed  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  called  St.  Mary's,  an  event  which,  he  says,  gave  him* 
"  great  happiness."  Of  his  first  visit  to  Chicago,  he  writes :  "  I  gave  only  a 
few  confirmations,  and  three  instructions,  one  on  Saturday,  and  two  on  Sun- 
day, to  encourage  the  rising  Catholic  congregation  of  that  most  important 
point.  It  is  now  composed  of  about  400  souls  of  all  countries,  French,  Can- 
adians, Americans,  Irish,  and  a  good  number  of  Germans." 

When  he  visited  the  Indians  and  their  good  missionary,  Father  De  Seille, 
he  was  received  with  delight.  One  of  the  chiefs  made  the  bishop  a  present 
of  320  acres  of  land,  saying  that  "God,  when  He  would  return  from  heaven 
to  visit  our  earth,  would  see  that  ground  which  the  Indian.-;  gave,  and  that  it 
would  prove  to  Him  their  sincere  devotion  to  His  holy  religion  and  the  mes- 
sengers He  had  sent  to  secure  its  blessings  to  them."  He  confirmed  sixteen 
Indians  on  this  occasion.  "  One  was  an  old  chief,"  writes  the  bishop,  "  who 
since  his  baptism  had  led  such  an  innocent  life  that  he  had  not  been  observed 


3  0  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

to  commit  any  fault,  or  give  way  to  impatience,  or  any  other  imper- 
fection." 

As  he  passed  by  the  pretty,  peaceful  site  now  adorned  by  the  university 
of  Notre  Dame,  the  keen  eye  of  the  apostolic  man  noted  its  advantages,  and 
he  remarked  that  it  was  "  a  most  desirable  spot,  and  one  soon  I  hope  to  be 
occupied  by  some  prosperous  institution." 

But  we  have  not  room  to  follow  Dr.  Brute  in  his  tireless  labors  as  a 
missionary  bishop.  Several  times  he  crossed  the  ocean  at  the  call  of  duty ; 
and  it  was  while  on  his  way  to  attend  the  council  of  Baltimore,  in  1837,  that 
he  caught  a  severe  cold,  which  finally  grew  into  consumption.  His  health 
declined,  but  not  his  activity.  To  the  last  he  was  up  and  doing.  On  one 
occasion  he  began  a  journey  of  four  hundred  miles  in  a  state  of  such  bodily 
suffering  that  he  could  not  sit  upright  on  his  horse,  but  he  manfully  pushed 
along.  Only  six  hours  before  his  death  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand,  and  not 
without  much  pain  and  difficulty,  several  moving  letters  to  persons  who  had 
unfortunately  abandoned  the  practice  of  their  faith,  and  to  whom  he  wished 
to  make  this  dying  appeal  in  behalf  of  their  souls,  while  the  portals  of 
eternity  were  closing  upon  him.  "  I  am  going  home,"  said  this  simple,  saintly 
and  heroic  man,  this  varied  and  profound  scholar,  as  he  calmly  and  sweetly 
surrendered  his  soul  to  God  on  the  26th  of  June,  1839. 

At  the  end  of  his  five  short  years  of  administration,  Bishop  Brute"  left  to 
"the  Church  of  Indiana,  twenty-four  priests,  twenty-three  churches,  besides 
six  church  buildings  and  twenty-eight  stations  occasionally  visited;  two 
religious  communities,  one  theological  seminary,  one  college  for  young  men, 
one  female  academy,  and  two  free  schools.  With  such  achievements  the 
reader  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  he  was  opposed  to  going  in  debt,  and 
would  never  sign  a  mortgage  on  church  property." 

His  vicar-general,  Celestine  de  la  Hailandiere,  selected  by  the  pope  to 
succeed  him,  was  consecrated  at  Paris,  August  18,  1839,  by  Dr.  Forbin  Jan- 
son,  bishop  of  Nancy.  The  new  bishop  endowed  the  diocese  with  two 
important  communities.  One  was  the  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  with  the 
Brothers  of  St.  Joseph,  to  whom  he  confided  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs,  a  log  chapel 
erected  by  Rev  S.  T.  Badin,  on  property  purchased  by  him,  and  where  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Deseille  and  Petit  labored  among  the  Indians.  The  Rev.  E. 
Sorin  had,  in  1S41,  brought  over  from  Mans  some  brothers,  and  founded  St. 
Peter's,  an  establishment  near  Vincennes.  He  proceeded  to  Ste.  Marie  in 
November,  1842,  and  there  founded  Notre  Dame,  on  the   right   bank   of   the 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA. 


34 x 


St.  Joseph's  River,  the  history  and  wonderful  increase  of  this  establishment 
being  noted  in  a  separate  chapter. 

The  other  community  was  that  of  the  Sisters  of  Providence,  who,  in 
1S40,  founded  a  convent  at  St.  Mary's  in  the  Woods,  near  Terre  Haute,  and 
which  has  also  had  a  glorious  fruition. 

The  year  1844  was  a  sad  one.  Catholicity  had  to  endure  a  new  and  ter- 
rible trial.     In  the  east  the  mob,  led  by  designing  men,  had  destroved  Catho- 


st.  mart's  in  the  woods,  1S40. 
lie  churches  and  institutions  openly;  and  misguided  individuals  had  by  stealth 
applied  the  incendiary  torch,  almost  unrebuked  bv  popular  judgment;  and 
nowhere  had  the  voice  of  the  Protestant  ministry  been  raised  to  impress  on 
their  ignorant  followers  that  such  acts  of  violence  against  their  fellow-citizens 
were  grievous  sins.  In  the  west  the  persecution  took  a  new  form.  An 
exemplary  priest,  Romain  Weinzaspnein,  of  Evansville,  Indiana,  was  arrested 
and  tried  for  an  outrage  on  a  married  woman  named  Schmoll.  The  state- 
ments of  the  complainant  were  unsupported  and  self-contradictorv ;  but  the 
judge  and  jury,  if  thev  did  not  investigate  the  whole  charge,  went  into  the 
case  with  the  clear  intent  of  convicting  the  priest,  and  they  did  convict  him. 
He  was  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for  five  years.  Before  many  months 
proof  accumulated  that  the  accuser  was  a  woman  notorious  for  her  infamous 
life;  some  of  those  foremost  in  compassing  the  wicked  verdict  were  filled 
with  compunction,  and  united  in  petitioning  the  governor   to   release,   in   the 


342  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE 

only  way  he  could — by  pardon — the  victim  of  their    bigotry.     Thoroughly 
convinced  of  his  innocence  the  governor  opened  his  prison  doors. 

The  diocese,  in  1844,  was  restricted  to  the  state  of  Indiana,  the  Illinois 
portion  being  assigned  to  the  new  see  of  Chicago.  Bishop  de  le  Hailandiere 
resigned  his  see  in  1847,  having  nearly  doubled  the  number  of  his  priests  and 
churches. 

At  the  request  of  the  fathers  of  the  Sixth  Provincial  Council  of  Balti- 
more, the  Rev.  John  S.  Bazin  was  then  appointed,  and  consecrated  at  Vin- 
cennes,  October  24,  1847.  As  a  missionary  priest,  at  Mobile,  he  had  evinced 
most  remarkable  qualities,  and  great  hopes  were  entertained  of  his  success  in 
his  new  position;  but  he  died  after  a  few  days'  illness,  April  23,  1848. 

The  diocese  was  then  administered  by  the  Very  Rev.  James  Mary  Mau- 
rice de  Saint  Palais,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1849.  He  was  born  near  Tours,  in  181 1,  and  had  been  educated  at  St. 
Sulpice,  Paris,  but,  after  his  ordination,  came  to  Vincennes  to  labor  in  the 
American  mission.  He  was  fully  acquainted  with  the  diocese  and  its  wants, 
and  exerted  himself  to  do  all  in  his  power  for  his  flock.  The  Benedictine 
fathers,  from  Einsiedeln,  encouraged  by  him,  founded  their  monastery  at  St. 
Meinrad's,  which  has  now  grown  to  be  one  of  our  great  abbeys.  He  also 
introduced  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Doctrine,  and  the  Sisters  of  the 
Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  who  established  a  convent  at  Oldenburg.  The 
increase  of  the  faithful  was  such  that,  in  1856,  he  solicited  a  division  of  the 
diocese,  and  a  new  see  was  erected  at  Fort  Wayne,  in  January  of  the  follow- 
ing year.  The  diocese  of  Vincennes  has  since  included  the  part  of  Indiana 
lying  south  of  Fountain,  Montgomery,  Boone,  Hamilton,  Madison,  Delaware, 
Randolph,  and  Warren  counties.  It  contained  an  ecclesiastical  seminary,  a 
Benedictine  monastery,  a  community  of  Brothers,  a  convent  of  Sisters  of 
Providence,  directing  eleven  academies  and  schools;  Tertiary  Sisters  of  St. 
Francis,  with  a  convent  at  Oldenburg,  and  three  dependent  schools,  seventy- 
eight  churches,  and  forty-two  priests.  He  lived  to  see  great  progress.  The 
Franciscan  fathers  founded  thriving  convents  at' Oldenburg  and  Indianapolis; 
the  Capuchins  opened  a  lyceum  at  Terre  Haute;  the  Brothers  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  began  to  direct  schools  for  boys,  establishing  a  novitiate  to  provide  for 
future  wants;  the  Sisters  of  Providence  and  of  St.  Francis  extended  their 
fields  of  labor;  Benedictine  and  Ursuline  nuns  came  to  direct  academies  and 
free  schools;  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor, 
at   Indianapolis,  pursued  their  wonderful  works  of  mercy;  Evansville  had  a 


THE  CROSS  IN  INDIANA.  343 

hospital  under  the  Sisters  of  Charity ;  and  the  priests  and  churches  had  more 
than  doubled  in  number,  when  the  good  bishop,  while  at  St.  Mary's  in  the 
Woods,  June  28,  1S77,  was  suddenly  stricken  down  by  disease,  and  died 
among  the  priests  and  religious  who,  like  him,  had  labored  for  the  glory  of 
God.     The  Very  Rev.  Auguste  Bessonies  became  administrator  of  the  diocese. 

The  holy  father  Pope  Leo  XIII  appointed,  as  fifth  bishop  of  Vincennes, 
Dr.  Francis  Silas  Chatard,  a  native  of  Baltimore,  who  had  for  several  years 
been  rector  of  the  American  College  at  Rome.  He  was  consecrated  May 
12,  1878,  and,  on  proceeding  to  his  diocese,  took  up  his  residence  at  Indian- 
apolis, the  capital  of  the  state,  where  there  were  already  five  churches  and  as 
many  chapels. 

When  the  see  of  Fort  Wayne  was  erected,  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Luers 
was  appointed  the  first  bishop.  He  was  born  at  Minister,  Germany,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1 819,  and  came  to  this  country  in  his  fourteenth  year.  He  was 
educated  by  the  Lazarists,  and  ordained  November  11,  1846.  From  that 
time  he  had  been  a  laborious  missionary  in  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati  till  his 
promotion.     He  was  consecrated  January  10,  1858. 

Fort  Wayne  had,  in  the  last  century,  under  the  name  of  Kiskakon,  been 
a  French  post  at  the  junction  of  the  St.  Mary's  and  St.  Joseph's  rivers.  A 
priest  was  there  in  1749,  and  the  very  names  of  the  streams  indicate  an  earlier 
presence.  Bishop  Luers  found  on  the  spot  a  small  frame  church  in  poor 
condition,  with  a  suitable  residence;  but  in  the  whole  diocese  there  were  only 
twenty  churches,  most  of  them  very  poor,  eleven  secular  priests,  and  three 
Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross.  To  begin  a  cathedral,  to  stimulate  his  flock  to 
erect  suitable  churches,  to  obtain  more  priests,  were  the  great  tasks  before 
him.  In  1859  the  corner-stone  of  a  fine  Gothic  cathedral  was  laid  by  Arch- 
bishop Purcell,  and,  by  the  energy  of  the  bishop,  the  building  was  completed 
before  the  close  of  the  year.  This  aroused  the  zeal  of  Catholics  in  other 
parts,  who  at  once  began  to  erect  churches  worthy  of  them.  The  bishop 
was  unwearied  in  his  visitations,  convened  his  clergy  biennially,  and  was  ever 
ready  to  encourage  them.  In  1864  he  visited  Rome,  and  was  commissioned 
by  the  Holy  See  to  draw  up  a  constitution  and  rules  for  the  Sisters  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  who  were  detached  from  the  order  in  France. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Hc'y  Cross  meanwhile  increased  in  number;  the 
Sisters  of  Providence  opened  a  house  at  Fort  Wayne;  the  Sisters  of  Precious 
Blood  in  Jay  County.  Bishop  Luers  was  untiring  in  his  exertions  for  the 
good  of  his  diocese;  and,  overcome  by  his  apostolic  labors,  he  died  June  28, 


344 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


1 87 1,  from  a  stroke  received  while  in  the   street,  after  having  conferred  holy 
orders  in  the  morning. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Dwenger,  appointed  by  Pope  Pius  IX  to  the 
see  of  Fort  Wayne,  was  consecrated  April  14,  1872,  and  has  since  governed 
the  diocese.  The  growth  of  Catholicity  has  been  remarkable.  The  diocese 
contains  now  about  80,000  Catholics,  with  a  hundred  and  eight  churches, 
exclusive  of  those  still  in  course  of  erection;  there  are  sixty-six  secular 
priests,  thirty-one  regulars;  a  university  which  has  already  celebrated  its  Sil- 
ver Jubilee,  seventeen  academies,  fifty-three  parish  schools,  with  hospitals, 
orphan  asylums,  and  retreats  for  the  aged. 


©tapte*  £TOI. 


THE  CITV  OF  JUlJIkEE. 


Reminiscences  of  Marquette. — Chicago's  First  House  and  Church. — Father. 
St.  Cyr's  Mission. — A  Prophecy  by  Bishop  Rosati. — Bishop  Brute  Visits 
the  Mission.  —Increase  of  the  Flock. — Four  Priests  Sent  To  Help. — The 
City  Erected  to  a  Bishopric. — Born  in  Kings  County,  Ireland. — A.  Pious 
Mother.  — -  Vocation  Irresistible.  —  Successful  Studies.  —  A  Destiny 
Changed. — "The  Little  Bishop." — Bound  for  America. — A  Mother's 
Blessing. — Enters  Mount  St.  Mary's. — Favored  by  Bishop  Dubois.— 
Called  to  the  Priesthood. — Service  in  New  York  City. — Fire  and 
Cholera. — Consecrated  for  Chicago. — A  Zealous  and  Self-Denying  Pre- 
late.— Success  and  a  Saintly  Death. — His  Successors. — Chicago  Becomes 
Center  of  a  Province. — Sketch  of  the   Beloved  First  Archbishop. 


»F  the  sainted  Jesuit  missionary,  Father  Marquette,  during  his 
enforced  stay  on  a  bed  of  sickness  in  a  log  cabin  at  the  mouth  of 
the  estuary  now  known  as  the  Chicago  River,  had  a  vision  of  the 
triumphant  pageants  of  the  Church  he  loved  so  dearly  and  served 
so  faithfully,  that  took  place  on  that  very  site  two  centuries  after, 
his  anxieties  and  pains  must  have  been  assuaged  and  heavenly  joy 
filled  his  soul.  At  that  time — the  winter  of  1674-75 — there  was  nothing 
inviting  in  the  surroundings  to  offer  him  any  kind  of  relief  in  those  days  of 
hard  trial.  To  the  north  there  was  an  unbroken,  impenetrable  forest;  to  the 
west,  vast,  bleak,  prairie  lands;  to  the  south,  low  marsh  and  sickness-breed- 
ing swamps,  shunned  by  the  red  man  in  the  summer,*  and  absolutely  desolate 
and  forbidding  in  the  winter  months  of  the  year. 

When  the  season  was  well  advanced  in  1674,  Father  Marquette  had  left 
St.  Mary's  mission,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  accompanied  by  his  two  Indian  guides., 
and  set  out  for  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  bringing  with  him  a  supply  of 
church  articles   necessary  for  a  mission  establishment.     Changing  the  route, 

345 


34g  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

he  boldly  crossed  Lake  Michigan  from  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  and  sailed 
down  the  western  shore  to  the  inlet  that  served  as  an  output  for  the  overflow 
of  the  waters  of  the  Desplaines  valley,  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  The 
journey  came  near  ending  in  a  calamity.  Father  Marquette  had  not 
completely  recovered  from  the  hardships  and  exposures  encountered  on  his 
previous  voyages,  and  during  this  trip  he  met  with  so  many  difficulties  that 
he  fell  an  easy  prey  to  exhaustion,  so  that  when  the  little  party  arrived  at 
the  mouth  of  the  "Chicagou,"  he  was  carried  to  the  adjacent  land  in  such  a 
complete  state  of  prostration  that  his  faithful  companions  thought  that  his 
death  would  soon  follow.  They  hurriedly  built  a  log  cabin,  arranged  the 
interior  with  articles  brought  from  their  canoe,  then  one  of  them  set  out  with 
all  haste  to  convey  the  sad  intelligence  to  the  expectant  tribes  of  the  Illinois 
valley.  As  soon  as  his  returning  strength  permitted,  the  Illini  carried  their 
beloved  black-gown  over  to  the  Desplaines,  and  sailing  southward  to  the 
Illinois,  they  soon  reached  their  villages,  where  Father  Marquette  was  enthu- 
siastically welcomed  and  treated  with  tender  care. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  elapse  before  the  "Chicagou"  and  its  sur- 
roundings come  again  under  the  Catholic  historian's  notice.  First  it  is  known 
as  a  trader's  point,  afterwards  a  government  reservation  and  frontier  outpost, 
where  a  fort  was  built — Fort  Dearborn — and  an  agency  for  the  supply  of 
goods  and  payments  of  money  to  the  Indians  who  had  surrendered  to  the 
government  their  rights  to  the  lands  of  the  Illinois.  Jesuit  missionaries 
visited  the  trading  settlement  from  time  to  time,  coming  from  Michilimack- 
inac.  Father  Badin  and  priests  from  Bardstown,  Ky.,  and  Vincennes,  Ind., 
made  periodical  trips  to  the  frontier  outpost,  for  the  purpose,  especially,  of 
hearing  the  confessions  of  the  Catholic  soldiers  and  baptizing  the  few  Catho- 
lic traders'  children. 

April  17,  1833,  Father  St.  Cyr  was  sent  by  Bishop  Rosati,  of  St.  Louis, 
to  the  mission  of  Chicago,  111.  In  conferring  the  appointment  Bishop  Rosati 
acted  with  the  permission  and  under  the  authority  of  the  bishop  of  Bardstown, 
under  whose  jurisdiction  the  territory  of  the  Illinois  was  included.  John 
Mary  Irenaeus  St.  Cyr  was  born  January  2,  1804,  near  Lyons,  France. 
Called  to  a  holy  vocation,  he  studied  for  the  priesthood.  On  December  18, 
1830,  he  received  minor  orders,  and,  hearing  that  missionaries  were  needed  in 
Western  America,  he  volunteered,  and  set  out  for  the  vicariate  of  St.  Louis, 
where  he  was  gladly  received  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati.  He  was 
ordained  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Louis,  April  6,  1833.     After  a  tedious  journey 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE,  347 

of  two  weeks,  Father  St.  Cyr  arrived  in  Chicago  in  the  first  week  of  May, 
1S33.  He  found  the  Catholic  population  numbered  about  200  souls,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  French-Canadians,  a  few  Americans,  one  German,  and  several 
Irish  families.  Land  had  been  donated  for  a  church,  situated  on  the  corner 
of  Lake  and  State  streets.  Father  St.  Cyr  immediately  commenced  the 
erecton  of  a  church — a  frame  building,  which  was  dedicated  the  following 
September  under  the  title  of  "  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake."  His  labors  were  not 
confined  alone  to  the  mission  of  Chicago,  but  embraced  a  large  portion  of  the 
state,  hence  he  was  kept  busy  during  the  years  he  remained  in  charge — 1833- 
1837.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  and  wonderfully  prophetic,  that  Father  St.  Cyr, 
in  the  letter  of  appointment,  is  enjoined  to  give  an  account  of  his  administra- 
tion to  the  bishop  of  Chicago  "  as  soon  as  Chicago  should  have  a  bishop  of  its 
own,  and  then  return  to  St.  Louis." 

Bishop  Brutd,  the  first  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Vincennes,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Leopoldine  Association  of  Vienna,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  first 
and  only  visitation  to  the  mission  of  Chicago,  which  took  place  at  this  time. 
An  extract  is  inserted  here  among  the  interesting  contributions  to  the  early 
history  of  the  Church  in  Chicago. 

"After  Easter,  in  company  with  an  honest  and  pious  man  of  Vincennes, 
I  went  through  Illinois,  visiting  again  Edgar  County  for  the  Paschal  duty, 
and  then  proceeding  north  as  far  as  Chicago  on  Lake  Michigan.  Mr.  St. 
Cyr  had  arrived  there  from  St.  Louis  and  enabled  the  Catholics  to  make 
their  Easter  Communions,  so  I  gave  only  a  few  confirmations  and  three 
instructions,  one  on  Saturday  and  two  on  Sunday,  to  encourage  the  rising 
Catholic  congregation  of  that  most  important  point.  It  is  now  composed  of 
about  400  souls  of  all  countries — French,  Canadians,  Americans,  Irish,  and  a 
good  number  of  Germans.  The  garrison  of  the  fort,  the  commandant,  and 
part  of  the  staff  and  band  of  musicians  attended.  In  general,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  military  are  always  friendly  to  the  Catholics  and  their  services,  which 
they  are  free  to  attend  if  they  choose.  From  Chicago  we  went  round  the 
end  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  river  St.  Joseph  and  the  mission  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  De  Seille,  at  the  Indian  village  of  Pokegan,  situated  just  outside  our 
diocese  and  in  that  of  Detroit." 

In  1835  a  bill  that  had  "been  pending  in  the  state  legislature  became  a 
law,  and  appropriations  were  made  for  the  digging  from  Chicago  of  a  channel 
to  be  called  the   Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.     This  vast  improvement  was 

undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  Lake   Michigan  with   the  Illinois 

12'/ 


34g  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

River,  as  a  waterway  to  the  south  by  the  Mississippi,  and  to  open  up  the 
resources  of  the  Garden  State.  The  contractors,  who  had  the  work  in  hand, 
sent  circulars  to  all  the  seaports  of  the  United  States  and  the  Canadas,  which 
were  distributed  among  the  emigrants,  who  at  this  time  were  coming  in  mul- 
titudes to  America.  Thousands  started  westward  to  find  ready  work,  and,  it 
is  a  noticeable  fact,  that  the  majority  were  from  Ireland,  as  the  tide  of  emi- 
gration from  the  Green  Isle  to  America  set  in  at  this  time.  The  state  legis- 
lature, also,  by  offering  lands  at  a  nominal  value,  which  had  its  effects  in 
a  healthy  speculation  of  land  in  and  adjacent  to  the  young  city,  brought 
purchasers  from  the  East,  with  an  abundance  of  capital,  men  of  enterprise, 
who  came  determined  to  make  this  part  of  the  West  their  future  home — 
pioneers  armed  with  the  arms  of  peace  and  prepared  to  subjugate  the  great 
western  wilderness. 

The  rush  of  people  to  Chicago  was  amazing;  they  sailed  the  lakes,  they 
came  by  land,  they  traveled  by  the  rivers  from  the  south,  and  the  western  village 
became  a  scene  of  wonderful  activity,  while  the  hundred  miles  from  Chicago 
to  LaSalle,  along  the  great  highway  in  course  of  construction,  were  dotted 
with  the  camps  of  laborers,  and  the  lands  westward  to  the  Mississippi  were  taken 
up  by  pushing  sons  of  toil.  Before  the  march  of  thousands  of  immigrants 
the  Indian  retired  toward  the  setting  sun,  the  great  forests  were  laid  low,  and 
the  prairies  were  quickly  turned  into  harvest  fields.  As  a  very  large  number 
of  the  laborers  on  the  canal  were  Catholics,  Father  St.  Cyr  found  he  could 
not  possibly  attend  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  increased  flock,  and  he  wrote 
to  Bishop  Rosati  urging  him  to  send  more  priests,  who  referred  the  matter 
to  the  bishop  of  Vincennes,  beseeching  him  to  see  to  the  growing  necessities 
of  the  Church  in  the  northern  part  of  Illinois.  On  his  return  from  Europe, 
Bishop  Brut£  brought  twenty  priests  and  seminarians  with  him;  the  pressing 
needs  of  the  Chicago  mission  were  represented  to  him  and  he  immediately 
sent  four  priests  to  take  charge.  They  were  Rev.  Maurice  de  St.  Palais, 
Fathers  Fischer,  Schaefer,  and  Dupontavice.  The  latter  was  assigned  to  Joliet. 
In  1837,  at  the  earnest  request  of  Bishop  Rosati,  Father  Timon,  superior  of  the 
congregation  of  the  Missions,  sent  two  priests  to  take  charge  of  the  LaSalle 
missions.  Sickness,  arising  from  the  undrained  condition  of  the  city,  and  all 
along  the  route  of  the  canal,  was  extremely  prevalent  among  the  thousands 
of  laborers;  then  the  cholera  scourge,  known  as  that  of  1837,  visited  the 
entire  locality,  increasing  the  labors  and  exposing  to  greater  dangers  the 
already  overworked  priests.     They  would  have  to  start  on  sick  calls,  twenty- 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  349 

five,  fifty,  sometimes  one  hundred  miles  distant,  regardless  of  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather  that  added  to  their  hardships,  often  losing  their  way  on  the 
prairies  and  compelled  to  pass  the  night  sleeping  on  the  ground  without  shel- 
ter of  any  kind,  in  order  to  give  a  laborer  on  the  canal  or  a  settler  every 
spiritual  help.  They  would  stop  at  the  different  camps,  say  Mass,  hear  con- 
fessions, attend  the  sick,  partake  of  the  humble  fare  offered  them,  and  sleep  in 
the  stone  huts  or  log  cabins,  among  the  sick  and  dying. 

Once  the  tide  of  emigration  was  started,  it  continued  with  increasing 
vigor,  and  the*  Garden  City  received  additions  to  its  number  of  inhabitants 
every  year.  The  national  financial  crash  of  1S37  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the 
young  city,  but  the  persistency  with  which  the  canal  project  was  sustained, 
kept  the  laboring  population  at  work,  though  canal  scrip,  the  money  they 
received  in  payment,  was  poor  remuneration,  and  the  Church's  progress 
suffered  correspondingly.  The  names  of  the  priests  on  record,  who  labored 
during  that  period  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  these  people — besides  the  above 
mentioned — were:  Fathers  Plunkett,  O'Meara,  John  Gueguen,  and  Father 
Badin.  In  1S44  the  population  of  the  city  was  swelled  to  12,000  souls,  small 
towns  had  sprung  up  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  Galena  lead  mines  attracted  a 
large  number  of  laborers.  Two  years  before  this,  work  had  been  stopped  on 
the  canal;  it  was  then  that  the  canal  laborers  scattered  over  the  state,  and, 
taking  up  lands,  engaged  in  farming.  The  splendid  realities  as  well  as  pos- 
sibilities of  the  Church  not  only  in  Chicago  but  the  whole  of  Illinois,  had 
made  themselves  so  apparent  that  the  fathers  assembled  in  the  plenary  councd 
in  Baltimore,  in  May,  1S43,  passed  a  decree  recommending  the  formation  of 
the  new  see  of  Chicago,  which  was  acted  upon  without  delay  by  the  Holy 
See.  In  1844  the  Rev.  William  Quarter,  pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  New 
York,  was  appointed  bishop,  and  shortly  after  the  apostolic  letters  for  his 
consecration  arrived. 

William  Quarter,  first  bishop  of  Chicago,  was  born  in  Kings  County. 
Ireland,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1806.  Mrs.  Quarter,  his  mother,  looking 
upon  the  pledges  that  God  had  given  as  merely  entrusted  to  her  guardianship 
upon  earth,  and  to  be  required  from  her  hereafter,  devoted  herself  to  their 
early  training  in  the  path  in  which  they  should  walk,  so  that  "  in  age  they 
might  not  depart  from  it."  As  soon  as  they  could  enunciate  properly,  they 
were  taught  their  morning  and  evening  prayers;  and  that  good  custom  ot 
gathering  the  little  flock  to  the  morning  and  evening  devotions  was  never 
•omitted  in  her  house;  nor  did  the  family  ever  retire  at  night  without  having 


35o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

first  said  the  Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  From  this  practice  sprung 
that  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God,  which  so  remarkably  distinguished  the 
bishop  through  life. 

The  example  thus  set  him  by  his  mother;  her  earnest  efforts  to  instill 
into  his  young  heart  the  love  of  virtue  and  the  horror  of  sin,  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  his  pliant  mind.  In  after  life  he  would  often  say:  "  I  never 
saw  but  one,  and  that  one  was  Bishop  Brute,  who  exhibited  so  tender  a  piety 
as  my  mother;"  and  the  recollections  of  the  scenes  of  his  childhood's  years, 
wnen  he  knelt  beside  that  mother's  knee  while  she  placed  her  hand  upon  his 
little  head  and  taught  him  to  lisp  his  prayers,  could  never  be  blotted  from  his 
memory. 

Immediately  after  having  made  his  first  Communion  he  left  home  for  Tul- 
iamore,  where  he  commenced  his  classical  and  mathematical  studies  and  com- 
pleted his  course  of  study  preparatory  to  entering  the  college  of  Maynooth. 
With  this  purpose,  in  his  sixteenth  year  he  stood  and  passed  in  a  most  satis- 
factory manner  his  public  examination.  But  Providence  had  marked  out  for 
him  another  destiny. 

During  the  years  that  he  thus  spent  preparing  himself  for  his  collegiate 
course,  he  was  distinguished  for  the  same  tender  and  exemplary  piety  that  char- 
acterized him  when  under  the  watchful  care  of  his  good  mother;  and  so 
remarkable  was  his  demeanor  that  his  companions  styled  him  the  "  little 
bishop."  Little  thought  they  that  the  day  would  come  when  the  title  of  his 
bovhood  would  be  the  distinction  of  his  manhood.  The  qualities  of  his 
heart  so  endeared  him  to  all  his  schoolmates  that  his  power  of  doing  good 
among  them  was  almost  unbounded,  and  he  used  it  to  the  utmost,  exhorting 
to  virtue  and  reproving  vice.  His  charity,  even  thus  early  in  life,  was  ever 
in  search  of  objects,  and  whenever  his  parents  furnished  him  with  pocket 
money,  it  was  not  hoarded  up,  nor  spent  in  youthful  indulgences,  but  distrib- 
uted to  the  last  farthing  among  the  suffering  and  the  needy  poor.  He  realized 
often  how  sweet  it  is  to  give  alms'  for  God's  sake. 

About  the  time  that  his  preparations  to  enter  the  college  of  Maynooth 
were  completed,  the  Rev.  Mr.  McAuley,  brother  of  Count  McAuley,  of 
Frankford,  Kings  County,  returned  to  Ireland  from  the  United  States.  This 
gentleman  spent  much  of  his  time  at  the  house  of  the  father  of  young  Quarter; 
and  often,  as  he  spoke  of  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  missions  in  America — 
of  the  thousands  of  Catholic  children  that  were  growing  up  far  away  from 
the   teachers  of  their   holy  faith,  and   in  a  land  where   Mammon  was    the 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE. 


35* 


worshiped  deity — of  the  wandering  away  from  the  one  sheepfold  of  so  many 
that  were  sealed  at  the  baptismal  font  as  members  of  the  one  holy  Church, 
and  who  were  thus  lost  for  want  of  instructors  and  example — of  the  extent  of 
the  harvest  and  the  scarcity  of  the  gleaners ;  as  he  spoke  of  all  these,  the  young 
aspirant  to  the  ministry  would  listen  to  him  till  the  tears  trembled  on  his  eye- 
lids, and  with  the  hope  that  God  would  call  him  to  so  important  a  field.  And 
to  it  He  did  call  him. 

So  great  became  his  desire  to  forsake  all  things  for  Christ,  that  the  aban- 
donment of  home  and  friends,  even  of  his  dearly -loved  mother,  of  the  sham- 
rock-dotted hills  and  green  fields  of  his  native  island,  and  the  thousand  mem- 
ories that  so  strongly  influence  the  heart  of  youth,  ere  the  stern  realities  of 
life  have  petrified  it,  seemed  as  nothing  to  him,  in  comparison  with  the  hap- 
piness of  having  saved  one  soul  from  eternal  perdition.  Influenced  by  the 
zeal  that  burned  in  his  bosom,  he  went  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle,  his  bishop, 
and  requested  his  exeat  that  he  might  go  whither  the  voice  of  his  Father  in 
heaven  called  him ;  and  he  did  this,  even  before  he  had  communicated  to  his 
parents  his  purpose.  The  good  Bishop  Doyle  wras  sorry  to  part  with  one 
whom  he  looked  upon  as  peculiarly  his  own,  and  likely  soon  to  be  a  very 
valuable  laborer  in  his  vineyard,  an  ornament  to  his  diocese ;  still  he  could  not 
but  admire  the  courage  of  the  youth  and  his  truly  Christian  spirit,  and  he 
gave  him  his  exeat  and  his  blessing. 

What  were  the  feelings  of  the  family  of  young  Quarter,  when  he 
announced  to  them  that  he  was  about  to  start  immediately  for  America,  is 
more  easily  imagined  than  described.  And  it  is  only  he  who  has  knelt  to  his 
parents  and  received  their  parting  blessing,  ere  he  has  bidden  adieu  to  the 
land  of  his  birth,  about  to  go  forth  into  the  land  of  the  stranger  for  a  home 
and  a  grave,  that  can  tell  what  must  have  been  the  thoughts  of  the  young 
exile.  Still  the  remonstrances  of  friends  and  relatives,  and  the  strong  ties  of 
filial  affection,  knocking  at  the  chambers  of  his  heart,  received  no  response: 
he  had  formed  his  resolution.  His  parents  felt  that  they  had  no  right  to  stand 
between  him  and  the  service  of  his  divine  Master;  and  when  he  knelt  by  his 
mother's  knee,  where  he  had  first  learned  to  lisp  his  infant  prayers,  to  receive 
her  parting  blessing,  she  kissed  his  fair  young  brow  as  she  said  to  him :  "  My 
son,  I  have  given  you  to  God;  go  whithersoever  He  calls  you,  and  may  His 
and  your  mother's  benediction  ever  attend  you!" — O  how  often,  amid  the 
checkered  scenes  of  his  life,  did  the  remembrance  of  his  mother's  voice  and 
blessing,  as  she  bade  him  go;  of  her  kindness  and  her  care,    rise   before   and 


,c2  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

hover  around  him,  even  as  guardian  angels,  to  shield  and  to  comfort   him   in 
the  hours  of  trial  and  of  tribulation! 

On  the  lothday  of  April,  1822,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  age,  William 
Quarter  left  his  native  land  for  North  America.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence, 
that,  on  the  very  same  day  of  the  same  month,  twenty-six  years  later,  the 
period  of  his  earthly  exile  terminated. 

The  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  Landed  at  Quebec.  He  presented  himself 
to  the  bishop  of  that  city,  and  asked  to  be  received  as  an  ecclesiastical  student; 
but  his  youth  was  urged  as  an  objection,  and  this  objection  he  could  not 
remove.  He  applied  next  to  the  bishop  of  Montreal,  where  the  same  objec- 
tion as  to  his  youth  was  urged  against  him.  He  then  went  to  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  Emmitsburg,  Md.,  where  he  applied  to  Rev.  Mr.  Dubois,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  college,  afterwards  the  bishop  of  New  York.  Here  the  reason 
that  had  caused  his  rejection  in  Canada  operated  in  his  favor,  and  with  Rev. 
Mr.  Dubois  his  youth  was  his  first  and  best  recommendation.  That  good 
clergyman,  an  exile  himself,  received  young  Quarter  even  as  a  father  would 
a  son;  and  ever  afterwards  through  life  there  existed  between  them  the  recip- 
rocal tenderness  and  regard  of  a  father  for  a  son,  and  of  a  son  for  a  father. 

Rev.  Mr.  Dubois  examined  his  young  pupil  in  the  studies  which  he  had 
been  pursuing,  and  finding  that  he  was  master  of  them,  placed  him  at  once  in 
the  seminary,  which  he  entered  on  the  8th  day  of  September.  He  chose  this 
day  as  the  one  on  which  to  commence  his  preparation  for  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  because  it  was  a  festival  of  her  whom  in  his  childhood  he  had  chosen  as 
his  patroness. 

So  thorough  had  been  his  course  of  mathematical  and  classical  studies, 
and  so  completely  was  he  master  of  these  branches,  that  he  was  at  once  placed 
in  charge  of  the  classes  of  Greek  and  Latin  and  algebra;  and  in  the  second 
year  of  his  residence  at  Mount  St.  Mary's  he  was  appointed  professor  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages. 

On  the  29th  day  of  October,  in  the  year  1826,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Dubois 
was  consecrated  bishop  of  New  York.  At  his  departure  from  the  institution 
which  he  had  founded,  he  took  with  him  the  exeat  and  other  papers  com- 
mitted to  his  keeping  by  Mr.  Quarter  when  he  was  received  into  the  seminary. 
It  was  the  intention  of  Bishop  Dubois  to  call  him  to  his  own  diocese  as  soon 
as  the  termination  of  his  course  of  theological  studies  had  been  reached.  He 
did  call  him;  and  though  the  then  archbishop  of  Baltimore  exerted  himself  to 
detain  him,  and  though  the  faculty  of  the  college  made  him  splendid  offers  in 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  353 

order  to  prevent  his  departure,  and  to  secure  the  continuance  of  his  services 
to  that  institution,  he  felt  himself  bound  by  the  ties  of  a  stronger  gratitude  to 
his  first  friend,  and  he  cheerfully  resigned  the  honors  that  awaited  his  college 
life  for  the  labors  and  privations  of  a  mission  under  his  benefactor.  Father 
Quarter,  in  1829,  was  appointed  the  assistant  pastor  of  St.  Peter's,  New  York, 
receiving  his  clerical  jurisdiction  from  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power. 

On  Wednesday,  the  9th  day  of  November,  183 1,  the  church  of  St.  Mary, 
in  Sheriff  street,  was  burned  to  the  ground.  The  loss  was  a  heavy  one,  "  but 
steps  were  immediately  taken  (under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Luke  Berry,  the 
pastor  of  old  St.  Mary's),  by  some  active  members  of  the  congregation,  to 
secure  a  handsome  site  for  a  new  church."  The  lots  selected  and  purchased 
are  those  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Ridge  streets,  upon  which  the  present 
church  of  St.  Mary's  stands. 

The  congregation  had  many  and  (to  a  less  devoted  and  enterprising 
people)  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  to  overcome,  before  they  could 
again  assemble  under  the  roof  of  a  church  they  might  call  their  own.  In 
one  month  and  five  days  (Dec.  14th)  after  the  conflagration  of  St.  Mary's, 
and  before  they  had  recovered  from  that  shock,  a  new  calamity  befell  the 
congregation  in  the  death  of  their  beloved  pastor.  Thus  the  church  and  the 
pastor,  in  the  space  of  a  few  short  weeks,  existed  only  in  remembrance. 
Still,  though  the  shepherd  was  smitten,  the  sheep  were  not  scattered.  They 
labored  earnestly  in  the  erection  of  their  new  church,  and  successfully,  until 
that  terrible  scourge,  the  cholera,  broke  out  amongst  them ;  entering  their 
habitations,  their  store-houses  and  their  workshops — striking  them  down  in  the 
thronged  marts  of  business,  or  upon  the  highway — passing  onward  with  its 
car  of  destruction,  and  crushing  beneath  its  wheels  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
just  and  the  unjust — desolating  cities,  and  making  charnel  houses  of  the 
populous  habitations  of  men.  The  building  advanced  slowly  during  these 
days  of  affliction,  of  woe,  of  misery,  and  of  death;  for  as  the  city  was  com- 
paratively desolated,  no  means  could  be  collected.  At  length,  however,  a 
brighter  day  dawned;  the  dark  cloud  that  hovered  so  long  over  the  devoted 
city  was  disj^elled,  and  the  energies  of  the  congregration  were  again  aroused 
to  complete  the  work. 

During  this  period  of  time  when  the  cholera  was  in  New  York,  Rev. 
William  Quarter  was  still  assistant  pastor  of  St.  Peter's,  and  here  it  was  that 
the  generous  self-devotion  of  this  truly  Christian  missionary  shone  conspic- 
uous, and  left  for  him  a  name  and  a  fame  that  will  not  be  forgotten  in  that 
24 


354 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


city  while  the  visitation  of  the  cholera  is  remembered.  From  the  time  of  its 
commencement  until  its  termination  he  was  always  at  his  post.  Day  and 
night  he  labored  constantly  and  unceasingly,  well  satisfied  if  he  could  snatch 
but  three  hours'  repose  from  the  twenty-four.  If  you  sought  for  him,  you 
would  find  him  now  in  the  humble  habitation  of  poverty,  again  in  the  man- 
sions of  wealth every  place  where  duty  called   him.     Yes,  there  he  was, 

amid  pestilence  and  death,  hold- 
ing the  cup  of  refreshment  to  the 
parched  lips  of  the  sufferer,  when 
the  nearest  and  the  dearest  had 
forsaken  him ;  "wiping  away  the 
clammy  sweat  from  his  sunken 
brow,  fixing  the  dimmed  eye  on 
the  sign  of  salvation,  and  turning 
its  expiring  glance  to  heaven;" 
or  fortifying  the  departing  spirit 
for  its  gloomy  passage  through 
the  gates  of  death,  with  the  last 
sacraments  of  tbat  Church  whose 
faith  fortified  his  heart  and 
strengthened  him,  encouraging 
him  onward  in  the  path  of  his 
hard  duty,  inspiring  him  with  a 
bravery  far  greater  than  was  ever 
exhibited  by  warrior  on  any 
battle-field. 

The  storm  that  had  paralyzed  the  energies  of  the  congregation  of  St. 
Mary's  had  passed  by,  and  their  church  was  completed.  It  was  dedicated  on 
the  9th  of  June,  in  the  year  1S33,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dubois.  At  the  close  of 
the  service,  the  bishop  announced  to  the  people  that  Rev.  William  Quarter 
was  appointed  by  him  pastor  of  the  new  church  of  St.  Mary's,  a  post  at  which 
he  continued  until  his  consecration  to  the  see  of  Chicago. 

This  event  took  place  on  March  10,  1844,  in  the  Cathedral  of  New  York 
City,  and  hard  must  have  been  the  struggle  to  the  sensitive  Bishop  Quarter, 
when  obliged  to  tear  himself  away  from  his  faithful  flock  of  St.  Mary's,  who 
had  woven  themselves  around  his  heart,  by  whom  he  was  so  tenderly  beloved, 
and  among  whom  he  had  labored  so  long  and   so  successfully.     Though  his 


MOST    REV.    P.    W.    RIORDAN,    SAN    FRANCISCO. 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  355 

good  father,  Bishop  Dubois,  was  gone  to  the  bosom  of  his  God,  yet  from 
his  successor  in  the  episcopal  chair  of  New  York,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Hughes  (a  scion 
from  that  noble  tree  that  Bishop  Dubois  planted  at  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge) 
— it  cost  his  heart  a  pang  to  separate.  Still  duty,  and  the  honor  and  glory  of 
God,  bade  him  forsake  all  things  for  Christ's  sake,  and  go  again  among  the 
strangers  for  his  resting-place. 

Hs  was  anxious  to  enter  without  delay  upon  the  field  of  his  labors,  where 
the  harvest  was  fast  ripening,  and  lest  one  ear  might  drop,  or  be  lost  from 
neglect.  Accordingly,  on  the  18th  of  April,  accompanied  by  his  brother, 
Very  Rev.  Walter  J.  Quarter,  he  departed  from  New  York  for  Chicago, 
where  he  arrived  on  Sunday  morning,  May  the  5th.  Though  fatigued  and 
weary  from  his  long  and  very  tedious  journey,  like  a  general  on  the  field  of 
battle,  he  was  at  once  at  his  post,  and  no  personal  considerations  could  induce 
this  faithful  servant  of  God  to  neglect  for  a  moment  his  duty.  On  the  day 
of  his  arrival,  he  said  Mass  in  the  old  church  and  preached  in  the  new  one. 

On  reaching  Chicago  he  found  one  church — a  long,  low  frame  build- 
ing— with  a  modest  steeple  and  bell;  a  new  brick  church,  unplastered,  with 
a  temporary  altar,  rough  board  doors,  and  a  debt  of  five  thousand  dollars. 
With  his  own  and  his  brother's  means  the  debt  was  paid  off,  and  steps  taken 
to  arouse  the  zeal  of  the  faithful  to  complete  the  church.  He  at  once  pro- 
jected the  opening  of  a  college  and  seminary;  but  he  was  met  by  a  terrible 
want  of  priests.  Prior  to  his  arrival  twenty-three  priests  had  been  laboring 
in  Illinois;  eight  of  these  belonging  to  the  diocese  of  Vincennes  were  at 
once  recalled,  and  the  new  bishop  in  vain  appealed  for  their  continuance  until 
he  could  find  substitutes.  The  convents  had  removed  from  Illinois,  and  the 
condition  of  the  diocese  was  sad  indeed. 

He  obtained  from  the  legislature  a  charter  for  the  university  of  St. 
Mary's  of  the  Lake;  and  one  enabling  the  bishop  of  Chicago  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  hold  property  in  trust  for  the  Catholic  Church.  He  soon  after 
visited  New  York  to  collect  means  and  secure  priests. 

He  completed  his  Cathedral,  established  his  college  and  seminary,  and, 
on  the  10th  of  March,  1846,  erected  St.  Patrick's  Church,  Chicago;  two 
German  churches,  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Joseph's,  were  also  added.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1846,  he  received  a  colony  of  Sisters  of  Mercy,  whom  he  installed  in 
the  house  which  he  had  till  then  occupied.  Here  they  remained  till  he  com- 
pleted an  edifice  suitable  for  an  academy.  The  increase  of  emigration 
required   every   exertion,  and  Bishop  Quarter   erected   thirty  schools,  ten  of 


356  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

them  substantial  structures  of  brick  or  stone.  Anxious  to  supply  priests  to 
the  destitute  flocks,  he  obtained  many  from  various  parts,  and  ordained 
twenty-nine.  But  his  episcopate  was  short;  in  the  midst  of  his  labois  for 
his  diocese  he  died,  almost  suddenly,  April  10,  1S48. 

His  successor,  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  Oliver  Vandevelde,  was  a  father 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  reluctantly  accepted  the  miter,  and  was  conse- 
crated February  11,  1S49,  in  the  church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  St.  Louis. 
He  was  a  native  of  Belgium,  and  one  of  the  band  of  young  men  whom  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Nerinckx  had  brought  over,  and  who  ultimately  became  the 
nucleus  of  the  Missouri  vice-province  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  He  had  been 
eminent  as  a  missionary,  as  a  professor,  and  as  president  of  the  university  of 
St.  Louis.  The  diocese  of  Chicago  had  not  yet  taken  a  form  and  life  of  its 
own.  The  clergy  had  been  hastily  gathered,  and  Bishop  Vandevelde  soon 
found  that  his  endeavors  in  the  cause  of  religion  would  be  thwarted  by  a 
want  of  harmony.  His  health  failed,  and  he  earnestly  besought  the  Holy 
See  to  allow  him  to  return  to  the  order  in  which  he  had  spent  so  many 
years.  His  request  was  not  immediately  granted,  and  he  continued  active 
visitations  of  his  diocese,  in  which,  during  the  four  years  of  his  stay  in 
Illinois,  he  saw  many  churches  begun,  with  other  institutions  greatly  needed 
by  the  faithful. 

In  1852,  the  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  recommended  the  erection  of 
a  new  see  at  Quincy ;  but  when  his  holiness  Pope  Pius  IX  established  the 
see,  the  Very  Rev.  Joseph  Melcher,  appointed  as  bishop,  declined  to  accept 
it,  with  the  administration  of  Chicago.  Bishop  Vandevelde  accordingly  con- 
tinued his  labors  till  his  appointment  to  the  see  at  Natchez,  in  1853.  Not- 
withstanding all  contrarieties,  Bishop  Vandevelde  left,  in  the  diocese  of  Chi- 
cago, seventy  churches  built  or  in  progress,  forty-four  priests,  two  convents 
and  academies  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  one  college,  one  hospital,  three 
asylums,  several  free  schools;  and,  in  the  diocese  of  Quincy,  fifty-one 
churches,  twenty-four  priests,  a  convent  at  Cahokia,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph 
having,  at  his  entreaty,  returned.  The  whole  Catholic  population  of  the 
state  was  estimated  at  about  92,000. 

During  the  vacancy  of  the  sees  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Henni,  of  Milwaukee, 
was  administrator  of  Chicago,  and  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Kenrick,  of 
St.  Louis,  administrator  of  Quincy. 

The  Very  Rev.  Anthony  O'Regan,  superior  of  the  seminary  at 
Carondelet,   Missouri,  was  appointed    bishop   of   Chicago,   and  consecrated 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  357 

July  25*  I^54?  the  diocese  of  Quincy  being  confided  to   him  as  administrator 
till  the  installation  of  a  bishop  into  that  see. 

Bishop  O'Regan  began  by  appointing  new  pastors  to  nearly  all  the  city 
churches  in  Chicago,  and  placing  an  entirely  new  faculty  in  the  university  of 
Our  Lady  of  the  Lake,  which  was  soon  after  confided  to  the  priests  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  while  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  rule  took  charge  of 
parochial  schools. 

The  fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  led  by  Rev.  Arnold  Damen,  also 
came  to  Chicago  to  give  a  mission  at  St.  Mary's,  and  announced  their  inten- 
tion of  settling  in  a  deserted,  scarcely  respectable  wild  on  the  skirts  of  the 
city.  A  small  building  was  secured;  a  magnificent  church  of  the  Holy 
Family  followed.  The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  opened  an  academy  not 
far  off  and  these  institutions  were  soon  the  center  of  well  built-houses. 

The  Sisters  of  Mercy  had,  meanwhile,  opened  the  Chicago  Mercy  Hos- 
pital ;  and,  though  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  had  again  forsaken  Cahokia,  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  began  an  establishment  in  the  diocese  of  Quincy. 

Bishop  O'Regan,  however,  found  his  position  one  of  difficulty,  and  soon 
after  resigned  the  see  and  was  transferred  to  Dora.  In  1857,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Clement  Smyth,  then  coadjutor  of  Dubuque,  was  appointed  administrator  of 
the  diocese  of  Chicago,  which  was  now  somewhat  reduced  in  extent,  the  see 
of  Quincy  having  been  transferred  to  Alton  and  the  diocese  enlarged,  so  that 
the  diocese  of  Chicago  embraced  only  the  portion  of  the  state  lying  north  of 
Adams,  Brown,  Cass,  Menard,  Sangamon,  Macon,  Moultrie,  Coles,  and 
Edgar  counties. 

Soon  after  this  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  Duggan,  D.  D.,  who  had,  in  May, 
1857,  been  consecrated  bishop  of  Antigone,  in  partibus  injideliiim,  and  coad- 
jutor to  the  archbishop  of  St.  Louis,  was  appointed  administrator,  and,  under 
his  care,  the  affairs  of  this  sorely-tried  diocese  began  to  wear  a  more  hopeful 
aspect.  When,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1859,  Bishop  Duggan  was  transferred 
to  the  see  of  Chicago,  the  great  work  to  be  done  for  the  already  large  Catho- 
lic population  seemed  about  to  be  inaugurated  by  a  bishop,  supported  in  all 
good  works  by  a  zealous  body  of  priests. 

By  the  year  1870,  the  Catholics  subject  to  the  bishop  of  Chicago  were 
estimated  at  400,000.  The  diocese  contained  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
priests,  thirty  of  whom  belonged  to  religious  orders.  Besides  the  Cathedral 
of  the  Holy  Name,  the  city  of  Chicago  contained  twenty-five  churches;  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Family,  a  fine  edifice,  attended  by  a  number  of    fathers 


2 r8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  the  Society  of  Jesus;  St  Michael's  for  the  Germans,  directed  by  the 
Redemptorist  Fathers;  St.  Joseph's  by  the  Benedictine  Monks;  the  churches 
in  the  country  parts  numbered  one  hundred  and  seventy-five;  some  of  the 
larger  towns,  like  Joliet  and  Peoria,  having  three,  and  many  others  two 
Catholic  churches.  The  Jesuits  were  about  to  open  a  college  in  Chicago;  the 
Fathers  of  St.  Viateur  already  had  one  in  operation  at  Bourbonnais  Grove ; 
the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  not  inaptly,  had  made  La  Salle  the  seat 
of  their  La  Salle  academy,  with  an  academy  also  at  Chicago.  The  Alexian 
Brothers,  a  community  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  Christian 
burial  of  the  dead,  had  established  a  fine  hospital  in  Chicago.  The  teaching 
communities  in  the  diocese  had  received  able  auxiliaries  in  the  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  who  had  now  a  flourishing  seminary  in  the  city ;  by  the  Sisters 
of  the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame,  from  the  Ven.  Margaret  Bourgeois' 
community  at  Montreal,  who  had  a  thriving  academy  at  Bourbonnais  Grove; 
and  by  the  Sisters  of  Loretto,  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  Sisters  of  St.  Francis, 
and  Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 

The  parochial  schools  had  attained  an  extraordinary  development,  more 
than  fifty  being  in  operation,  all  largely  attended,  and  well  conducted.  The 
Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  had  opened  a  Magdalen  Asylum ;  the  Sisters 
of  Mercy  had  just  completed  a  new  hospital  at  Chicago,  at  a  cost  of  seventy 
thousand  dollars;  the  Sisters  of  Charity  had  a  hospital  also;  and  there  were 
besides  orphan  asylums,  and  an  industrial  and  reform  school. 

Bishop  Duggan  was  compelled  to  retire  on  account  of  infirm  health,  and 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Foley,  a  clergyman  of  Baltimore,  was  appointed  Bishop 
of  Pergamus,  in  ■partibus  infidelium,  and  coadjutor  to  the  bishop  of  Chicago. 
He  was  consecrated  February  27,  1870. 

The  great  fire  of  October  9,  1871,  belongs  to  history,  and  the  facts  and 
incidents  accompanying  it  are  recorded  on  many  pages.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
on  October  10th  the  human  race  never  witnessed  so  stupendous  a  spectacle  of 
commercial,  social,  and  architectural  chaos.  The  situation  was  appalling,  as 
the  heart  of  the  city  was  burned  up — 194  acres  on  the  West  Side  a  blackened 
waste,  the  entire  South  Side  business  district  a  lava-bed,  and  the  whole  North 
Side  like  a  Michigan  pinery  that  has  been  swept  by  the  flames.  The  destruc- 
tion of  the  Catholic  Church  property  was  enormous. 

Churches,  convents,  asylums,  and  schools — the  labor  of  years — were 
devoured  by  the  fire  monster  in  a  few  hours.  On  the  West  Side,  St.  Paul's 
Church,  parsonage,  and  school  were  the  first  church  property  burned;  then, 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE. 


359 


on  the  South  Side,  St.  Louis,  Church  and  priests'  residence,  on  Sherman 
street;  the  Christian  Brothers'  Academy,  on  Van  Buren  street;  the  convent 
and  schools  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  on  Wabash  avenue,  followed  by  St. 
Mary's  Cathedral,  with  the  old  frame  church  in  the  rear  of  it,  which  had  so 
far  withstood  the  hand  of  time. 
The  flames  soon  reached  the  bish- 
op's house,  which  was  quickly 
burned  with  its  precious  contents. 
Bishop  Foley  was  absent,  engaged 
in  administering  the  sacrament  of 
Confirmation  in  Champaign,  111. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the 
ioth  the  Holy  Name  caught  fire, 
the  House  of  Providence,  the 
Academy  of  the  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity, St.  Joseph's  Orphan  Asylum, 
formerly  the  university  of  St. 
Mary  of  the  Lake,  the  Christian 
Brothers'  Parochial  School,  the 
convent  and  schools  of  St.  Bene- 
dict, on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Chicago  avenue  and  Cass  street, 
St.  Joseph's  magnificent  church 
and  the  Benedictine  Fathers'  mon- 
astery.     Thence    northward    the 

relentless  flames  advanced,  hunting  before  them  the  stricken  thousands  of 
homeless  people,  sparing  nothing  or  nobody,  for  to  stand  still  was  to  die  a 
horrible  death.  Then  the  Magdalen  Asylum,  the  church  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  St.  Michael's  Church,  with  the  convents  and  schools  attached 
to  these  churches,  and  by  six  o'clock  on  Monday  evening  there  was  a  bleak, 
blackened  waste,  where  not  many  hours  before  a  God-worshiping  people 
were  in  peace  and  at  rest.  The  total  estimated  loss  of  the  Church  was  about 
$  i  ,000,000. 

Bishop  Foley  met  the  disaster  with  indomitable  courage,  immediately 
addressing  himself  to  the  task  of  restoration.  He  erected  a  temporary  structure, 
to  be  used  as  a  church  until  he  could  rebuild,  and  the  splendid  edifice  now 
occupying  the  site  of  the  first  frame  church  of  the  Holy  Name  is  a  monument 


RT.  REV.  JOHN  J.  KEANK. 


3g0  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  his  zeal  and  glory.  He  made  it  his  Cathedral,  as  St.  Mary's  was 
among  the  churches  burned.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  July  19,  1S74,  and 
the  preacher  on  the  occasion  was  the  eloquent  Jesuit,  Rev.  Arnold  Damen. 
Bishop  Foley  dedicated  his  Cathedral  on  All  Saints'  day  of  the  following 
year,  1875,  and  the  sermon  was  delivered  by  Rt.  Rev.  Patrick  Ryan,  now  the 
metropolitan  of  Philadelphia,  but  then  coadjutor  bishop  of  St.  Louis.  The  site 
of  the  new  church  is  the  same  as  that  on  which  the  first  wooden  Holy  Name 
was  built  in  1849,  anc*  stands  on  the  corner  of  North  State  and  Superior 
streets,  is  of  solid  stone,  cruciform  in  shape,  Gothic  in  style,  and  is  surmounted 
by  one  of  the  highest  spires  to  be  seen  in  the  city.  He  purchased  a  diocesan 
orphan  asylum  at  a  cost  of  $40,000,  he  erected  buildings  for  the  Sisters  and 
Magdalens  of  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  eagerly  assisted  the 
priests  and  religious  societies  in  the  reconstruction  of  their  churches,  institu- 
tions, and  schools.  He  was  a  warm  admirer  of  the  religious  orders  and 
encouraged  their  coming  to  his  diocese.  During  his  administration  he  intro- 
duced the  Franciscans,  the  Servites,  Lazarists,  and  Fathers  of  St.  Viateur, 
the  Resurrectionists  (Polish),  and  the  various  religious,  educational,  and  chari- 
table institutions  multiplied  with  wonderful  rapidity. 

In  1S72,  Bishop  Foley,  finding  that  his  diocese  was  constantly  increasing, 
and  that  he  could  not  attend  to  its  vast  interests  alone,  applied  to  his  metro- 
politan and  the  bishops  of  the  province  for  a  division  of  the  diocese  of 
Chicago  to  be  erected  into  a  new  see.  The  bishops  recommended  his  request, 
which  was  granted  by  the  Holy  See,  and  the  diocese  of  Peoria  created  and  the 
Rt.  Rev.  J.  L.  Spalding  was  appointed  bishop  of  the  new  see. 

The  great  fire  was  considered  calamitous  to  the  interests  of  the  young 
city,  but  it  brought  about  the  most  stupendous  achievements  in  the  history  of 
the  human  family.  Forty  thousand  people  left  Chicago  after  the  fire,  but 
scarcely  a  year  had  passed  before  100,000  workmen  came,  obtained  employ- 
ment, and  helped  to  bring  Chicago  forth  from  its  ashes.  During  this  time 
Bishop  Foley  lived  in  a  rented  house,  putting  off  the  building  of  a  residence 
until  all  the  others  had  been  provided  for,  and,  as  he  said,  "I  will  live  with 
my  priests  until  I  am  able  to  build."  He  did  so,  and  when  not  engaged  in 
his  visitations  through  the  diocese  it  can  be  truly  said  that  he  lived  with 
his  priests. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  priests,  after  the  diocesan  retreat  at  Bourbonnais 
Grove  in  1877,  Bishop  Foley,  after  making  a  well  remembered,  soul-stirring 
address  to  his  clergy,  gave  out  the  announcement  of  his  future  regulations  in 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  361 

the  management  of  the  diocese,  prefacing  it  by  saying  that  he  appointed  the 
Rev.  Dr.  McMullen  as  his  vicar-general.  When  the  bishop's  words  were 
heard,  announcing  the  fact  of  Dr.  McMullen's  selection  as  vicar-general,  they 
were  welcomed  by  priests  and  people  with  undisguised  satisfaction.  Dr. 
McMullen  assumed  his  new  dignity  with  unfeigned  calmness,  giving  as 
answer  to  the  congratulations  of  his  friends  "  I  hope  I  will  prove  worthy  of 
it."  Bishop  Foley  also  announced  to  his  clergy  that  a  diocesan  synod  would 
be  held  very  soon,  and  that  he  contemplated  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  his  first, 
as  bishop,  to  the  Holy  See.  The  synod  was  held,  former  statutes  were  con- 
firmed, rural  deaneries  created,  the  judges  in  ecclesiastical  cases  appointed, 
conferences  proposed,  and  the  good  ship  set  sailing  on  placid  waters,  with  its 
experienced  navigator  at  the  helm.  Alas!  the  plans  and  hopes  of  bishop, 
priests,  and  laity  for  a  prosperous  career  in  years  to  come  were  completely 
destroyed. 

In  the  latter  end  of  January,  1879,  Bishop  Foley  was  called  to  Baltimore 
by  important  family  interests.  During  the  winter  days  of  December,  1S7S, 
he  had  contracted  a  severe  cold.  Since  his  residence  was  burned  in  the  great 
fire,  he  lived  in  rented  houses,  letting  his  own  comfort  pass  by  until  all  others 
were  provided  for.  While  in  his  native  city  he  had  felt  so  unwell  that  he 
did  not  go  outside  his  mother's  residence  but  once,  and  then  it  was  to  attend 
a  funeral  at  the  old  cemetery  where  his  relatives  had  a  family  lot  and  his- 
father  and  others  of  his  family  were  buried.  That  visit  was  fatal;  his  cold 
was  increased  by  it,  and  sympt  >ms  of  an  approaching  dangerous  sickness 
became  quite  apparent.  He  was  warned  by  his  physician  to  guard  against 
any  exertion  or  unnecessary  exposure,  as  serious  consequences  would  ensue, 
and  he  was  urged  to  seek  instant  remedies.  The  bishop  had  promised,  before 
his  departure  for  Baltimore,  that  he  would  return  in  time  to  assist  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  St.  Anthony's  Church,  Chicago.  He  arrived  back,  therefore,  on 
Saturday,  February  8th,  and,  not  having  suffered  seriously  during  the  journey, 
stated  to  his  chancellor,  Rev.  Daniel  J.  Riordan,  that  he  would  be  ready  *to  go 
to  St.  Anthony's  on  the  following  morning.  On  attempting  to  arise  Sunday 
morning  he  found  himself  so  completely  prostrated  that  he  said  to  his  atten- 
dant, "  I  can  not  go  out  to-day,  or  it  will  be  my  death."  A  physician  was 
summoned  without  delay,  who,  after  a  careful  examination,  decided  that  the 
bishop  was  suffering  from  a  severe  cold,  which  was  greatly  increased  bv  his 
journey  home.  On  a  subsequent  visit,  the  physician  discovered  symptoms  of 
pneumonic  inflammation,  which,  in  a  person  of  the  bishop's  age  and  tempera- 


363  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

ment  was  necessarily  a  grave  and  serious  complication.  Additiemnl  medica/ 
counsel  was  called  in,  when  it  was  found  that  typhoid  fever,  which  in  the 
first  days  of  the  bishop's  sickness  had  been  held  in  check  by  the  pneumonic 
inflammation,  had  declared  itself,  and  the  bishop's  condition  became  most 
alarmino-.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Foley  and  Mr.  Daniel  Foley,  of  Baltimore,  were 
then  sent  for,  who  remained  at  their  brother's  bedside  almost  constantly. 

On  Monday,  February  17th,  the  bishop  realized  his  danger,  and,  know- 
ing the  importance  of  a  good  preparation  in  time,  sent  for  his  vicar-general, 
Dr.  McMullen,  whom  he  requested  to  administer  the  last  rites  of  the  Church. 
He  received  the  viaticum  with  a  holy  calmness,  then  the  sacrament  of  Extreme 
Unction,  and  said,  "  The  Lord's  will  be  done."  The  only  expression  of 
regret  he  was  heard  to  utter  was  in  reference  to  his  aged  mother,  to  whom 
he  felt  his  death  would  be  a  severe  affliction.  At  three  o'clock,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  19th  day  of  February,  1879,  tne  **-*•  ^ev-  Thomas  Foley, 
D.  D.,  peacefully  slept  in  death,  in  the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age  and  the 
ninth  of  his  episcopate.  Around  his  bedside  at  the  time  were  the  bishop's 
two  brothers,  Bishop  Spalding,  Very  Rev.  Dr.  McMullen  and  Rev.  D.  J. 
Riordan.  During  the  night,  when  his  last  moments  were  fast  approaching, 
the  bishop  turned  to  Dr.  McMullen  and  said,  "Father,  I  appoint  you  as 
administrator  of  the  diocese."  This  was  the  last  official  act  of  Bishop  Foley ; 
in  it  he  showed  his  confidence  in  his  vicar-general  and  a  friendship  which  was 
to  continue  to  the  hour  of  his  death.  Priests  and  people  were  fairly  stunned 
at  the  unexpected  news  of  Bishop  Foley's  demise.  Like  Bishop  Quarter,  he 
suddenly  was  stricken  down  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  usefulness, 
in  a  time  when  it  did  seem  that  he  could  not  be  spared.  The  diocese  of 
Chicago  sustained  again  a  serious  blow  in  the  death  of  such  a  prelate  of 
exalted  virtue,  of  pure  and  noble  character. 

From  a  recent  work  by  Rev.  J.  J.  McGovern,  D.  D.,  of  Lockport,  111., 
we  gleam  the  following  particulars  of  the  life  of  his  successor,  the  present 
illustrious  archbishop  of  Chicago: 

Patrick  Augustine  Feehan  was  born  at  Killinnall,  Tipperary,  Ireland, 
August  29,  1829,  the  year  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation.  His  father,  Patrick 
Feehan,  was  a  man  who  would  be  remarkable  among  a  thousand,  a  man  of 
distinguished  bearing,  noble  appearance,  classical  features,  with  an  education 
and  address  that  would  fit  him  to  rank  among  the  first  in  the  land.  His 
devotion  to  the  old  faith  was  as  remarkable  as  his  charity.  An  instance  of 
the  latter  was  often  told  by  those  who  were  eye-witnesses   to  this   admirable 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  363 

trait  of  character.  When  remonstrated  with  for  giving  to  the  poor  more  than 
seemed  prudent,  he  said:  "  It  is  related  in  Scripture,  '  If  a  man  has  two  coats 
he  should  give  one  to  him  who  has  none.' "  His  adviser  said,  "You  ought 
to  be  more  prudent  for  your  children's  sake."  The  man  full  of  faith  answered, 
"Divine  Providence  will  take  care  of  them."  Mr.  Feehan  was  a  man  of 
liberal  education,  and  was  well  versed  in  literature;  he  possessed  a  vast 
amount  of  information  on  all  subjects,  and  spoke  French  fluently,  although 
his  youth  was  cast  in  the  penal  days.  Mrs.  Feehan  was  a  singularly  modest 
woman,  gentle,  mild  and  refined,  qualities  so  noticeable  in  her  distinguished 
son.  Into  such  hands  was  the  subject  of  this  sketch  committed  by  divine 
Providence,  and  in  his  early  years  trained  in  the  way  the  child  should  go.  It 
is  not  surprising  then,  that  he  was  conspicuous  in  his  early  youth  for  endear- 
ing qualities  of  soul,  sweetly  blended  with  a  gentleness  of  character,  a 
humility  and  dignified  repose  that  drew  the  attention  and  delighted  every  one 
who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Reared  under  holy  influences,  under  the 
shadow  of  the  rock  of  Cashel  and  amidst  the  inspiring  scenes  of  the  battle- 
fields where  his  forefathers  fought  and  died  in  defense  of  their  faith  and  their 
native  land,  he  became  imbued  with  a  deep  Catholic  piety,  and  a  deep-rooted 
devotion  for  his  oppressed  country. 

He  inherited  from  his  father  a  studious  character  and  a  great  love  for 
books.  Thus  he  was  irresistibly  carried  toward  a  life  of  retirement,  even  in 
his  youthful  years,  and  quickly  showed  every  sign  of  a  future  vocation  to  the 
priesthood.  His  first  lessons  were  received  under  his  father's  roof,  which 
were  followed  by  a  solid  training  in  the  classics  and  sciences,  in  which  he 
made  such  a  remarkable  progress  that  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  entered 
as  an  ecclesiastical  student  in  the  Castle  Knock  College.  He  remained  in 
this  institution  two  years,  earning  the  highest  honors  for  his  scholarship  and 
exalted  virtues.  It  was  then  decided  to  send  him  to  the  great  college  of 
Maynooth,  which  he  entered  in  his  eighteenth  year.  He  spent  five  years  in 
this  ecclesiastical  seminary,  studying  under  great  masters  of  philosophy  and 
theology,  in  which  he  gained  such  proficiency  that  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Dunboyne  establishment.  Archbishop  Kenrick,  ever  alive  to  the  interests 
and  needs  of  the  great  archdiocese  of  St.  Louis,  sought  to  surround  himself 
with  a  talented  and  zealous  clergy,  and  he,  therefore,  made  frequent  applica- 
tions to  the  renowned  seminaries  of  Ireland  for  distinguished  ecclesiastical 
students  who  were  willing  to  leave  their  native  land  for  western  America^ 
A  bright  galaxy  of  names,  eminent  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church,  testifies 


364  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

to  the  wonderful  foresight  and  good  judgment  of  the  worthy  archbishop. 
When  the  proposition  was  made  to  the  distinguished  young  ecclesiastic,  P.  A. 
Feehan,  he  accepted  the  call  with  unreserved  joy.  Some  objection  was  made 
by  his  superiors  in  the  college,  who  had  singled  him  out  for  a  professorship, 
but  he  overruled  all,  feeling  a  divine  impulse  to  give  himself  to  the  life  of  a 
missionary  in  the  far  West.  In  1852  he  set  sail  for  America,  and  on  his 
arrival  continued  his  journey  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  sent  to  the  ecclesias- 
tical seminary  at  Carondelet,  to  prepare  for  his  ordination,  being  in  the  23d 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  ordained  priest  November  1,  1852,  and  from  that 
time  until  the  following  July  he  taught  in  the  diocesan  seminary. 

July,  1853,  he  was  appointed  assistant  at  St.  John's  Church,  St.  Louis. 
About  this  time  a  terrible  cholera  epidemic  raged  in  the  city,  which  called 
forth  all  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  devoted  young  priest.  Days  and  nights  were 
spent  in  administering  the  sacraments  and  consoling  the  poor  sufferers ;  some- 
times even  preparing  them  for  burial  when  kindred  and  friends  deserted  them. 

During  young  Father  Feehan's  sojourn  at  St.  John's  he  was  exceedingly 
beloved,  and  although  his  stay  there  was  brief,  deep  regret  was  felt  by  the 
parishioners,  to  whom  he  had  endeared  himself. 

In  the  summer  of  1854,  Father  Feehan  was  sent  to  the  theological  semi- 
nary in  Carondelet  to  succeed  Rev.  Anthony  O'Regan.  He  was  president 
for  three  years.  In  the  summer  of  1S57  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  St. 
Michael's,  St.  Louis.  While  in  the  seminary  he  taught  in  the  most  acceptable 
manner,  and  for  about  two  years  of  that  time  preached  once  a  month  in  the 
Cathedral,  St.  Louis.  "  He  was  then  as  now,"  says  Bishop  Hennessy,  who 
was  a  professor  in  the  seminary  at  the  time,  "  kind,  gentle,  amiable,  and  a 
great  favorite  with  students  and  professors.  He  was  loved  by  all  who  knew 
him  well  enough  to  appreciate  his  rare  qualities." 

He  made  a  record  for  zeal  and  tireless  labor;  besides  presiding  over  the 
seminary  and  professing,  he  attended  to  the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Joseph,  situated  near  the  college.  To  this  day  the  sisters  speak  of  "  Father 
Feehan  "  with  affectionate  and  grateful  remembrance. 

In  July,  1858,  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  St. 
Louis.  Here  he  entered  zealously  on  his  new  duties,  gaining  at  once  the  con- 
fidence and  love  of  his  congregation.  The  July  following  he  was  transferred 
to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  situated 
at  that  time  on  Eighth  and  Chestnut  streets. 

Ever  devoted  to  duty,  the  poor  were  special  objects  of  his  tender  care; 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  365 

where  sorrow  and  suffering  prevailed  his  presence  was  near  to  lighten  the 
gloom;  the  sick  were  comforted,  and  the  last  moments  of  the  dying  consoled 
with  the  promise  that  their  children  would  be  cared  for,  and  well  they  knew 
that  the  faithful  priest  would  keep  his  word.  "  How  often,"  said  one  of  his 
brother  priests,  "  have  I  heard  the  expression :  '  When  I  first  spoke  to  him  a 
heavy  load  was  taken  off  my  heart,'  or  '  his  presence  brings  light  and  joy  to 
my  poor  home.'  "  It  was  well  known  that  his  visits  were  mostly  confined  to 
the  sick,  the  suffering,  and  the  afflicted.  He  at  once  established  the  St.  Vin- 
cent de  Paul  Society  in  the  parish,  and  secured  a  room  where  stores  were 
kept  for  the  poor.  Many  are  still  living  who  were  recipients  of  his  kindness 
and  fatherly  care. 

His  whole  career  was  marked  by  a  strict  attention  to  duty.  He  was  an 
indefatigable  worker,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  every  thought  of  self  he  con- 
tinued his  arduous  and  holy  life.  During  the  Civil  War  a  hospital  for  wounded 
soldiers  was  established  in  his  parish;  here  many  an  hour  was  spent,  day  and 
night,  comforting  the  poor  sufferers.  The  inmates  of  the  jail  and  city  deten- 
tion house  also  claimed  much  of  his  time. 

It  is  such  men,  with  the  quiet-like  grandeur  of  character,  who  possess  the 
material  which  makes  heroes.  His  sweetness  of  disposition  and  loftiness  of 
soul  inspired  every  one  who  knew  him  with  the  greatest  love  and  admiration, 
and  few  ever  left  such  affectionate  memories  as  did  the  gentle,  dignified  priest. 

The  see  of  Nashville  having  become  vacant  in  1864  by  the  resignation  of 
Bishop  Whelan,  Father  Feehan  was  nominated  to  fill  the  position.  With 
characteristic  humility,  and  impelled  by  duties  of  a  filial  nature,  he  hastened 
to  decline  the  office,  and  his  appointment  was  for  a  time  held  in  abeyance. 
The  elevation  of  Father  Feehan  to  the  exalted  dignity  of  a  bishop  of  holy 
Church  was  looked  upon  as  a  certainty  and  only  a  question  of  time,  and  no 
one  was  more  fixed  in  the  determination  of  bringing  this  about  than  his  eccle- 
siastical superior,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Kenrick. 

In  July,  1865,  his  much  loved  mother  died.  She  had  been  an  invalid  for 
years,  and,  except  on  Saturday  evening,  when  he  was  detained  in  the  confes- 
sional, he  never  failed  to  make  her  a  visit.  It  was  on  her  account  that  the 
appointment  to  the  see  of  Nashville  was  at  first  declined.  After  her  death 
the  offer  of  the  see  was  again  made  and  accepted.  The  day  for  the  consecra- 
tion was  fixed  for  November  1,  1856,  when  it  took  place  before  a  vast  con- 
course in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Louis,  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Kenrick  impos- 
ing hands  on  his  young  friend. 


„66  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

On  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  November,  Bishop  Feehan  arrived  in 
Nashville,  accompanied  by  Most  Rev.  P.  R.  Kenrick,  of  St.  Louis;  Bishop 
Duggan,  of  Chicago;  Father  Kelly,  O.  P.,  administrator  of  the  diocese  of 
Nashville  and  Rev.  Fathers  Riordan  and  Walsh,  of  St.  Louis;  the  two  latter 
comino-  to  the  diocese  with  the  new  bishop  and  who  died  of  yellow  fever  in 
1878.  Bishop  Feehan's  characteristic  dislike  for  unnecessary  display  caused 
the  withdrawal  of  any  public  demonstration  of  welcome.  His  entry,  there- 
fore into  his  new  see  was  not  of  a  triumphal  character;  in  fact,  the  elements 
seemed  to  have  conspired  in  making  everything  disagreeable  and  disheart- 
ening. 

"It  had  been  raining  several  days,"  wrote  one  of  the  clergymen  who 
accompanied  the  bishop  from  St.  Louis,  "  the  fences  around  the  old  Cathe- 
dral were  broken  and  dilapidated;  everything  looked  gloomy — it  was  rain, 
rain,  rain,  for  days.  'John,'  said  one  of  the  prelates  to  the  sexton  on  the 
morning  of  the  10th,  'does  the  sun  ever  shine  here?'  'O  yes,  my  Lord,' 
answered  John,  in  dead  earnest,  '  it  shines  sometimes;  it  shines  in  summer, 
my  Lord.'  " 

The  second  day  after  Bishop  Feehan's  arrival  in  his  diocese,  Sunday, 
witnessed  the  grand  reception  in  the  Cathedral  that  would  have  taken  place 
on  the  morning  of  the  10th  had  he  not  entered  the  city  unexpectedly.  At 
nine  o'clock  the  societies  in  regalia  were  in  their  appointed  place  in  the  Cathe- 
dral— the  St.  Joseph's  Total  Abstinence  Society,  the  St.  Aloysius  Young 
Men's  Society,  and  the  members  of  St.  Mary's  Orphan  Association.  All 
these  societies  made  addresses  in  turn,  to  each  of  which  the  bishop  responded 
in  the  kindest  tones  of  appreciation. 

A  melancholy  scene  was  presented  to  Bishop  Feehan  on  his  arrival  in 
Nashville,  and  it  can  be  hardly  overdrawn.  His  diocese  had  been  the 
highway  of  both  armies,  and  the  theater  of  some  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of 
the  late  war.  Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cumberland,  Fort  Henry  on  the  Ten- 
nessee, Shiloh,  Franklin,  Stone  River,  Lookout  Mountain,  Mission  Ridge, 
Chattanooga,  and  Nashville,  all  historic  ground  —  turning  points  in  the 
destinies  of  the  contending  armies,  who  spread  ruin  and  desolation  through 
the  whole  state,  which  meant  the  diocese  of  Nashville.  The  war  had  just 
closed,  the  clouds  of  smoke,  that  denoted  its  presence  as  well  as  its  violence, 
had  scarcely  cleared  away  before  the  sunshine  of  returning  peace,  and  the 
diocese  "unreconstructed,"  when  the  bishop  arrived  in  Nashville.  The  city 
was  in  a  most  deplorable  condition,  morally  and  financially,  and  the  Church's 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  367 

interests  had  suffered  from  so  many  causes  that  their  recovery  demanded 
almost  superhuman  efforts.  Every  mission  in  the  diocese  had  the  same  sad  story 
and  presented  the  same  picture  that  Nashville  did — debts  and  demoralization. 

The  bishop  set  himself  to  the  work  with  his  resolute  gentleness  and 
patience  to  clear  away  the  debris  andj-ebuild  more  solidly  on  the  old  site.  He 
threw  himself  into  the  work  with  a  vigor  that  deserved  the  signal  success 
with  which  it  was  crowned. 

There  were  only  three  secular  priests  in  the  whole  state  of  Tennessee, 
and  many  students  for  the  priesthood  were  received  into  the  diocese,  and 
soo  1  a  large  number  of  zealous  young  priests  were  earnest  in  the  work  of 
gaining  and  saving  souls. 

No  one  heard  Bishop  Feehan  complain  or  bemoan  his  appointment  to  a 
diocese  that  offered  such  an  unfavorable  field.  He  did  what  was  possible  for 
each  mission,  and  was  silent — he  invited  and  attracted  to  the  diocese  a  number 
of  priests  who  were  drawn  thither  by  its  wants  and  the  personal  character  of 
its  bishop. 

Not  many  months  passed  before  it  was  observed  that  the  bishop  seemed 
to  have  stamped  and  sealed  with  his  own  character  the  priests  of  his  jurisdiction. 
This  was  proven  afterwards  by  the  number  who  died  of  yellow  fever  in  the 
plague  times  in  Memphis  and  elsewhere  in  the  diocese. 

By  his  untiring  efforts  and  constant  attendance  to  duty,  he  brought  the 
people  to  the  sacraments;  he  instructed  and  prepared  the  children  for  first 
Communion  and  confirmation,  and  by  his  business  talent  won  the  confidence 
of  the  community. 

He  improved  the  Cathedral  and  the  surroundings.  He  found  St. 
Cecilia's  heavily  involved  in  debt,  but  so  excellent  was  his  management  that 
he  soon  had  it  entirely  free  from  financial  embarrassment  of  any  kind,  with  a 
magnificent  addition  erected  side  by  side  with  the  old  building,  and  over- 
shadowing it  in  importance,  with  an  excellent  reputation  established  through- 
out the  South,  and  with  money  in  its  coffers*, 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  came  to  Nashville  and 
opened  St.  Bernard's  Academy.  They  first  taught  in  the  building  opposite 
the  Cathedral,  now  occupied  by  the  Standard  Club,  but  in  1869  purchased 
the  spacious  residence  of  ex-Governor  Brown,  fronting  the  Capitol.  They 
have  now  here  one  of  the  finest  educational  establishments  in  the  South, 
and  from  it  many  of  the  most  talented  and  fairest  women  of  the  "Athens  of 
the  South  "   have  graduated. 


36*!  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Before  the  purchase  of  the  present  convent  by  the  Sisters  the  palatial 
mansion  was  occupied  by  the  governors  of  the  state  of  Tennessee.  In  it 
Andrew  Johnson  lived  in  his  halcyon  days,  and  thousands  of  associations  are 
around  it.  Yet,  it  is  remarkable  that  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  while  over  the  main  entrance  the  word  "  Mercy,"  in  golden 
letters,  faces  the  figure  of  Justice  that  adorns  the  great  doorway  of  the 
Capitol  building  opposite.     St.  Bernard's  is  a  credit  to  the  bishop's  foresight. 

In  August,  1866,  the  cholera  made  its  appearance  in  Nashville.  During 
the  ravages  of  this  epidemic,  Bishop  Feehan  labored  unceasingly  to  console 
the  sick  and  the  dying. 

The  yellow  fever  visited  the  diocese  three  times  in  rapid  succession,  and 
spread  death  and  desolation  in  every  quarter  along  the  Mississippi.  The 
brave  priests  stood  at  their  posts  until  stricken  down.  Their  places  were 
quickly  taken  by  others  equally  as  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives.  Thirty- 
three  fell  martyrs  to  their  sacred  calling  during  this  terrible  epidemic.  The 
loss  of  so  many  noble  sons  was  indeed  a  crushing  blow  to  the  good  bishop, 
but  with  his  usual  fortitude  and  zeal  he  hastened  to  fill  up  the  vacancies. 

The  most  notable  services  of  Bishop  Feehan  in  rebuilding  was  not  con- 
fined to  Nashville.  What  he  did  for  this  city  is  only  an  earnest  of  the 
work  performed  in  every  town  in  the  state.  He  had  arrived  at  the  point 
where  he  could  realize  his  office  as  bishop  of  Tennessee.  He  visited  every 
point  where  Catholicism  had  found  a  foothold,  or  there  might  likely  be  a 
welcome  accorded  it,  and  he  devoted  his  energies  to  counseling,  encouraging 
and  organizing  the  work.  Chattanooga,  Memphis,  Knoxville  bear  testimony 
of  his  indefatigable  labors  for  the  congregations  of  those  cities. 

"  He  carried  to  his  labors,"  said  one  of  his  devoted  priests,  "  not  only  an 
indefatigable  ability  to  work,  but  a  brilliancy  of  thought,  a  modesty  of 
demeanor,  a  ripeness  of  experience,  and  an  abounding  piety  that  won  him 
friends  on  every  hand,  and  inspired  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  with 
a  devotion  and  love  for  God,  such  as  it  is  seldom  given  to  earthly  ministers 
to  accomplish.  And  when  he  assumed  his  priestly  robes  and  appeared 
before  the  congregation  at  the  altar,  he  was  so  transfigured  by  his  conscious- 
ness of  the  sacred  office  that  they  who  saw  could  not  help  but  worship.  The 
effect  of  such  a  character  was  seen  on  every  hand.  A  reviving  and 
strengthening  spirit  pervaded  the  state,  and  it  may  be  truly  said  of  Bishop 
Feehan,  he  gave  dignity  and  prestige  to  Catholicism  in  Tennessee."  As  an 
instance  of  his  equanimity  under  all  circumstances,  the   following  fact   is  told 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  369 

by  the  present  vicar-general  of  the  diocese  of  Nashville:  "Years  ago  he 
accompanied  me  to  the  Bear  Spring  furnace  settlement,  in  Stewart  County. 
We  left  the  train  at  Erin  on  the  L.  &  N.  R.  R.,  and  traveled  in  a  buggy 
about  eighteen  miles  to  the  furnace  ground.  Next  morning  the  bishop,  after 
heaving  confessions,  said  Mass  and  gave  confirmation.  The  house  in  which 
services  were  held  was  one  of  those  box  houses  of  one  room  and  part  of  the 
upstairs  '  boarded.'  The  other  part  had  no  flooring,  so  that  the  bishop's  tall 
figure,  as  he  extended  his  arms  and  moved  about  while  preaching,  sent  the 
miter  literally  between  the  joists,  putting  it  in  anything  but  a  dignified  posi- 
tion on  his  head  and  adding  to  the  growing  wonder  of  the  gaping  natives, 
who  felt  puzzled  to  understand  a  priest's  vestments,  but  a  bishop  with  such  a 
hat  simply  took  their  breath  away.  When  everything  was  over,  the  bishop 
and  myself  went  to  get  something  to  eat  in  the  little  alcove  or  elbow  that 
held  the  stove.  There  was  literally  not  even  a  morsel  of  bread  on  the  table. 
The  lady  of  the  house  looked  puzzled  and  mortified.  She  was  the  non- 
Catholic  wife  of  a  good  Irishman.  On  a  later  visit  I  learned  the  cause.  The 
good  lady  was  accustomed  to  get  breakfast  early  for  the  furnace  hands,  so 
on  this  occasion  she  got  everything  ready  and  prepared  enough  for  the  bishop 
and  me.  That  part  of  the  crowd  who  could  not  get  near  enough  to  see  the 
ceremonies  did  not  feel  like  being  idle,  so  it  devoured  all  the  eatables  in  the 
house.  We  rode  back  eighteen  miles  without  a  morsel,  and  reached  the 
station  about  6  p.  m.  There,  as  we  alighted,  the  bishop  was  accosted  in 
terms  of  friendly  welcome  by  a  Nashville  politician  who  had  been  electioneer- 
ing among  the  people  in  that  section  of  the  state.  To  look  on,  you  would 
imagine  Bishop  Feehan  had  just  risen  from  dinner  in  spite  of  the  hunger  and 
heat  of  the  day.  %  *  Now,  my  young  man,'  he  said,  turning  to  me,  as  the  gen- 
tleman went  away,  '  you  see  what  that  man  will  submit  to  in  his  efforts  to 
gain  votes  that  will  insure  him  office,  at  most,  but  a  few  years;  what  a  lesson 
for  ourselves.'  I  was  too  hungry  and  weak  to  talk  in  '  moralizing '  just  then, 
but  I  could  not  help  being  impressed  by  the  bishop's  undisturbed  equanimity." 
The  order  of  the  Catholic  Knights  of  America  owe  their  origin  to 
Bishop  Feehan.  Nashville  Catholics  asked  the  bishop's  opinion  about  a 
society  that  many  were  proposing  to  organize  in  Nashville  and  other  cities  of 
the  South,  and  the  propriety  of  Catholics  undertaking  to  form  a  society  of 
the  kind  that  was  contemplated.  The  bishop,  after  looking  over  the  consti- 
tution and  by-laws  of  the  proposed  society,  which   was  to  be  composed  of 

Catholic  laymen,  said:     "I  most  cordially  approve  your   object.     You  have 
25 


37° 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


the  material;  go  ahead, and  I  assure  you  that  I  will  give  you  all  my  support." 
The  bishop's  encouragement,  like  seed  cast  into  fertile  ground,  took  root. 
The  society  was  organized;  it  grew,  it  flourished,  and  now  the  Catholic 
Knights  of  America  is  one  of  the  most  successful  organizations  among  the 
Catholic  laity  in  the  United  States. 

In  1866  Bishop  Feehan  attended  and  participated   in  the   proceedings  of 

the  Second  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore,  and  he  took  an  active 
part  in  the  Ecumenical  Council 
of  the  Vatican. 

The  diocese  of  Chicago  by 
a  decree  of  the  Holy  See,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1SS0,  was  elevated  to 
the  rank  of  an  archdiocese,  and 
Bishop  Feehan,  of  Nashville,  was 
appointed  the  first  archbishop. 
When  the  news  reached  Chicago, 
theiv.  was  a  universal  expression 
of  satisfaction  among  the  clergy 
and  laity  of  the  new  metropoli- 
tan see,  and  though  all  mourned 
the  death  of  Bishop  Foley,  they 
rejoiced  at  seeing  one  chosen  to 
fill  the  vacancy  who  was  no 
stranger  to  the  clergy,  many  of 
whom  knew  him  personally 
while  he  lived  in  St.  Louis,  and 
were  filled  with  admiration  at  the 
successful  administration  of  the 
diocese  of  Nashville.  His  deeds 
of  heroism  during  the  plague  periods,  and  r/is  eminent  services  in  behalf 
of  the  orphans  had  caused  his  name  to  be  known  throughout  the  country, 
and  earned  for  him  the  esteem  of  civilized  nations.  The  Catholic  people 
rejoiced  at  having  Bishop  Feehan  come  to  govern  them,  as  ha  was  an  honor 
to  the  Church  in  America,  and  adorned  the  episcopacy  by  his  learning, 
experience,  piety  and  zeal. 

November  25th  was  the  day  designated  for  the  arrival  of  the  archbishop 


MOST    REV. 


A.    FEEHAN,    CHICAGO'S    FIRST 
ARCHBISHOP. 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  37, 

in  Chicago,  and  it  was  the  occasion  of  a  grand  outpouring  of  popular  mani- 
festations of  welcome  to  his  Grace.  Committees  of  the  clergy  and  deputa- 
tions of  the  laity  met  him  on  the  approach  to  his  archiepiscopal  see,  and 
extended  such  cordial  greetings  that  he  was  deeply  touched  by  their  evidences 
of  loyalty  and  respect.  Thousands  of  Catholics  of  the  many  nationalities 
that  go  to  make  the  Church  so  cosmopolitan  in  Chicago,  received  him  with 
tokens  of  delight,  and  lined  the  streets  of  the  city,  from  the  depot  to  his 
residence  on  the  North  Side — the  same  in  which  Bishop  Foley  lived  and  died. 

On  Sunday,  November  2Sth,  Archbishop  Feehan  was  installed  in  the 
Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  congregation, 
with  elaborate  and  impressive  ceremonies.  At  10  o'clock  a.  m.  the  procession 
of  the  clergy  of  the  new  archdiocese,  which  had  formed  in  the  sacristy,  passed 
out  at  the  Superior  street  entrance,  and  was  received  at  the  main  door  of  the 
Cathedral  by  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  McMullen,  who,  as  administrator  since  the 
death  of  Bishop  Foley,  delivered  the  Cathedral  and  the  diocese  to  the  arch- 
bishop. When  the  clergy  had  taken  their  places  inside  the  sanctuary,  the 
papal  brief  was  read,  appointing  the  Most  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan  archbishop  of 
Chicago,  after  which  the  clergy  approached  and  kissed  the  archiepiscopal 
ring  in  token  of  their  allegiance,  affection,  and  obedience  to  their  new  superior. 
Pontifical  High  Mass  was  then  celebrated  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Dwenger, 
of  the  diocese  of  Fort  Wayne.  After  the  gospel  Archbishop  Feehan 
ascended  the  pulpit  and  read  as  his  text  the  following  versicles:  Matthew  xiii, 
31,  32 — "Another  parable  he  proposed  unto  them,  saying,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  which  a  man  took,  and  sowed  in  his 
field:  which  is  the  least  indeed  of  all  seeds;  but  when  it  is  grown  up,  it  is 
greater  than  all  herbs,  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air 
come  and  dwell  in  the  branches  thereof." 

The  discourse  that  followed  was  simple  and  earnest,  full  of  deep  convic- 
tion and  characterized  by  a  straightforwardness  of  faith  that  visibly  impressed 
the  large  audience.  Archbishop  Feehan's  first  official  acts  were  to  appoint 
Very  Rev.  Dr.  McMullen  vicar-general  of  the  archdiocese,  and  Father  D.  J. 
Riordan  his  chancellor  and  secretary.  He  found  that  although  Bishop  Foley 
had  made  herculean  efforts  to  replace  the  loss  to  the  Church  in  Chicago  occa- 
sioned by  the  great  fire  of  1871,  still  there  was  much  to  be  done,  and  the 
extraordinary  growth  of  the  city  required  additional  church-room,  charitable 
institutions,  more  schools  and  educational  establishments  of  a  higher  order. 
He  received  the  pallium,  the  insignia  of  his  archiepiscopal  office  January,  1S81. 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

372 

Archbishop  Feehan's  great  knowledge  of  church  discipline,  the  details 
of  its  management  and  value,  and  easy  command  of  ecclesiastical  power 
were  the  means  by  which  he  commenced  the  administration  of  his  new 
charge.  He  found  that  the  archdiocese  comprised  eighteen  counties  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  state,  in  which  there  were  194  churches,  attended  by 
204  priests.  To  continue  the  good  work  was  his  aim,  and  his  experienced 
hand  was  immediately  felt  in  directing  the  several  interests  of  the  archdio- 
cese and  priests  and  people  were  made  to  understand  that  his  administration 
would  be  conservative,  tempered  with  wisdom,  charity,  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  Church's  discipline  in  all  its  vigor  and  entirety.  In  May,  18S1,  Arch- 
bishop Feehan  experienced  the  first  parting  of  those  faithful  priests  of  the 
diocese  of  Chicago,  who  for  many  years  rendered  eminent  services  to  the 
Church,  and  whose  names  are  numbered  among  the  pioneer  priests  of  the 
Church  in  Chicago.  On  Sunday,  May  8,  1881,  the  holy  father,  Leo  XIII, 
ratified  the  creation  of  the  new  diocese  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  and  confirmed 
the  nomination  of  Very  Rev.  John  McMullen,  D.  D.,  its  first  bishop.  The 
ceremony  of  consecration  took  place  in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name, 
July  25th,  his  grace,  Archbishop  Feehan,  being  the  celebrant  of  the  Mass  and 
consecrator.  In  1881,  Archbishop  Feehan  appointed  the  Rev.  P.J.  Conway 
vicar-general  of  the  diocese,  and  rector  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name. 
February  21,  1883,  Father  St.  Cyr,  who  for  many  years  had  been  chaplr.in 
of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Carondelet,  passed  away,  crowned  with  merits. 
On  September  16,  1883,  Rev.  Patrick  W.  Riordan  was  consecrated  bishop 
coadjutor  with  the  title  of  succession  of  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Alle- 
many,  of  San  Francisco. 

In  1S83  Archbishop  Feehan  was  summoned  to  Rome  with  the  other 
archbishops  of  the  United  States  to  formulate  the  scheme  of  the  Third  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore.  Before  his  departure  the  priests  of  the  archdiocese 
presented  him  with  a  purse  of  $10,000,  and  on  his  return  to  the  city,  Febru- 
ary, 1884,  one  of  the  greatest  ovations  ever  offered  to  a  devoted  shepherd 
awaited  him.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  all  the  clergy  of  the  archdiocese, 
the  mayor  and  common  council,  the  principal  Catholic  citizens,  and  over 
30,000  men,  forming  a  procession  over  five  miles  in  length,  met  him  on  his 
entry  into  the  city,  and  escorted  him  to  his  residence  amid  the  cheers 
and  blessings  of  100,000  people  who  lined  the  streets  along  which  the 
procession  marched.  The  great  financial  interests  of  the  archdiocese 
received    Archbishop    Feehan's  indefatigable    attention.     All  the   eleemosy- 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE.  373 

nary  institutions  have  received  his  generous  support  and  are  still  his  most 
anxious  care. 

Homes  for  the  aged,  hospitals  for  the  sick,  houses  of  providence  for 
young  women,  orphan  asylums  and  foundlings'  homes  attest  this,  and  his  wise 
transfer  of  the  Catholic  Industrial  School  for  boys  to  a  farm  on  the  Desplaines 
River,  twenty  miles  away  from  the  city,  has  been  universally  commended.  In 
1864  Archbishop  Feehan  attended  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore, 
accompanied  by  Very  Rev.  P.  J.  Conway,  V.  G.,  and  Rev.  John  Waldron, 
pastor  of  St.  John's  Church.  On  July  1,  1887,  another  worthy  priest,  whose 
name  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  been  a  household  word  on  account  of  his 
zeal  and  Christian  charity  among  the  Catholics  of  Chicago,  Rev.  John 
Waldron,  passed  to  his  reward. 

The  first  synod  of  the  archdiocese  of  Chicago  was  held  Tuesday,  Decem- 
ber 13,  1887,  in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  and  was  attended  by  all 
the  pastors  of  the  archdiocese.  The  chief  purpose  of  the  synod  was  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  decrees  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council. 

In  1887  Archbishop  Feehan  purchased  property  for  a  Catholic  ceme- 
tery for  the  Catholic  parishes  of  the  South  Side,  and  dedicated  it  under  the 
title  of  Mount  Olivet  Cemetery.  , 

September  27,  1887,  his  eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  visited  Chicago 
and  received  an  enthusiastic  welcome  from  Archbishop  Feehan  and 
his  clergy. 

Octocer  28,  1887,  he  consecrated  the  Rt.  Rev.  Maurice  Burke,  of  St. 
Mary's,  Joliet,  111.,  bishop,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the  new  see  of  Chey- 
enne by  the  Holy  See. 

July  1,  1888,  Archbishop  Feehan  closed  the  eyes  in  death  of  his  beloved 
and  faithful  vicar-general,  Father  Conway;  and  on  September  25,  1889, 
Rev.  Joseph  P.  Roles,  pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  was  called  to  his  eter- 
nal account  after  twenty-five  years  of  successful  labors  in  the  diocese  of 
Chicago. 

In  1890  Archbishop  Feehan  appointed  Rev.  D.  M.  J.  Dowling,  pastor 
of  St.  Bridget's  Church,  vicar-general  of  the  archdiocese.  In  November  of 
the  same  year  the  Silver  Jubilee  of  the  archbishop  was  celebrated  with  much 
splendor  and  enthusiasm. 

The  evidences  of  Archbishop  Feehan's  enthusiastic  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
religious  education  are  seen  in  the  educational  institutions  established  during 
his   administration:      St.  Patrick's  Academy,  the  Josephinum,   the   De   La 


gjA  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Salle  Institute;  the  large  number  of  parochial  schools  in  the  city;  St. 
Viateur's  College,  at  Bourbonnais;  the  Loretto  Academy,  Joliet;  St.  Francis' 
Academy,  Joliet,  and  numerous  other  institutions. 

Archbishop  Feehan  has  been  unceasing  in  his  good  work  since  his 
arrival  in  Chicago.  In  nine  years,  from  January  I,  1SS1,  to  December  31, 
1S90,  he  has  regularly  visited  his  archdiocese,  traveled  by  railroads  and  wagon- 
roads  wherever  his  services  were  needed,  and  thus  it  was  that  at  the  close  of 
a  decade  and  the  tenth  anniversary  of  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  he  had  con- 
firmed over  100,000  persons;  had  ordained  175  priests,  and  had  laid  the  cor- 
ner-stones of  sixty  churches,  dedicated  seventy-two,  and  invariably  seconded 
the  labors  of  his  priests  in  all  their  undertakings. 

His  prudent,  conservative  policy  in  the  management  of  his  diocese,  his 
gentle  but  firm  impress  of  character,  his  goodness  of  heart,  endears  him  to  his 
priests,  and  has  gained  for  him  the  love  of  his  people  of  the  archdiocese,  and 
the  esteem  of  all  good  citizens.  As  metropolitan,  Archbishop  Feehan  has 
the  whole  state  of  Illinois,  with  its  million  Catholics,  under  his  supervision. 

Of  this  jurisdiction  the  diocese  of  Quincy  was  established  in  1S52,  and 
enlarged  and  the  see  transferred  to  Alton  in  1857.  Twenty  years  later  was 
established  the  diocese  of  Peoria,  in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  its  first 
bishop  consecrated,  and  still  happily  ruling,  being  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Lan- 
caster Spalding,  D.  D. 

John  Lancaster  Spalding  was  born  at  Lebanon,  Ky.,  on  the  2d  of  June, 
1840,  "coming,"  as  Bishop  Rosecrans  well  said  on  the  day  of  his  consecra- 
tion, "  from  a  family  of  priests  who  have  supported  the  fabric  of  our  religion 
in  this  country,  and  will  maintain  its  honor,  not  only  among  Catholics,  but 
will  defend  it  also  among  those  who  are  not  Catholics."  After  brilliant 
studies  in  America  and  Europe  he  was  ordained  by  dispensation  on  the  19th 
of  December,  1863,  and  was  recognized  as  a  priest  of  great  intellectual 
ability  and  high  culture,  in  general  literature  as  well  as  in  the  lore  of  the 
theologian. 

Returning  to  his  native  state  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Cathedral  at  Louisville,  where  he  remained  till  1870,  when  he  took  charge  of 
St.  Augustine's  Church,  which  had  been  opened  for  colored  Catholics.  He 
also  acted  as  secretary  and  chancellor  of  the  diocese  till  1873,  when  he 
removed  to  New  York  and  became  one  of  the  priests  laboring  in  the  large 
and  important  parish  of  St.  Michael.  His  eloquence  and  ability  led  to  fre- 
quent applications  for  his  services  in  the  pulpit  on  important  occasions,  while 


THE  CITY  OF  JUBILEE. 


375 


his  zeal  and  prudence  showed  his  fitness  for  more  responsible  duties  than  had 
hitherto  been  assigned  to  him. 

When  the  diocese  of  Peoria  was  formed  in  Illinois,  in  1877,  tne  Rev. 
Dr.  Spalding  was  selected  for  the  new  see,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  1st 
of  May,  in  the  Cathedral   of   New 


York,  by  his  eminence,  Cardinal 
McCloskey,  Bishop  Rosecrans,  of 
Columbus,  preaching  on  the  occasion. 

The  diocese  confided  to  his  care 
comprised  the  central  portion  of  the 
state  of  Illinois,  between  the  dioceses 
of  Chicago  and  Alton.  There  were 
already  seventy-five  churches, 
attended  by  fifty- one  priests,  and  a 
Catholic  population  estimated  at 
forty-five  thousand.  Fathers  of  the 
order  of  St.  Francis,  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  Sisters  of  St.  Bene- 
dict, St.  Dominic,  and  of  St.  Francis, 
were  in  charge  of  academies  or  chari- 
itable  institutions. 

Bishop  Spalding  has  co-opera- 
ted actively  in  the  movement  for 
Catholic  colonization,  and  his  own 
diocese,  as  well  as  others  further  West,  show  the  benefit  resulting  from  the 
effort  to  aid  immigrants  in  taking  up  lands  for  their  new  homes  where  they 
can  enjoy  the  consolations  of  their  religion. 

The  project  of  a  great  Catholic  university  in  the  United  States  is  also  one 
for  which  Bishop  Spalding  has  labored  assiduously,  his  project  being  encour- 
aged by  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  which  adopted  his  plans  in 
1S84,  a  noble-hearted  young  Catholic  lady,  Miss  Caldwell,  having  given 
$300,000  to  begin  the  great  undertaking.  Bishop  Spalding  has  also  devoted 
himself,  as  president  of  the  committee  in  charge,  to  the  organization  and  fur- 
therance of  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit  to  be  made  at  the  World's  Fair 
during  this  Columbian  jubilee. 


RT.  REV.  J.  L,  SPALDING     BISHOP   OF    PEORIA. 


©tapto  <XI^C. 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST. 


Fort  St.  Joseph  at  Detroit. — Burning  of  the  First  Church. — Murder  of  the 
First  Pastor. — Father  Richard,  M.  C. — The  Original  Western  Printer. 
— Stricken  Down  by  Cholera. — A  Convert  Who  Apostatized. — The  Bishops 
of  Detroit. — Satisfactory  Progress  of  Religion. — Milwaukee  Becomes  a 
See. — Bishop  Casper  Borgess. — The  Bleak  Upper  Peninsula. — The  Indefat- 
igable Baraga. — Opening  of  the  Copper  Mines. — Labors  of  Bishop  Henni. 
— Milwaukee  is  Made  the  See  of  an  Archbishop. — How  the  Faith  Grew 
in  Iowa. — Bishops  Loras  and  Hennessy. — A  Silver  Jubilee. — The  Cross  in 
Minnesota. — Bishop  Cretin's  Toils. — Bishop  Grace  and  Progress. — Career 
of  John  Ireland. — A  Great  Archbishop. 

^ASSING  now  into  the  great  region  of  the  Northwest,  we  find  that 
in  1688,  Fort  St.  Joseph,  at  Detroit,  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
post  established  by  La  Motte  Cadillac,  in  1700.  He  brought  a 
number  of  Canadian  families,  and  was  accompanied  by  the  Jesuit 
Father  Vaillant  and  a  Recollect.  A  chapel  was  at  once  erected, 
superior  in  architecture  to  the  cabins  of  upright  puncheon  raised 
by  the  settlers.  The  Recollect  father,  Constantine  de  Chasle,  was  soon 
sent  out  to  act  as  chaplain  for  the  fort  and  colonists.  But,  in  1704,  some  dis- 
contented Indians  set  fire  to  a  barn,  and  the  first  church  perished  in  the  con- 
flagration. Two  years  later  the  Ottawas,  who  had  come  from  Michilimackinac, 
made  a  sudden  attack  on  the  Miamis  near  the  fort  and  killed  Father  Con- 
stantine as  he  was  walking  outside  saying  his  breviary. 

The  church,  once  rebuilt,  was  destroyed  by  the  commandant  at  the  time 
of  the  attack  on  Detroit  by  the  Foxes  in  17 12.  The  third  church  of  St. 
Anne  was  erected  within  the  palisades,  opposite  a  large  military  garden. 
This  continued  to  be  the  church  of  the  settlement  for  many  years,  during  all 

the  stirring  scenes  of  the  last  struggle  of  the  French,  during    Pontiac's    war, 

376 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST. 


377 


during  our  Revolution,  while  it  was  held  by  the  English  government  down 
to  the  year  1805.  Of  the  clergy  during  the  French  period  mention  is  made 
of  Father  Bonaventure,  Recollect,  a  cultivated  man,  whose  library  was  well 
chosen,  who  acted  as  instructor  to  the  young,  and  learning  Indian  languages, 
ministered  to  the  red  men  near  him.  Besides  him,  Fathers  Anthony,  Delinas, 
and  Daniel  were  here. 

On  the  1  ith  of  June,  1805,  the  city,  many  of  the  buildings  being  old  and 
affording  an  easy  prey  to  the  flames,  was  laid  in  ashes,  only  two  buildings 
escaping.  St.  Anne's  Church  per- 
ished. An  act  of  congress  author- 
ized the  laying  out  of  a  new  town, 
assigning  certain  lots  to  each  inhabi- 
tant of  the  old  town. 

The  site  of   St.  Anne's  was  on 

the  new    plan    taken    by   Jefferson 

avenue;  and  a  lot  in  the  center  of 

the   little  military  square,   near  the 

burying-ground,   two  hundred   feet 

square  and  fronting  on  four  streets, 

was  assigned   for   it   in    1806;    and 

soon  after  a  lot  was  assigned  for  an 

academy  under  the  care  of  Sisters, 

and  another  site  for  an  academy  for 

boys. 

The  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  was 

a    remarkable    priest,    who,    when 

superior  of  the  Sulpitian   Seminary, 

at  Issy,  little  dreamed  that  he  would  one  day  sit  in  the  congress  of  the  United 

States,  as  delegate  from  one  of  the  territories.    He  came  to  the  United  States, 

and  was,  in  1798,  sent  to   Detroit,   where  the  Rev.    Fathers  Frechette   and 

Levadoux   had    directed  the  parish.       The   Abbe"    Richard  became  not  only 

pastor  of  his  flock,  but  one  of  the  leading  minds  in  the  development  of  the  West. 

He  gave  an  impulse  to  education,  and  established  the  first  printing-press  in 

Michigan,  issuing  several   useful   works,  and  the    first  portion  of  Scripture 

printed  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

Not  only  does  this  priest  bear  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  Catholic 

clergyman  ever  elected  to  congress,  but  the  only  one  who  had   the  strange 


RT.  REV.  MGR.  CONATY,  D.D., 
RECTOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA. 


^7S  THE  L'ULL^MBIAN  JUBILEE. 

fortune  of  coming  directly  from  a  prison  cell  to  the  house  of  representatives; 
not  however,  with  the  full  powers  of  a  representative,  but  as  a  delegate  from  a 
then  far  western  territory. 

Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  was  a  delegate  in  congress  from  the  territory  of 
Michigan  in  1823.  Lanman's  Directory  of  the  United  States  Congress  says 
of  him:  "He  was  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  a  man  of  learning.  Born  at 
Saintes,  France,  October  15,  1764,  educated  at  Angiers,  and  received  orders  at 
a  Catholic  seminary  in  Paris  in  1790.  Came  to  America  in  1798,  and  was  for 
a  time  professor  of  mathematics  in  St.  Mary's  College,  Maryland.  He  labored 
as  a  missionary  in  Illinois,  and  went  to  Detroit,  Mich.,  in  1799.  During  his 
pastorate  of  St.  Ann's  Church  in  Detroit  it  became  his  duty,  according  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  to  excommunicate  one  of  his  parishioners  who  had 
been  divorced  from  his  wife.  For  this  he  was  prosecuted  for  defamation  of 
character,  which  resulted  in  a  verdict  being  given  against  him  for  one 
thousand  dollars.  This  money  the  priest  could  not  pay,  and  as  his  parishion- 
ers were  poor  French  settlers  they  could  not  pay  it  for  him,  and  he  was  thrown 
into  prison.  While  confined  in  the  common  jail,  with  little  hope  of  ever 
being  liberated,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  congress,  and  went  from  his 
prison  cell  in  the  wilds  of  Michigan  to  his  seat  on  the  floor  of  congress." 

The  career  in  congress  of  Father  Richard  was  a  remarkable  one.  He 
delivered  several  speeches  on  matters  pertaining  to  his  territory  which 
marked  him  as  an  able  speaker.  He  was  not  only  a  thorough  French  and 
English  scholar,  but  was  conversant  with  the  Spanish,  German,  and  Italian 
languages,  and  had  learned  the  Indian  language  of  the  tribes  in  Michigan. 
In  1809  he  took  the  first  printing-press  to  the  West,  and  became  the  first 
Catholic  publisher  in  the  North,  printing  and  publishing  the  Essai  du 
Michigan,  a  paper  that  gave  mortal  offense  to  the  English  colony  at  Detroit. 
The  English  authorities  at  last  laid  hands  on  the  good  man  and  dragged  him 
into  imprisonment.  After  the  surrender  of  General  Hull,  in  181 2,  he  was 
released,  and  soon  afterward  published  the  laws  of  the  new  territory  in 
French.  At  this  time  there  was  great  suffering  among  the  settlers,  their 
crops  having  been  taken  by  the  soldiers,  and  Father  Richard  purchased  wheat 
and  gave  it  to  the  destitute  people. 

A  Catholic  gentleman,  residing  in  Washington  a  few  years  ago,  gave  a 
pen  picture  of  Father  Richard,  as  he  remembered  seeing  him  nearly  fifty 
years  before,  the  sketch  appearing  in  a  volume  of  Catholic  biography  pub- 
lished by  Lawrence  Kehoe  in  1869.     He  said:  "  In  1824  I  was   wending  my 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  370 

way  to  the  Capitol,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  and  when  crossing  the  street 
with  a  friend  I  was  attracted  to  a  singularly  odd-looking  personage.  He  was 
of  middle  size,  with  sharp  features  and  wiry  frame.  His  low-crowned,  broad, 
brimmed  hat  was  thrown  back  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  a  pair  of  large 
goggles  sat  enthroned  on  top  of  an  expansive,  bulging  forehead.  He  had  on 
nicely  fitting,  highly  polished  shoes,  with  silver  buckles,  but  wore  no  stock- 
ings. He  was  tapping  a  fine  gold  snuff-box,  and  appeared  to  be  offering  a 
pinch  to  a  friend  whom  he  had  just  met.  Upon  inquiry  of  my  companion,  I 
was  informed  that  he  was  Very  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard,  M.  C.,  vicar-general 
of  Detroit.  This  was  the  first  impression  I  had  of  this  remarkable  man,  a 
Catholic  priest  and  an  «  M.  C  I  was  a  mere  stripling  then,  but  I  have  a  love 
for  all  that  belongs  to  my  Church,  and  the  reader  may  well  imagine  my  feel- 
ings when  my  companion  soon  introduced  me  to  this  wonderful  man,  as  he 
appeared  to  me.  The  acquaintance  soon  after  ripened  into  friendship,  and 
much  did  I  enjoy  the  good  man's  conversation  that  winter,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
sweetest  reminiscences  of  my  life  that  I  served  his  Mass  at  old  St.  Patrick's. 
On  Christmas  Day,  good  Father  Matthews  bestowed  on  me  the  distinguished 
honor  of  dining  with  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard,  M.  C.  Oh,  for 
those  days  of  real  Catholic  fervor  and  American  simplicity!" 

In  182 1  Father  Richard  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  grave  of  Father  Mar- 
quette, the  great  missionary  priest  of  the  Northwest,  and  planted  a  cross  over 
it,  on  which  he  cut  with  a  pen- knife:  "Father  Marquette  died  here  May  9, 
1675."  If  the  writer  mistakes  not,  the  state  of  Michigan  has  since  erected  a 
large  monument  to  mark  the  last  resting-place  of  Father  Marquette.  The 
State  Historical  Society  Library  at  Lansing  is  rich  in  manuscripts  left  by 
Father  Marquette,  and  later  by  Father  Richard. 

As  Michigan  was  made  subject  to  Bishop  Flaget  at  his  appointment,  he 
visited  it  in  18 17,  and,  about  the  same  time,  in  a  treaty  made  with  the  United 
States,  the  Catholic  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  and  Pottawatomies,  stipulated  that 
a  tract  of  a  square  mile  on  Raisin  River  should  be  set  apart  for  St.  Ann's 
Church  and  the  college  or  academy  for  boys. 

When,  five  years  later,  the  see  of  Cincinnati  was  erected,  Michigan  fell 
under  the  administration  of  Bishop  Fenwick.  That  zealous  missionary  at 
once  sought  to  have  a  bishop  appointed  at  Detroit;  the  Indians  of  Arbre 
Croche  having  in  1823  appealed  to  the  president  for  priests.  As  the  new  see 
was  not  immediately  erected,  Bishop  Fenwick  visited  the  Catholic  congrega- 
tions in  Michigan  in  1827,  confirming  at  Detroit,  Arbre  Croche,  and  Mackinac. 


~So  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Two  young  Indian  boys,  whose  piety  and  aptitude  seemed  to  justify  the 
step,  were  sent  to  Rome  to  study  for  the  priesthood,  but  the  experiment 
failed :  one  died  and  the  other  did  not  persevere. 

The  Very  Rev.  Frederick  Reze\  as  vicar-general,  next  visited  Michigan, 
and  founded  an  Indian  church  at  St.  Joseph's  River.  The  bishop  himself, 
in  a  visitation  in  1832,  was  struck  down  by  cholera,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  but, 
recovering,  proceeded  to  Mackinaw  and  Arbre  Croche,  where  he  had  placed 
the  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga  in  charge  of  seven  hundred  Catholic  Indians.  At 
Detroit  the  dying  bishop  found  the  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  on  his  death-bed. 

In  1833  the  diocese  of  Detroit  was  created,  embracing  Michigan  and 
Northwest  Territories,  and  the  Very  Rev.  Frederick  Reze",  a  native  of  Han- 
over, already  familiar  with  the  actual  condition  and  wants  of  the  Catholics  in 
that  district,  was  appointed  bishop.  His  diocese  contained  St.  Anne's  Church, 
Detroit;  St.  Anthony's,  at  Monroe;  St.  Mary's,  at  Maurice  Bay;  St.  Francis', 
on  Huron  River;  St.  Patrick's,  at  Ann  Arbor;  St.  Joseph's,  on  the  river  of 
the  same  name,  attended  by  the  Rev.  Stephen  T.  Badin ;  St.  Ignatius',  at 
Mackinaw;  St.  Felicitas',  on  Lake  St.  Clair,  and  the  Ottawa  Mission  at  Arbre 
Croche. 

Bishop  Rezd,  the  first  of  our  German  bishops,  appealed  to  Catholic  Ger- 
many for  aid.  The  Redemptorists  came  in  1S32  to  commence  at  Arbre 
Croche,  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  Green  Bay,  the  labors  which  have  since  been 
so  fruitful  of  good  in  all  part's  of  the  country.  Two  Poor  Clares  founded  a 
convent  at  Detroit,  and  two  others  proceeded,  in  1833,  to  Green  Bay  to  open 
a  school  there.  Missions  were  renewed  among  the  Menomonees  and  Winne- 
bagoes. 

Under  the  impulse  of  the  bishop,  St.  Patrick's  Church  was  erected  in 
Detroit,  and  priests  stationed  at  Monroe,  Grand  River  and  other  points. 
There  were  drawbacks,  indeed.  The  priest  at  Monroe,  the  Rev.  Samuel  B. 
Smith,  a  convert,  apostatized,  and  became  one  of  the  most  vile  traducers  of 
the  Church,  editing  a  paper  called  the  "  Downfall  of  Babylon,"  and  pander- 
ing to  a  depraved  taste  by  licentious  books,  in  which  obscenity  was  covered 
up  by  attacks  on  Catholicity. 

Still  there  was  progress.  In  the  cholera  of  1834,  when  one-tenth  of  the 
population  of  Detroit  was  swept  away,  th<-  Rev.  Mr.  Kundig,  aided  by  the 
Catholic  ladies,  opened  an  hospital  and  caied  for  the  sick  of  all  creeds.  In 
1840  there  were  in  Michigan  at  least  twenty  churches;  eleven  priests  were 
employed  on  the  mission  in  instruction ;  St.  Philip's  University,  and  Trinity 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  381 

Church  Academy,  in  Detroit,  gave,  hopes  of  useful  existence;  there  were 
parochial  schools  at  several  points;  an  orphan  asylum  at  Detroit;  and  the 
Ladies  of  Providence,  a  community  devoted  to  works  of  mercy. 

Bishop  Rez£  had  gone  to  Baltimore  in  1S37,  and,  in  a  letter  to  the 
fathers  assembled  in  provincial  council,  expressed  a  wish  to  resign  the  see, 
or  transfer  the  administration  to  a  coadjutor.  The  Holy  See  invited  him  to 
Rome,  and,  in  1841,  appointed  as  coadjutor,  the  Rev.  Peter  Paul  Lefebvre, 
a  Belgian  priest,  born  at  Roulers,  in  1S04,  ordained  in  the  United  States  in 
1831,  from  which  year  he  was  a  laborious  missionary  in  the  diocese  of  Cin- 
cinnati. At  the  time  of  his  appointment  he  was  in  Europe,  but  returning, 
was  consecrated  at  Philadelphia,  in  1841. 

Proceeding  to  his  diocese  he  regulated  the  tenure  of  St.  Ann's  Church, 
began  the  new  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and,  visiting  his  diocese, 
established  many  stations  for  the  offering  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  till  a  church 
could  be  erected  and  a  priest  supported.  He  was  careful  and  judicious  in  his 
selection  of  new  priests,  and  secured  zealous  and  laborious  workers.  He 
recalled  the  Redemptorists,  whose  convent  still  subsists  at  Detroit;  invited 
the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  to  establish  an  academy  for  the  superior  educa- 
tion of  young  Catholic  ladies.  To  his  grief,  St.  Philip's  College,  his  chief 
seminary  for  higher  education,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  January,  1842.  For 
the  common  school  education,  finding  the  legislature  leavened  with  the  usual 
bigoted  axiom,  that  all  must  be  taxed  for  public  schools,  and  Protestantism 
inculcated  in  them,  he  began  to  develop  in  his  diocese  that  system  of  Catholic 
schools  which  are  the  great  hope  of  the  American  future.  At  his  call  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  came  to  direct  parochial  schools  for  boys; 
and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  and  Sisters  of  Charity,  but  especially  Sisters  of 
the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary,  to  direct  the  parochial  schools  for  girls. 
This  community,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  throve,  and  soon  spread  to  all 
parts  of  the  diocese. 

The  influx  of  settlers  had  so  increased  the  Catholic  body  in  Michigan 
and  Wisconsin  that,  in  1844,  a  new  see  was  established  at  Milwaukee,  and 
the  Rt.  Rev.  John  M.  Henni  consecrated  as  bishop  of  the  diocese,  embracing 
the  state  of  Wisconsin.  Delivered  from  the  care  of  that  state,  Bishop 
Lefebvre  could  devote  himself  to  the  expansion  of  the  Church  in  Michigan. 
Churches  sprang  up.  The  mission  to  the  Indians  in  his  jurisdiction  took  new 
life;  while  the  veteran  Rev.  Mr.  Baraga  labored  at  Keweenaw;  the  zealous 
Father    Pierz,  in   eight  years,  baptized  nine   hundred  and    fifty-six,  mostly 


383  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

converts,  at  Arbre  Croche;the  Rev.  Francis  Baraux  ministered  to  three  hunched 
Pottawatomies  at  Pokagan,  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  aiding  him  by  their 
schools;  the  Jesuit  fathers,  Point  and  Mdn^try,  were  reviving  the  labors  «>f 
their  predecessors  at  Sault  St.  Mary's;  the  Rev.  Ignatius  Mrak  had  charge 
of  the  missions  and  churches  at  Lacroix,  Middletown,  Castor  Island,  and 
Manistee,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Visozsky,  at  Grand  River  Rapids,  had  a  flock  of 
many  races  and  tongues. 

Bishop  Lefebvre  drew  many  of  his  faithful  auxiliaries  from  Belgium ; 
and  when  Bishop  Spalding,  after  visiting  that  eminently  Catholic  country, 
projected  an  American  college  there,  Bishop  Lefebvre  entered  warmly  into 
the  project,  though  no  other  bishop  in  the  country  joined  them.  The  object 
of  this  institution  was  to  gain,  in  a  country  where  vocations  were  so  numerous, 
zealous  young  men  who  would  pursue  their  studies  in  the  American  college, 
and  then  give  their  talents  to  the  mission  in  the  United  States.  Bishop 
Spalding  and  Bishop  Lefebvre  conferred  a  lasting  boon  on  the  Church  in  this 
country.  In  sixteen  years  this  college,  with  slender  resources,  unaided  by 
any  of  our  wealthy  Catholics,  had  sent  to  the  United  States  a  hundred  and 
fifty-four  well-trained  zealous  priests. 

With  singular  forecast  Bishop  Lefebvre  secured,  in  advance,  sites  for 
future  churches,  and  carefully  guarded  the  property  owned  by  the  diocese. 
Finding  that  increase  of  Catholics  made  the  direct  supervision  of  a  bishop 
desirable  in  the  Upper  Peninsula  and  its  Indian  missions,  he  induced  the 
erection  of  the  see  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie  in  1857.  The  Lower  Peninsula,  from 
that  date,  alone  constituted  the  diocese  of  Detroit,  and  contained  fifty-six 
churches,  in  which  forty-three  priests  officiated.  When  he  died,  twelve 
years  later,  the  churches  had  increased  to  seventy-five,  and  the  priests  had 
nearly  doubled  in  number.  The  old  Catholic  city  of  Detroit  could  boast  of  a 
cathedral,  seven  other  churches,  a  chapel  for  Hollanders  and  Flemings,  and 
another  chapel  set  apart  for  colored  people;  a  Redemptorist  convent,  a  com- 
munity of  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  directing  select  schools,  free  schools, 
and  an  orphan  asylum ;  Sisters  of  Charity  had  charge  of  an  hospital,  insane 
and  orphan  asylums,  select  and  free  schools.  The  whole  number  of  the  faith- 
ful in  the  diocese  was  estimated  at  150,000. 

In  his  sixty-fifth  year  erysipelas  set  in  at  a  spot  injured  in  his  mission 
labors  years  before.  Bishop  Lefebvre  retired  to  an  hospital  founded  for  the 
poor,  and  died  there  March  4,  1869. 

The  Very  Rev.  Peter  Hennaert,  V.  G.,  was  administrator  of  the  diocese 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST. 


3^3 


until  the  Rt.  Rev.  Casper  H.  Borgess  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Calydoa, 
April  24,  1870,  and  made  coadjutor  to  the  bishop  of  Detroit,  and  administrator 
of  the  diocese. 

He  acted  in  this  capacity  till  the  death  of  Bishop  Rese,  December  27, 
1 87 1.  That  prelate  remained  at  Rome  till  the  Revolution  of  1848,  when  he 
returned  to  his  native  country — Hanover.  Dr.  Borgess,  in  December,  1871, 
became  by  succession  second  bishop  of  Detroit.  Under  his  able  management 
the  Jesuit  fathers  established  a 
college  at  Detroit,  and  the  Fran- 
ciscans a  central  house  and  schol- 
asticate;  the  Little  Sisters  of  the 
Poor  and  nuns  of  the  Good  Shep- 
herd arrived.  Bishop  Borgess  had 
at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1885,  seventy-nine  churches,  one 
hundred  and  four  priests,  a  college, 
three  academies,  forty-five  paro- 
chial schools  under  Brothers  of 
the  Christian  Schools,  Franciscan 
Brothers,  Sisters  of  the  Immacu- 
late Heart  of  Mary,  Sisters  of 
Notre  Dame,  of  St.  Dominic,  of 
Christian  Charity,  Sisters  of  Provi- 
dence, Sisters  of  St.  Agnes,  Polish 
Franciscan  Sisters,  Ladies  of  the 

Sacred    Heart,    with     more     than  RT-  REV-  BISHOP  FOLEY>  Detroit,  mich. 

10,000  pupils,  and  a  Catholic  population  of  102,655 — the  annual  baptisms 
being  5,346.  He  resigned  the  see  in  1SS7  an^  was  succeeded  the  following 
year  by  Rt.  Rev.  John  S.  Foley,  the  present  able  and  zealous  shepherd. 

When,  for  a  second  time,  it  was  found  necessary  tc  divide  the  diocese  of 
Detroit,  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan,  bathed  by  the  waters  of  Lake 
Superior,  rich  in  mineral  wealth,  was  erected  into  a  vicariate-apostolic,  July 
29,  1853,  and  the  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga,  a  missionary  who  had  labored  on 
the  Michigan  mission  for  more  than  twenty  years,  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Amyzonia,  in  fiartibus,  and  appointed  vicar-apostolic  of  Upper  Michigan. 

The  vicariate  embraced  the  site  of  the  first  labors  of  Jogues  and  Raym- 
bault,  of  Menard  and  Marquette. 


^54  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Bishop  Flaget,  while  the  western  territory  was  under  his  control,  had  done 
all  in  his  power  to  revive  religion ;  and  Bishop  Fenwick  of  Cincinnati  was 
stricken  down  by  cholera  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  When  Detroit  received  a 
bishop  still  greater  efforts  were  made,  especially  for  the  Indians;  and  the 
Redemptorist  fathers  began  their  American  labors  in  this  field.  But  the  real 
life  of  the  Church  in  this  century  in  Upper  Michigan  begins  with  the  labors 
of  the  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga,  a  priest  of  Carniola,  who  came  to  this  country 
in  1S31  to  devote  himself  to  the  Indians.  He  set  out  from  Detroit  with 
Bishop  Fenwick,  and  fixed  his  mission  center  at  Arbre  Croche.  Studying 
their  language  until  he  became  an  authority  in  it,  he  revived  religion  among 
the  Ottawas,  printing  catechisms,  prayer  and  hymn  books,  in  their  own 
tongue.  In  1835  he  raised  anew  the  cross  of  Father  Allouez  at  Lapointe; 
and,  in  a  short  time,  reared  a  conspicuous  chapel.  Aided  by  the  Leopoldine 
Society  he  advanced  to  Fond  du  Lac.  In  1843  he  left  Lapointe  to  the  Rev. 
Otto  Skolla,  and  began  a  new  mission  at  the  Ance,  and  in  a  few  years  all  the 
Indians  were  converted. 

Soon  after  his  settlement  at  the  Ance  the  opening  of  the  copper  mines 
drew  emigrants,  many  of  whom  were  Catholics.  To  provide  for  these,  as 
well  as  the  Indians,  Canadians,  and  half-breeds,  was  beyond  the  powers  of  a 
simple  missionary.  The  council  of  Baltimore,  in  1S52,  requested  the  pope 
to  erect  Upper  Michigan  into  a  vicariate-apostolic;  the  reasons  given  were 
so  convincing  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Baraga  was  appointed,  and  consecrated 
November  1st,  1853.  The  district  assigned  to  him  contained  St.  Mary's  at 
the  Sault,  directed  by  the  Jesuit  fathers;  St.  Ann's  at  Mackinaw;  and  St. 
Ignatius  at  Point  St.  Ignace;  St.  Leopold's  at  Beaver  Island;  and  St. 
Joseph's  at  Manistee.  The  bishop,  who  shrank  from  no  hardship,  traversed 
his  diocese,  seeking  to  gather  all  his  flock.  When,  on  the  9th  of  January, 
1857,  he  was  made  bishop  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie's,  he  had  established  an 
Ursuline  convent  at  the  Sault,  churches  at  Marquette,  Eagle  Harbor,  Onton- 
agon Village,  Minnesota  and  Norwich  mines,  priests  visiting  from  these 
centers  the  scattered  Catholics  in  the  copper  district.  Societies  revived  the 
fervor  of  the  people,  and  schools  insured  the  proper  training  of  the  young. 
His  laborious  mission  life  continued,  with  hardships  and  a  denial  of  all  com- 
forts. In  the  winter  of  1861  his  health  was  materially  injured  by  a  journey 
in  snow-shoes  and  open  sleighs  to  reach  a  point  from  which  he  could  set  out 
to  attend  a  provincial  council.  The  see  was  removed  to  Marquette  in  1865, 
but  the  old  title  was  retained,  though  the  little  city  that  bore  the  name  of  the 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  38^ 

holy  founder  of   the  Mackinaw   mission   and  discoverer   of  the   Mississippi, 
became  his  residence. 

While  attending  the  plenary  council  of  Baltimore,  in  1866,  he  was 
stricken  down  with  apoplexy  on  the  steps  of  Archbishop  Spalding's  resi- 
dence. He  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  able  to  reach  his  own  humble  home 
where  he  died,  January  6,  1868,  after  having,  in  the  previous  year,  resigned 
his  bishopric. 

The  diocese,  including  part  of  Southern  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  placed 
under  his  jurisdiction,  then  contained  thirty-two  churches  and  sixteen  priests, 
with  convent  schools  at  Marquette,  Hancock,  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  L'Ance. 
The  number  of  the  faithful  had  increased  to  twenty  thousand. 

The  Very  Rev.  Edward  Jacker  became  the  administrator  of  the  diocese 
of  Marquette  proper  till  the  Rt.  Rev.  Ignatius  Mrak,  who  had  for  many 
years  labored  in  the  missions,  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Marquette,  February 
7,  1869.  In  the  diocese  he  had  twenty-four  churches,  and  twelve  priests; 
but,  from  the  depression  in  the  mining  business,  the  Catholic  population  fell 
off  rather  than  gained,  and,  down  to  1878,  it  did  not  exceed  twenty  thousand. 
Yet  the  bishop,  by  zealous  and  unremitting  effort,  erected  three  needed 
churches,  and  obtained  the  services  of  several  more  priests.  The  Catholic 
body,  however,  were  unable  to  give  the  necessary  patronage  to  the  higher 
academies.  The  Ursulines  retired  from  Marquette,  where  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Joseph  resumed  their  labors,  but  closed  their  school  at  L'Ance.  The  Sisters 
of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary,  however,  opened  an  academy  and  school 
at  Sault  St.  Mary's,  as  the  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes  did  at  Menomonee. 

In  1877  the  bishop  visited  Point  St.  Ignace,  where  the  Rev.  Edward 
Jacker  had  just  made  a  most  consoling  discovery.  The  ruins  of  the  old 
chapel  of  Father  Marquette,  which  had  long  been  lost  sight  of,  were  dis- 
covered; and  investigation  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  vault  where  his 
remains  had  been  deposited.  They  had  evidently  been  rifled  by  some  Indian 
medicine-man,  as  fragments  of  the  bark  box,  and  a  few  bones  of  the  holv 
explorer  alone  remained. 

Ill  health,  about  this  time,  made  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Mrak  anxious  to 
retire,  and,  in  the  summer  of  1878,  he  resigned  the  see,  and  his  holiness, 
Pope  Leo  XIII,  accepting  his  reasons,  the  Very  Rev.  Edward  Jacker  became 
again  administrator  of  the  diocese.  In  the  following  year  the  present  illus- 
trious bishop,  Rt.  Rev.  John  Vertin,  was  consecrated  to  the  see  of  Marquette 

and  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 
26 


s86  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

In  1844  the  Holy  See  made  the  adjoining  territory  of  Wisconsin  a  dio- 
cese, fixing  the  see  at  Milwaukee.  The  Very  Rev.  John  Martin  Henni, 
vicar-general  of  Cincinnati,  was  appointed  first  bishop,  and  consecrated  on 
the  19th  of  March,  1844  He  was  born  in  Germany,  June  16,  1805,  and 
arrived  in  this  country  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  after  having  pursued  his 
studies  at  St.  Gall  and  Luzerne.  He  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Fen- 
wick,  and  had  exercised  the  ministry  at  Cincinnati  and  Canton.  His  energy 
had  been  shown  in  establishing  the  "  Warheits  Freund,"  a  German  Catholic 
newspaper,  and  in  founding  the  St.  Aloysius'  Asylum. 

When  he  reached  Milwaukee,  May  3,  1844,  St.  Peter's  Church,  a  small 
wooden  structure  on  Martin  street  near  Jackson,  was  the  only  house  of 
worship  for  the  two  thousand  Catholics  in  the  village  and  its  neighborhood. 
vSt.  Gabriel's,  a  stone  church,  had  been  begun  at  Prairie  du  Chien ;  all  the 
other  churches  in  the  diocese  were  mere  block-houses;  and  for  the  faithful, 
estimated  at  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand,  he  had  five  priests.  He  at  once 
made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  work  before 
him,  began  academies  at  Milwaukee,  and  prepared  to  meet  the  immense 
wants.  The  next  year  he  opened  St.  Francis  de  Sales'  Theological  Semi- 
nary, under  the  direction  of  the  learned  Rev.  Michael  Heiss;  the  Dominican 
Father  Mazzuchelli  began  a  convent  of  his  order  at  Sinsinawa  Mound;  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  opened  an  academy  at  Potosi,  where 
the  Rev.  James  Causse  ministered  in  a  log  church;  the  Indian  missions  were 
developed;  and  the  diocese,  when  but  two  years  old, could  show  twenty-three 
churches  built,  eleven  building,  and  eighteen  priests. 

The  next  year  Milwaukee  could  boast  a  second  church,  St.  Mary's ;  the 
Premonstratensian  Father  Inama  prepared  to  establish  a  regular  convent  of 
his  order  in  Dane  County;  the  Sisters  of  Charity  from  Emmitsburg  founded 
an  academy,  and  having,  in  the  fall  of  1847,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  an  hos- 
pital, opened  it  in  1848. 

The  great  increase  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  prospect  of  a  glorious  future 
for  religion  in  the  state,  induced  the  bishop  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  a  new 
cathedral  in  honor  of  St.  John — a  fine  edifice  of  brick,  trimmed  with  stone; 
but  he  suspended  the  work  to  establish  an  orphan  asylum  under  the  care  of 
the  Sisters  of  Charity.  The  Dominicans  opened  a  college  at  Sinsinawa, 
which  the  legislature  chartered  March  11,  1848.  A  cemetery  was  laid  out 
near  Milwaukee,  and  a  chapel  erected  for  funeral  services. 

The  diocese  soon  received  a  most  important  accession  in  a  colony  of   the 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  387 

School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  an  institute  founded  in  France  by  the  blessed 
Peter  Fourrier,  and  introduced  into  the  United  States  from  Bavaria,  in  1847. 
This  community,  from  its  special  training,  gave  excellent  teachers,  and  spread 
rapidly ;  Brothers  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  and  sisters  of  the  same 
rule  settled  at  Nojoshing;  Sisters  of  St.  Bridget  at  Kenosha;  Dominican  nuns 
at  Benton;  in  1850,  Canons  of  the  Holy  Cross  founded  a  house  of  their 
ancient  rule  in  Brown  County. 

The  Catholic  Menomonees  suffered  by  removal  from  the  Oconto  River 
to  the  Wolf,  and  finally  from  the  state,  and  the  Chippewa  missions  were 
injured  in  the  same  way. 

Rapid  as  the  growth  of  the  Church  has  been  in  this  country,  there  is 
scarcely  a  parallel  to  that  in  Wisconsin.  At  the  end  of  the  first  decade  of 
his  administration,  Bishop  Henni  found  under  his  pastoral  care  a  flock  of  a 
hundred  thousand  souls;  and  so  well  had  his  energy  kept  pace  with  the  influx 
and  growth,  that  he  had  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  churches  and  chapels, 
thirty-three  churches  building,  and  seventy-three  priests  on  the  mission. 

The  Capuchin  Order,  a  branch  of  the  great  Franciscan  family  who  had 
done  missionary  service  in  earlier  days  in  Maine  and  Louisiana,  was  also 
established  in  the  diocese  by  the  Rev.  Bonaventure  Frey  and  the  Rev.  F. 
Haas.  It  not  only  rendered  great  service  in  Wisconsin,  where,  about  1864, 
they  established  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  of  St.  Lawrence  of  Brundusium, 
but  sent  fathers  eastward  as  far  as  New  York,  full  of  zeal  and  energy.  The 
fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  also  revived  their  old  mission  in   1857. 

As  soon  as  the  pressing  want  of  churches  and  stations  was  met,  all 
energy  was  turned  to  the  maintenance  of  Catholic  schools. 

By  the  year  1868,  before  Bishop  Henni  celebrated  his  Silver  Jubilee,  the 
faithful  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin  numbered  three  hundred  thousand,  who 
could  meet  to  take  part  in  the  awful  Sacrifice  offered  on  the  altars  by  a  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  priests.  Pius  IX,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1S6S,  erected 
the  diocese  of  Green  Bay,  embracing  the  state  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Wisconsin,  and  north  of  the  Fox  and  Manitowoc  rivers.  The  Rt.  Rev. 
Joseph  Melcher,  D.  D.,  was  consecrated  the  first  bishop.  The  district  north 
and  west  of  the  Wisconsin  River  became  the  diocese  of  La  Crosse,  of  which 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Heiss  was  consecrated  bishop,  September  6,  1868. 
Even  as  thus  reduced  the  diocese  of  Milwaukee  had  two  hundred  and  forty- 
three  churches  and  chapels,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  priests. 

Hitherto  the  diocese  of  Milwaukee,  and  those  formed  from  it,  constituted 


^g8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

part  of  the  ecclesiastical  province  of  St.  Louis,  but,  in  1875  the  venerable 
pontiff  Pope  Pius  IX  made  Milwaukee  an  archiepiscopal  see,  the  suffragans 
being  the  bishops  of  Green  Bay  and  La  Crosse  in  Wisconsin,  Marquette  in 
Upper  Michigan,  and  St.  Paul  in  Minnesota,  and  the  vicariate-apostolic  of 
Northern  Minnesota  naturally  connects  itself  with  the  province. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  1880,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Heiss  was  made  coad- 
jutor, and  relieved  Archbishop  Henni  of  much  of  the  care  of  the  adminis- 
tration. The  aged  archbishop  soon 
became  too  weak  to  perform  any 
official  act,  though  he  retained  all 
his  faculties.  He  died  on  the  7th 
of  September,  1881,  having  received 
the  sacraments  in  full  possession  of 
his  senses,  and  Dr.  Heiss  became 
second  archbishop  of  the  see. 

As  theologian  Dr.  Heiss  took 
an  active  part  in  the  councils  of  St. 
Louis  and  the  Second  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore.  He  attended 
the  Vatican  Council  in  1869-70,  and 
was  appointed  by  Pope  Pius  IX  a 
member  of  one  of  the  four  great 
commissions,  each  being  composed 
of  twelve  bishops  representing  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

The  pallium  was  conferred  on 
Archbishop  Heiss,  in  his  Cathedral, 
on  the  23d  of  April,  1883.  He  attended  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Balti- 
more in  November,  1884. 

He  died  at  St.  Francis'  Hospital,  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  on  the  26th  day  of 
May,  1890,  after  a  long  and  active  life  devoted  to  the  Church.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rt.  Rev.  F.  X.  Katzer,  D.  D.,  previously  of  Green  Bay. 

When  the  tide  of  emigration,  filling  up  the  territory  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  began  to  ctoss  it  in  the  northwest,  there  were  priests  ever  in 
advance  to  minister  to  the  Catholics.  Dubuque  was  begun  in  1S33.  The 
Catholics  there  were  visited,  in  1834,  by  the  Rev.  James  McMahon,  and,  in 
1835,  by  the  Rev.  P.  Fitzmaurice.     The  white  robe  of  St.  Dominic  has  the 


MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP    F.    X.    KATZER, 
MILWAUKEE,    WIS. 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  389 

glory  of  establishing  the  first  churches  in  the  state.  In  1836,  Father  Samuel 
Mazzuchelli,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  commenced  the  erection  of  St. 
Raphael's  Church,  acting  as  missionary,  architect,  and  collector,  giving  all 
his  own  means,  and  rejoicing  when,  in  September,  he  had  it  covered  in  and 
ready  for  divine  service  ;  the  cost,  when  complete — some  five  thousand  dol- 
lars— being  all  contributed  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 

When  the  Catholic,  Anthony  Leclaire,  founded  Davenport  in  1836,  the 
same  missionary,  aided  by  him,  in  April  of  the  following  year,  laid  the  corner- 
stone of  St.  Anthony's  Church,  a  modest  structure,  twenty-five  feet  by  forty, 
built  of  the  first  bricks  made  in  the  place. 

The  evidently  rapid  increase  of  the  Catholic  body  made  it  more  than  the 
few  priests  at  the  command  of  the  bishop  of  St.  Louis  could  attend,  and,  in 
the  council  of  Baltimore,  May,  1837,  he  proposed  the  erection  of  a  new  see 
at  Dubuque.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Matthew  Loras,  a  native  of  Lyons,  who  had 
labored  for  years  in  the  diocese  of  Mobile,  was  consecrated  bishop,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1837,  ano->  appointing  Father  Mazzuchelli  as  his  vicar-general,  went 
to  Europe  to  obtain  aid.  Thus,  in  four  years  from  the  erection  of  the  first 
log  hut  in  Iowa,  it  had  two  churches  and  a  bishop. 

Bishop  Loras  took  possession  of  his  Cathedral  April  21,  1839,  attended 
by  Father  Mazzuchelli,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Pelamourgues  and  Cretin,  who 
had  accompanied  him  from  France.  Under  the  impulse  given  by  the  bishop, 
churches  soon  rose  at  Burlington,  Makoqueta,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Fort  Madi- 
son, Iowa  City,  and  Bloomington;  academies  were  opened  ;  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  founded  in  Philadelphia,  removed  to  Dubuque, 
where  a  mother-house  soon  sent  out  colonies  in  all  directions.  In  1851  the 
Brothers  of  Christian  Instruction  established  a  house  at  Dubuque. 

With  great  foresight  the  bishop  secured  lands  in  various  parts  for  the 
needed  Catholic  institutions. 

Keokuk  soon  had  a  church  and  a  convent  of  Visitation  nuns;  and,  in 
1849,  Bishop  Loras  gave  several  hundred  acres  of  land  to  a  community  of 
Trappist  monks  who  were  seeking  a  spot  to  labor  and  pray.  A  new  Mel- 
leray  arose,  with  a  church  for  the  neighboring  Catholics,  and,  ere  long,  a 
free  school. 

The  growth  of  his  flock  made  the  life  of  Bishop  Loras  one  of  active 
zeal.  When  the  condition  of  affairs  justified  the  step  he  began  the  erection 
of  a  new  cathedral,  Dubuque  having  already  a  second  church.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  November  14,  1848,  and  he  lived  to  complete  and  dedicate  it. 


39o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

In  1856,  his  failing  health  warned  him  to  seek  a  coadjutor,  and  the  Very 
Rev.  Clement  Smyth,  founder  and  prior  of  the  Trappist  Monastery,  was 
appointed  by  the  Holy  See,  and  consecrated  May  3,  1857,  bishop  of  Thanasis, 
in  partibus  infidelium.  The  venerable  bishop  died  of  paralysis,  February 
»8,  1858,  mourned  by  his  flock  of  fifty-five  thousand  Catholics,  a  hundred 
md  seven  priests  in  his  diocese  offering  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice. 

Bishop  Smyth,  called  from  the  seclusion  of  the  strictest  Cistercian  rule, 
labored  earnestly  to  carry  on  the  good  work.  His  sole  aim  was  to  give  all 
his  flock  pastors  and  churches,  however  humble,  where  they  could  hear  Mass 
and  approach  the  sacraments.  He  was  zealous  in  his  endeavors  to  relieve  the 
poor,  give  shelter  to  the  orphan,  and  provide  schools  for  the  young.  When 
he  died  piously,  on  the  33d  of  September,  1865,  he  left  seventy-nine  churches, 
five  built  within  a  year,  and  twelve  more  in  progress.  Including  the  fathers 
at  his  old  home,  now  become  the  abbey  of  Our  Lady  of  La  Trappe,  with 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Ephraim  McDonnel  as  abbot,  there  were  fifty-eight  priests  in 
the  diocese  ;  there  were  fourteen  communities  of  religious  women,  and  a 
parochial  school  at  almost  every  point  where  there  was  a  resident  pastor. 

The  Rev.  John  Hennessy,  who  had  evinced  great  merit  as  a  priest  of 
the  diocese  of  St.  Louis,  was  appointed  to  succeed  Bishop  Smyth,  and  wa^ 
consecrated  September  30,  1866.  A  few  years  later  the  venerable  priest, 
Very  Rev.  Terence  James  Donohoe,  founder  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of 
the  Ble'ssed  Vh'gin,  and  for  several  years  vicar-general  of  the  diocese  of 
Dubuque,  died  January  5,  1869,  in  his  seventy-fifth  year.  The  mother  house, 
established  at  Dubuque  in  1833,  had  given  rise  to  two  other  houses  in 
Dubuque,  and  to  convents  in  Davenport,  Iowa  City,  Des  Moines,  and  Mus- 
catine, all  directing  well-attended  academies  and  schools. 

John  Hennessy  was  born  in  Ireland,  but  made  this  country  his  home, 
with  the  high  ambition  of  laboring  to  keep  fresh  in  all  hearts  the  faith  of  his 
ancestors.  He  began  his  labors  as  a  missionary  priest  in  the  diocese  of  St. 
Louis  in  1850,  as  a  pastor  of  the  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  at  New  Madrid, 
Mo.,  and  for  a  few  years  subsequently  of  St.  Peter's  at  Gravois,  in  St.  Louis 
County.  While  still  retaining  this  charge  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hennessy  was 
appointed  professor  of  dogmatic  theology  and  Holy  Scripture  in  the  theologi- 
cal seminary  at  Carondelet,  and  in  .1857  became  superior  of  that  institution, 
his  learning  and  experience  fitting  him  for  the  position.  He  was  subsequently 
attached  to  the  Cathedral,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  was  pastor 
of  St.  Joseph's    Church  in  the  now  episcopal   city  of    St.  Joseph.     Having 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  3^ 

been  elected  bishop  of  Dubuque  on  the  24th  of  April,  1866,  he  was  conse- 
crated on  the  30th  of  September  in  that  year.  The  important  diocese  confided 
to  Bishop  Hennessy  conprised  the  whole  state  of  Iowa,  with  a  rapidly  grow- 
ing Catholic  population  which  already  exceeded  a  hundred  thousand  souls, 
with  about  sixty  priests  and  seventy-nine  churches. 

Early  in  his  administration  Bishop  Hennessy  founded  the  Mercy  Hospi- 
tal at  Davenport  on  property  secured  by  Rev.  Mr.  Pelamourgues.  He 
endeavored  to  establish  a  college,  but  it  was  not  till  1873  that  St.  Joseph's 
College  was  opened.     It  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

The  same  year  the  fathers  of  the  ancient  order  of  St.  Benedict,  with 
Father  Augustine  Burns  as  superior,  founded  St.  Malachy's  Priory  at  Cres- 
ton,  in  Union  County,  the  first  English-speaking  community  of  Benedictines 
in  the  United  States. 

In  1SS1  the  diocese,  which  had  increased  greatly,  was  divided,  and  a  new 
see  established  at  Davenport.  The  diocese  of  Dubuque  thus  reduced  com- 
prised the  portion  of  the  state  of  Iowa  lying  north  of  the  counties  of  Harrison, 
Shelby,  Audubon,  Guthrie,  Dallas,  Polk,  Jasper,  Peweshiek,  Iowa,  Johnson, 
Cedar,  and  Scott.  By  1S84  the  episcopal  city  of  Dubuque  had  a  fine  cathe- 
dral, dedicated  to  St.  Raphael,  and  twenty-six  other  churches;  the  Mercy 
Hospital  and  Marine  Hospital,  both  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy; 
an  asylum  for  orphans  of  German  parentage;  St.  Joseph's  College;  convents 
of  Visitation  and  Presentation  nuns  and  of  Franciscan  sisters,  with  several 
academies  and  parochial  schools.  The  total  number  of  priests  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  the  churches  nearly  equaling  that  number,  giving  the  sixty 
thousand  Catholics  of  the  diocese  every  advantage  for  hearing  Mass  and 
approaching  the  sacraments;  while  the  care  of  the  growing  youth,  on  whose 
fidelity  to  the  faith  so  much  depended,  was  evinced  by  the  fact  that  more 
than  seven  thousand  six  hundred  attended  Catholic  schools.  Bishop  Hen- 
nessy was  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  in 
1S84,  and,  in  1891,  happily  celebrated  the  Silver  Jubilee  of  his  episcopate. 

The  first  edifice  reared  by  whites  in  Minnesota  was  the  log  trading- 
house  erected  at  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  River  by  the  brave  Catholic  pioneer, 
Daniel  du  Luht,  soon  after  he  took  possession  of  the  country  for  France,  in 
July,  1679.  The  next  year  the  Recollect  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  carried  up 
a  prisoner  by  the  Sioux,  saw  and  named  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  Some 
years  after,  in  1689,  when  possession  was  again  formally  taken,  the  Jesuit 
Father  Marest  accompanied  the  French,  and,  doubtless,  said  Mass  in  Fort  Bon 


392  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Secours,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Pepin.  Father  Guignas,  a  subsequent  mis- 
sionary, who  labored  to  convert  the  Sioux,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Kicka- 
poos,  and  underwent  a  long  captivity.  No  successful  settlement  was  made 
during  the  French  rule,  nor  for  years  after  its  transfer  to  the  United  States. 
Among  the  first  settlers  lower  down,  were  Canadian  Catholics,  like  J.  B. 
Faribault.  Gradually  Catholics  made  their  homes  in  various  parts,  but  were 
without  religious  guidance  till  Bishop  Loras  and  Rev.  Mr.  Pelamourgues,  in 
1839,  visited  Fort  Snelling  and  Mendota  or  St.  Peter's.  At  the  latter  place 
he  found  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  Catholics;  it  was  the  first  visit  of  a 
priest  to  their  settlement,  and,  in  spite  of  long  neglect,  they  showed  an 
earnest  desire  to  approach  the  sacraments — baptisms,  marriages,  confirmations 
followed.  Arrangements  were  made  for  the  erection  of  a  church,  and  the 
next  year  the  bishop  sent  the  Rev.  Lucian  Galtier.  He  began  his  labors  at  a 
log  house  at  Mendota  given  by  Faribault.  Two  good  settlers,  Gervais  and 
Guerin,  gave  ground  on  the  opposite  side  for  a  church,  which  was  erected  in 
1841,  of  logs,  and  dedicated  in  October  to  St.  Paul  the  Apostle;  it  was  poor 
indeed,  but  became  the  nucleus  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul.  This  pioneer  priest 
was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Augustine  Ravoux,  who  visited  many  stations, 
giving  instructions  in  English,  French  and  Dakota.  Somewhat  later  the 
Rev.  George  A.  Bellecourt  founded,  at  Pembina,  near  the  British  line,  the 
church  of  the  Assumption,  for  the  Catholic  half-breeds  from  Red  River  who 
had  again  gathered  there. 

The  Seventh  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1849,  recommended  the  erection 
of  an  episcopal  see  in  Minnesota.  The  holy  father  established  the  see  of 
St.  Paul,  and  in  1850  appointed  the  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Cretin  as  first  bishop. 
He  had  been  an  energetic  missionary  in  the  neighboring  diocese,  and  gave 
an  impulse  to  the  spread  of  Catholicity.  He  was  consecrated  in  France, 
January  26,  1857,  and  in  July  took  possession  of  his  diocese.  The  original 
log  church  and  log  house  were  soon  relinquished  for  a  large  building  of 
brick  and  stone,  eighty-four  feet  by  forty-four,  erected  by  the  bishop  in  less 
than  five  months  after  his  arrival.  This  served  for  a  church,  school,  and  resi. 
dence.  There  were  three  priests  in  his  diocese,  and  he  brought  several  from 
France.  In  1856,  Bishop  Timon  of  Buffalo  laid  the  corner-stone  of  a 
cathedral,  commenced  in  1854  and  completed  in  1857;  and  priests  were 
stationed  not  only  at  St.  Peter  and  Pembina,  but  also  at  the  Falls  of 
St.  Anthony,  Little  Canada,  Long  Prairie,  and  among  the  Chippewas.  A 
6chool  and  even  a  theological  seminary  were  at  once  commenced.     Emigration 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.  393 

soon  increased  the  Catholic  body  so  that  churches  and  schools  were  called 
for  in  all  parts;  but,  almost  from  the  origin,  the  unjust  and  un-Christian 
state  system  of  schools  was  introduced,  and  Catholics  found  themselves  taxed 
for  schools  where  open  war  was  made  on  their  faith,  and  every  effort  made 
to  root  it  out  of  the  hearts  of  their  children.  Bishop  Cretin  appealed  in  vain 
to  the  legislature;  but  the  wretched  bigot,  Neill,  who  wrote  the  history  of 
Minnesota,  exults  in  the  defeat  of  his  just  claims,  and  only  in  this  instance 
mentions  the  existence  of  the  Church  in  his  work. 

In  1853,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  came  to  aid  in  the  cause  of  education, 
and  soon  had  flourishing  academies  and  schools;  and  an  hospital  erected  by 
the  bishop  on  Exchange  street.  The  Winnebagoes  who  had  received 
Bishop  Cretin's  care  before  their  removal,  were  again  cheered  by  the 
presence  of  a  priest.  Brothers  of  the  Holy  Family,  at  St.  Paul,  and  Sisters 
of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  at  Pembina,  were  the  next  addition  to  his 
educational  force.  A  most  important  accession  to  the  diocese  was  that  of  the 
Benedictines  who,  in  1856,  founded  a  house  of  their  ancient  order  at 
St.  Cloud.  The  priests  of  this  venerable  rule,  as  full  of  zeal  as  when  they 
evangelized  Germany  a  thousand  years  ago,  ministered  to  the  Catholics  far 
and  wide,  establishing  schools  for  both  sexes,  nuns  of  the  same  order  coming 
to  instruct  the  daughters  of  the  pioneers.  But  religious  orders  and  accession 
of  priests  could  not  keep  pace  with  emigration. 

Bishop  Cretin  was  struck  down  with  apoplexy  in  the  midst  of  his  labors 
February  22,  1857.  He  was  a  native  of  Lyons,  where  he  was  born  in  1800. 
He  came  over  with  Bishop  Loras,  and  succeeded  Rev.  Mr.  Petiot  among  the 
Winnebagoes,  building  a  church  and  school;  but  our  anti-Catholic  govern- 
ment suppressed  the  school,  and,  in  1848,  expelled  him  from  the  mission. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  there  were  about  twenty  churches,  attended  by 
nearly  as  many  clergymen,  seven  academies,  an  hospital,  and  many  free  schools. 

The  Very  Rev.  Augustine  Ravoux,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  faith  in 
Minnesota,  became  administrator,  and  directed  the  diocese  with  ability  till  the 
arrival  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  L.  Grace,  a  native  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  and  a  friar  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  who  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  St.  Paul,  July  24,  1859.  ^s  a  Priest  and  vicar-general  of  the  diocese  of 
Nashville,  he  had  evinced  qualities  which  led  to  his  appointment  by  the  Holy 
See.  At  the  close  of  that  year  he  could  report  thirty-one  churches  and 
chapels  built,  and  seventeen  in  progress.  Twenty-seven  clergymen  minis- 
tered to  these  and  attended  nearly  a  hundred  stations.     A  Protestant  writer 


39^  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  St.  Paul  says  of  him :  "  He  has  had  great  success  in  his  zealous  labors  in 
this  city  and  state,  increasing  the  Church  greatly,  procuring  large  additions 
to  the  clergy,  opening  schools,  establishing  charitable  institutions,  and  multi- 
plying churches.  He  is  warmly  beloved  by  his  large  flock,  and  respected 
by  other  sects  for  his  learning,  piety,  amiable  character,  and  benevolence." 

There  was,  indeed,  steady  progress;  in  1865,  the  diocese  numbered 
thirty-seven  priests  and  sixty-three  churches;  in  1875,  eighty-eight  priests  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  churches,  an  addition  of  more  than  one  hundred 
churches  in  a  decade.  Under  Bishop  Grace  the  Oblates  of  Mary  Immaculate 
took  charge  of  the  Pembina  mission,  and  spread  to  other  parts  of  the  diocese; 
in  1865  the  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Dominic  opened  Bethlehem 
convent  and  academy  at  Faribault;  and  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 
established  themselves  at  Mankato;  the  Benedictines  opened  St.  John's  Col- 
lege about  1867;  the  next  year  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  founded  a 
convent  and  reformatory  in  St.  Paul.  In  1872,  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools  undertook  the  direction  of  schools  for  boys  at  St.  Paul;  and  Sisters 
of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis  began  their  labors  at  Belle  Prairie.  The 
next  year  the  Daughters  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  the  Visitation  nuns,  founded 
a  monastery  in  St.  Paul ;  soon  after  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
were  established  at  New  Ulm  and  St.  Anthony ;  and  Sisters  of  Charity,  of 
Madame  d'Youville's  rule,  planted  at  Fort  Totten  the  first  conventual  estab- 
lishment in  Dakota  Territory. 

Meanwhile  the  modest  Benedictine  Priory  of  St.  Cloud  had  became  the 
abbey  of  St.  Louis  on  the  Lake,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Rupert  Seidenbush  being  the 
mitered  abbot. 

In  1875,  the  diocese,  embracing  the  state  of  Minnesota  and  Dakota  Ter- 
ritory, contained  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  churches,  attended  by  eighty- 
eight  priests,  and  the  Catholic  population  was  estimated  at  100,000;  the  bap- 
tisms in  Minnesota  being  about  5,500,  and  in  Dakota  200.  The  illustrious 
Pope  Pius  IX,  by  his  brief  of  February  12,  1875,  to  relieve  the  bishop  of  St. 
Paul,  formed  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota  into  a  vicariate-apostolic. 

In  that  same  year  the  bishop  obtained  a  coadjutor  in  the  person  of  the 
Rt.  Rev.  John  Ireland.  Dakota,  which  had  also  been  subject  to  Bishop 
Grace,  was  placed  under  the  care  of  a  vicar-apostolic  in  1879.  Five  years 
afterwards  the  diocese  of  St.  Paul,  thus  curtailed,  contained  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  priests  and  more  than  two  hundred  churches,  with  hospitals, 
asylums,  protectories,  academies,  and  schools.     Mere  statistics  give  little  idea 


THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST. 


395 


of  the  real  work  of  a  bishop  in  looking  after  the  neglected  Catholics,  exciting 
faith,  guiding  the  clergy,  stimulating  them  in  their  arduous  labors,  watching 
over  the  rising  generation.  In  July,  18S4,  Bishop  Grace  celebrated  the  Silver 
Jubilee  of  his  episcopate,  the  city  tendering  him  a  most  heartfelt  ovation. 
Then,  to  the  regret  of  all,  he  resigned  the  see  of  St.  Paul  and  became  titular 
bishop  of  Mennith. 

His  successor  as  bishop  of  St.  Paul,  Rt.  Rev.  John  Ireland,  was  born 
at  Burnchurch,  County  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  on  the  nth  of  September,  183S, 
and  came  with  his  parents  to  America  when  he  was  eleven  years  old.  After 
temporary  residence  at  Burlington, 
Vermont,  and  Chicago,  Illinois,  his 
father,  Richard  Ireland,  settled  in 
St.  Paul  and  became  a  builder. 
While  a  pupil  in  the  cathedral-school 
young  Ireland  attracted  the  attention 
of  Dr.  Cretin,  who  discerned  in  the 
talented  boy  a  vocation  to  the  priest- 
hood. He  was  sent  by  the  bishop 
to  Meximeux,  France,  where  he 
went  through  the  Preparatory  Semi- 
nary, and  entered  the  Grand  Semi- 
narv  at  Hyeres  for  his  theological 
course.  Returning  to  Minnesota  in 
1S61,    he  was  ordained  by   Bishop 

Grace    on    the    21st    of     December. 

* 

The  young  priest   was  soon  on  his 

way  to  the  front  as  chaplain  of  the 

Fifth  Minnesota   regiment,  and   for 

fifteen  months  he  served,  fearlessly  H 

confronting   all    dangers,    so     as    to     MOST  REV   JOHX  IRELANDi  ARChbishop  of 

excite   the  admiration  and  reverence  st.  paul,  minx. 

of    those   most   prejudiced    against    his    faith.      When    his    health    yielded  to 

the    constant    and  laborious  duty  on   the  field,    he   was  recalled  to   St.  Paul 

and   became  pastor  of  the  Cathedral.     Here  his   zeal,   activity,  and  energy 

made  him  a  marked  man.     The  building  up  of   the  state  by  immigration,  the 

study  of  its  early  history,  the  cause  of  temperance,  all  found   in  him  an  active 

advocate,  while  no  one  was   more  exact   and  devoted   in    his   priestly   duties 


,o6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

On  the  1 2th  of  February,  1875,  he  was  appointed  by  the  pope,  bishop  of 
Maronea  and  vicar-apostolic  of  Nebraska.  To  prevent  his  diocese  from 
losing  so  able  a  man,  Dr.  Grace  went  to  Rome  and  pleaded  so  successfully 
that  the  bishop-elect  was  made  his  coadjutor;  as  such  he  was  consecrated 
on  the  anniversary  of  his  ordination,  December  21,  1875.  His  work  as  an 
advocate  of  temperance  became  more  general.  He  entered  warmly  into 
projects  for  forming  Catholic  colonies  in  Minnesota,  engaging  capitalists  in 
the  East  in  the  good  work,  and  obtaining  most  consoling  results,  so  that 
some  districts  are  permanently  Catholic,  with  schools  under  Catholic  direc- 
tion. It  is  a  sign  of  the  general  appreciation  with  which  he  is  regarded  that 
he  has  been  for  several  years  president  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of 
Minnesota.  He  attended  the  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  in  1884,  and  on 
his  return  to  his  diocese  presided  in  New  York  at  a  meeting  to  organize  a 
Catholic  Historical  Society  for  the  United  States.  In  the  establishment  of 
the  Catholic  University  he  has  also  been  a  most  active  worker.  Soon  after 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  that  institution  in  Washington,  the 
sovereign  pontiff  erected  a  new  ecclesiastical  province,  with  St.  Paul  as  the 
metropolitan  see.  Dr.  Ireland  then  became  archbishop  of  St.  Paul  and 
received  the  pallium  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1888. 


<&Tmptcv  gg. 


ON  TH6  PfcMNS. 


Government  and  the  Indians. — The  Reservation  and  Agency  Plan.— Injustice 
to  Catholic  Tribes. — The  Mission  on  the  Kansas.— Natives  Surrender 
Their  Lands. — The  Loyal  Pott  aw  atomies. — Kansas  Rising  into  State- 
hood.—Churches,    Convents    and   Schools    Follow    Fast. Bishop   Fink's 

Pastoral  Zeal. — Two  More  Dioceses. — A  Prelate  Dies  Unconsecrated. 

Bishop  J.  J.  Hennessy.— Career  as  a   St.   Louis  Priest.— A  Zealous  and 
Holy  Shepherd. — Religion  in  Nebraska. — College  Founded  at  Omaha.^ 

In  the  Centennial  State. — Denver  Becomes  a  See.— Bishop  Machebosuf. 

Wyoming  Territory. — Pushing  into   Dakota. — A   See  at   Sioux  Falls. 

Bishop  Marty,  Father  of  the  Indians. 


,HE  Indians  of  this  continent  have  always  been  the  object  of  the  zeal 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Her  first  glories  in  our  history  are  her 
devoted  sons,  Cancer,  Segura,  White,  Altham,  Jogues,  Menard, 
Marquette,  Gravier,  Margil,  Poisson,  Souel,  men  who  gave  not 
only  talent  and  life,  but  life's  blood,  to  save  the  Indians.  The 
course  of  our  government,  unfortunately,  has  been  fatal  to  the 
red  man. 

One  of  the  projects  long  persisted  in  was  to  transfer  all  of  the  Indians  west 
of  the  Mississippi.  Under  this  the  Catholic  Miamis,  Winnebagoes,  Quapaws, 
the  Spanish  Indians  of  Florida,  Chippewas,  who  had  been  Catholics  for  a 
century,  were  huddled  together,  in  land  often  unsusceptible  of  culture  and 
cut  off  from  all  Catholic  guidance  and  direction.  The  system  was  covered 
up  with  pretexts  of  national  grounds  ;  but  when,  in  spite  of  government 
attempts,  it  was  found  that  the  majority  of  really  active  missionaries  among 
the  tribes  were  Catholic,  resort  was  had,  in  the  administration  of  General 
Grant,  to  divide  up  the  agencies  among  the  various  religious  denominations, 

397 


39S  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

few  being  assigned  to  Catholics  ;  and  many,  where  Indians  were  entirely 
Catholic,  being  assigned  to  Protestant  sects,  who  at  once,  with  government 
aid,  began  to  tamper  with  the  faith  of  the  Indians. 

As  tribe  after  tribe  was  taken  from  dioceses  and  carried  beyond  the  exist- 
ing jurisdictions,  the  Second  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1833,  asked  that  these 
tribes  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  the  Holy 
See,  in  the  following  year,  so  ordained.  Father  Van  Quickenborne  accord- 
ingly began  a  Kickapoo  mission  in  1836. 

The  Pottawatomies  of  St.  Joseph's  River,  Indiana,  among  whom  Badin, 
in  1830,  revived  the  old  missions,  and  was  succeeded  by  earnest  priests  like 
Deseille  and  Petit,  who  attended  them  till  the  tribe  was  carried  off,  in  1838, 
by  United  States  troops,  and  placed  at  Council  Bluffs. 

These  formed  a  second  mission,  and  a  third  of  the  same  nation  was 
formed  at  Sugar  Creek. 

The  Osages,  on  whom  a  Presbyterian  mission  had  been  forced,  had 
long  desired  priests,  especially  after  the  visits  of  Rev.  Mr.  De  la  Croix  and 
Father  Van  Quickenborne.  At  last,  in  1846,  Father  Shoenmakers,  S.  J., 
began  a  mission  among  them. 

The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  then  came  to  establish  schools  for  the 
Pottawatomies,  and  Sisters  of  Loretto  for  the  Kansas.  The  Rev.  Peter  J. 
De  Smet  was  made  the  procurator  of  the  missions  ;  and,  finding  the  Catho- 
lics of  the  United  States  generally  indifferent  to  them,  he  appealed  to 
Catholic  France  and  Belgium,  and,  for  many  years,  drew  from  Europe  the 
resources  that  enabled  the  apostolic  men  to  continue  their  work,  besides 
enlisting  zealous  priests,  and  procuring  church  plate,  vestments,  and  other 
necessaries  for  the  mission. 

These  missions  were  under  the  see  of  St.  Louis  until  1850,  when  the 
Holy  See  erected  the  vicariate-apostolic  of  the  Indian  Territory  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  The  Rev.  Father  John  B.  Miege  of  the  society  was  con- 
secrated bishop  and  vicar-apostolic. 

From  the  mission  on  the  Kansas,  St.  Joseph's  chapel  on  Shunganon 
Creek,  that  of  the  Seven  Dolors  on  Mission  Creek,  and  that  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  at  Soldier  Creek,  were  regularly  attended.  While  from  the  Osage 
mission  the  Peorias,  the  Miamis,  Quapaws,  the  Cherokees,  as  well  as  scattered 
bands  of  the  Osages,  received  visits  of  the  zealous  priests.  The  whole  Catho- 
lic population  was  estimated  at  over  five  thousand. 

But  the  Indian  lands  were  soon  purchased,  and  settlers  began  to  enter. 


ON  THE  PLAINS.  399 

The  future  state  of  Kansas  became  a  battle-ground  between  two  contending 
parties.  As  both  were  from  parts  of  the  country  where  Catholicity  had  least 
influence — the  fanatical  New-Englander  and  the  colonist  from  the  slave  states 
— the  early  population  did  not  give  a  large  proportion  of  Catholics.  Yet,  in 
1855,  the  bishop  had  erected  the  church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  at 
Leavenworth,  which  has  since  been  the  episcopal  residence.  Then  the  Bene- 
dictine fathers  from  St.  Vincent's  Abbey  in  Pennsylvania  founded  a  church 
at  Doniphan,  Lecompton  had  its  priest,  and  Indianola  its  chapel.  German 
and  Irish  settlements  soon  appeared  to  claim  pastoral  care;  and,  in  1858,  the 
Benedictines  were  erecting  a  German  church  at  Leavenworth  City,  their  priory 
being  removed  from  Doniphan  to  Atchison,  where,  in  time,  they  founded  a 
college. 

In  a  few  years  the  Sisters  of  Charity  were  directing  an  academy  at 
Leavenworth,  and  devoting  themselves  to  works  of  mercy. 

The  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  state  was  soon  followed  by  the  Civil  War, 
but  emigration  flowed  in.  In  1863  the  churches  had  increased  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-five  in  a  period  of  three  years.  The  next  year  the  Carmelite 
fathers  began  their  labors  among  the  Germans  of  Leavenworth  City,  and  a 
convent  of  Benedictine  nuns  appears  at  Atchison. 

In  time  the  Pottawatomies  were  admitted  to  citizenship,  and  many  took 
up  farms,  the  rest  of  their  lands  being  sold  to  settlers.  This  step,  which  was 
not  generally  adopted  by  the  Osages,  worked  badly.  The  missions  were  thus 
broken  up,  although  the  manual  labor  schools  were  maintained.  The  Indians 
who  preferred  to  maintain  tribal  relations  were  removed  to  Indian  Territory, 
and  many,  even  of  those  who  had  elected  to  become  citizens,  followed. 

In  1870,  the  Jesuit  fathers  began  a  college  at  St.  Mary's  mission,  and  a 
theological  seminary  was  added  to  the  institutions  of  the  vicariate.  Leaven- 
worth had  an  hospital  and  oi-phan  asylum,  and  there  were  fourteen  parochial 
schools  in  operation. 

Meanwhile,  the  Rt.  Rev.  bishop  sought  to  return  to  the  position  of  a 
missionary  in  his  order,  and  on  the  nth  of  June,  1871,  the  Benedictine  Dom 
Louis  M.  Fink,  who  had  been  appointed  his  coadjutor,  was  consecrated  bishop 
in  partibus.  Four  years  after,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Miege  resigned,  leaving 
the  state  which  he  and  the  fathers  of  his  order  had  found  a  wilderness,  with 
only  Indian  inhabitants,  a  thriving  member  of  the  Union,  with  a  Catholic 
population  of  forty  thousand,  fifty-nine  priests,  and  seventy-eight  churches 
and  chapels. 


4oo  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

On  the  22d  of  May,  1877,  the  Holy  See  erected  the  see  of  Leavenworth, 
and  Bishop  Fink  was  transferred  to  it.  Michael  Fink  was  born  in  Trifters- 
berg,  Bavaria,  on  the  12th  of  June,  1834,  and,  after  studying  in  the  Latin 
school  and  gymnasium  at  Ratisbon,  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of 
eighteen.  Called  to  a  religious  life  he  sought  admission  among  the  Benedic- 
tines of  St.  Vincent's  Abbey,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  received  by  the  founder,  Abbot  Wimmer,  and  made  his  profession  on  the 
6th  of  January,  1854,  taking  the  name  of  Louis  Maria.  After  completing  his 
theological  studies  he  was  ordained  priest  on  the  28th  of  May,  1857,  by 
Bishop  Young,  of  Erie.  The  first  missionary  labors  of  the  young  Benedic- 
tine were  at  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  and  Newark,  N.  J.  He  was  then  made  pastor 
of  a  congregation  in  Covington,  Ky.,  where  he  completed  a  fine  church.  He 
introduced  into  the  parish  Benedictine  nuns  to  direct  a  girls'  school,  which 
was  one  of  his  earliest  cares.  Appointed  to  St.  Joseph's,  Chicago,  he  aroused 
a  spirit  of  faith  in  his  flock  at  that  place  and  gathered  so  many  around  the 
altar  that  a  new  church  was  required,  which  he  erected  at  a  cost  of  eighty 
thousand  dollars,  planting  a  large  and  well-arranged  school-house  beside  it. 
As  prior  of  the  house  of  his  order  in  Atchison,  Kan.,  he  showed  the  same  zeal 
and  ability;  and  when  Bishop  Miege  wished  to  obtain  a  coadjutor  to  whom 
he  could  resign  his  charge,  that  prelate  solicited  the  appointment  of  the  prior 
of  St.  Benedict.  The  latter  was  consecrated  at  St.  Joseph's,  Chicago,  by 
Bishop  Foley  of  that  see. 

The  diocese  of  Leavenworth  is  a  large  and  important  one,  and  Bishop 
Fink  in  pastorals  and  otherwise  shows  his  zeal  for  Catholic  progress.  His 
diocese  is  well  provided  with  educational  establishments  for  its  80,000  Catho- 
lics. St.  Benedict's  College  is  connected  with  the  Benedictine  Abbey  at 
Atchison;  the  Jesuit  fathers  direct  St.  Mary's  College  at  St.  Mary's;  there 
are  besides  three  academies  and  forty-eight  parochial  schools,  with  4,000 
pupils,  under  Benedictine  and  Franciscan  Sisters,  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  and  of 
Charity,  and  of  St.  Agnes.  The  diocese  also  possesses  orphan  houses  and 
hospitals  under  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  The  Catholic  popula- 
tion   is   about  60,000. 

The  diocese  of  Leavenworth  had  increased  so  much  in  population  that  in 
1887  the  sovereign  pontiff,  Leo  XIII,  erected  two  new  episcopal  sees  in  the 
state  of  Kansas,  that  of  Concordia  in  the  northwest,  and  Wichita  in  the  south. 

The  choice  for  the  first  bishop  of  the  new  see  fell  on  the  Rev.  James 
O'Reilley,  an  active  and  energetic  priest.     He  was  born  not  far  from  Cavan, 


ON  THE  PLAINS.  .Ql 

Ireland,  where  his  parents  were  substantial  farmers.  Coming  in  boyhood  to 
the  United  States,  he  evinced  a  vocation  to  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and,  perse- 
vering, pursued  his  course  of  theology  in  the  Salesianum  at  Milwaukee.  He 
was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Fink,  of  Leavenworth,  in  1874,  and  stationed 
at  Irish  Creek.  The  bishop,  however,  soon  called  him  to  Leavenworth,  mak- 
ing him  assistant  at  the  Cathedral,  and  confiding  to  him  the  charge  of  Fort 
Leavenworth  and  Kickapoo.  Never  sparing  himself,  the  Rev.  Mr.  O'Reilley 
labored  with  so  much  zeal  and  earnestness  that  his  health  failed,  and  he  went 
to  Europe  in  1S81,  visiting  the  Eternal  City.  Returning  to  the  diocese,  he 
took  charge  of  the  church  of  the  Assumption  at  Topeka,  in  March,  1S82. 
Here  he  went  to  work  with  his  wonted  energy,  acquired  property  for 
two  new  churches,  of  which  he  saw  the  necessity,  and  built  a  parochial 
residence. 

On  the  erection  of  the  see  of  Wichita  he  was  appointed  the  first  bishop 
on  the  6th  of  July,  1887,  but  before  the  bulls  for  his  consecration  arrived  his 
health  again  gave  way,  and  he  expired  on  the  26th  day  in  the  same  month  in 
which  he  was  appointed.  On  the  demise  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  O'Rielley 
unconsecrated,  it  became  necessary  to  appoint  an  administrator  till  a  bishop  was 
elected.  The  organization  of  the  new  diocese  thus  devolved  on  Very  Rev. 
M.J.  Casey,  who  was  made  administrator  on  the  15th  of  October. 

In  the  summer  of  1888  his  holiness,  Leo  XIII,  elected  to  the  see  of 
Wichita  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Hennessy,  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Louis.  He 
was  born  in  Ireland,  but  came  to  this  country  with  his  parents  at  the  a«-e  of 
two  years  and  lost  his  father  in  early  life.  He  was  educated  in  the  college 
of  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  St.  Louis,  and,  after  commencin°- 
his  classical  studies  there,  proceeded  to  Cape  Girardeau,  where  he  completed 
his  course  of  philosophy  and  theology.  He  was  ordained  at  St.  John's  Church, 
St.  Louis.  He  soon  after  became  pastor  of  the  church  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  at  Iron  Mountain,  where  he  remained  until  1880,  when  he 
returned  to  St.  Louis  and  became  pastor  of  the  Cathedral,  a  position  which 
he  retained  till  his  elevation  to  the  episcopate.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
schools,  and  was  especially  instrumental  in  establishing  the  Reform  School 
at  Glencoe,  editing  a  little  journal  called  "The  Homeless  Boy."  The  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  brother-priests  was  seen  in  his  choice  as  treasurer 
of  the  Clerical  Mutual  Aid  Society,  and  his  appointment  as  secretary  of  the 
St.  Louis  Orphans'  Board.  Dr.  Hennessy  is  a  man  of  great  and  varied  learn- 
ing, an  able  writer,  and  well  fitted  by  his  piety,  urbanity,  and  skill  in  the 
27 


402  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

management  of  affairs  to  build  up  the  new  diocese,  which  is  at  present  united 
in  administration  with  that  of  Concordia. 

Nebraska  formed  at  first  part  of  the  vicariate-apostolic  of  the  Indian 
Territory  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  when,  with  the  influx  of  emigra- 
tion, settlements  were  formed,  a  brick  church  sprang  up  at  Omaha,  in  1855, 
before  any  Protestant  sect  established  a  conventicle.  Then  Nebraska  City 
and  St.  Patrick's  settlement  were  visited.  As  there  was  every  prospect  of 
the  rapid  increase  of  population  in  Nebraska,  the  Holy  See,  on  the  9th  of 
January,  1857,  made  it  a  separate  vicariate,  including  also  the  territories  of 
Dakota,  Montana,  and  Wyoming.  Bishop  Miege  governed  it  as  administrator 
apostolic,  ad  interim,  till  the  appointment  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  O'Gorman, 
D.  D.,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  and  vicar-apostolic,  May  8,  1859.  There 
were  then  about  seven  thousand  Catholics  in  the  territory,  including  the  Black 
Feet  Indians,  among  whom  the  Jesuits  were  conducting  a  mission. 

In  1863,  we  find  the  Benedictines  at  Nebraska  City,  with  a  school  under 
their  care,  and  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Mercy  at  Omaha. 

Three  years  later  the  bishop  was  struggling  to  replace  the  small  church 
at  Omaha  by  a  larger  and  more  fitting  structure,  but  his  flock  was  poor;  there 
were  but  two  brick  churches  in  the  vicariate,  the  rest  being  of  frame  or  logs. 
In  1 868,  Montana  was  erected  into  a  separate  vicariate,  but  no  bishop 
was  ever  consecrated  and  the  eastern  part  remained  under  the  vicar-apostolic 
of  Nebraska. 

Bishop  O'Gorman  died  at  Cincinnati,  of  cholera  morbus,  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1874.  He  was  a  native  of  Limerick,  born  in  1809,  and  renounced  the 
world  to  embrace  the  Cistercian  rule  in  the  Trappist  Order,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen.  He  was  one  of  the  first  sent  to  America  to  found  New  Melleray, 
of  which  he  became  prior  on  the  promotion  of  Rev.  Clement  Smyth  to  the 
episcopate.  Catholicity  had  made  but  a  feeble  beginning  in  Nebraska  when 
he  left  his  monastery  to  direct  it.  At  his  death  there  were  twenty  priests 
and  as  many  churches,  fifty-six  stations,  three  convents,  an  hospital,  an  orphan 
asylum,  and  twelve  thousand  Catholics. 

The  Very  Rev.  William  Byrne,  as  administrator,  governed  the  vicariate 
till  the  consecration  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  O'Connor,  in  1876.  James 
O'Connor  was  born  in  Queenstown,  Ireland,  on  the  10th  of  September,  1823, 
and,  coming  to  this  country  in  1S38,  finished  his  preparatory  studies  in  the 
seminary  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  Philadelphia,  from  which  he  was  sent  to 
the  Urban  College  at  Rome.     Trained  there  to  the  soundest  philosophy  and 


ON  THE  PLAINS.  403 

theology  by  the  eminent  professors  of  the  college  of  the  Propaganda,  he  was 
ordained  in  the  Eternal  City  on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation  in  the  year 
ib'45.  Cm  n's  return  to  this  country  he  was  for  seven  years  engaged  in  mis- 
sionary duties  in  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg.  In  1857  he  was  appointed 
superior  of  St.  Michael's  Theological  and  Preparatory  Seminary  at  Glenwood, 
near  Pittsburg,  and  organized  the  different  departments,  directing  the  whole 
so  ably  that  he  was  compelled  to  erect  an  additional  wing  in  1862  to  accom- 
modate the  increased  number  of  students. 

Resigning  his  position  in  the  following  year,  he  was  appointed  director 
of  the  seminary  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo  at  Overbrook,  near  Philadelphia, 
filling  also  the  chairs  of  philosophy,  moral  theology,  and  ecclesiastical  history 
until  the  year  1862,  when  he  visited  Europe  and  on  his  return  became  pastor 
of  St.  Dominic's  Church,  Holmesburg.  In  1876  he  was  elected  vicar-apos- 
toiic  of  Nebraska,  and  was  consecrated  titular  bishop  of  Dibona  on  the  20th  of 
August.  He  founded  Creighton  College — through  the  liberality  of  a  citizen 
of  that  name — in  1879  an^  confided  it  to  the  fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
and  introduced  the  Franciscan  fathers  who  have  two  houses  of  their  order. 
The  vicariate,  when  Bishop  O'Connor  attended  the  plenary  council  of  Balti- 
more in  1884,  contained  more  than  seventy-five  priests,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
churches  and  six  charitable  institutions,  six  academies,  and  seventeen  parochial 
schools. 

In  1885  the  state  of  Nebraska  was  made  the  diocese  of  Omaha,  and 
Bishop  O'Connor  was  transferred  to  the  new  see.  He  was  engaged  in  estab- 
lishing an  order  of  nuns  for  work  among  the  Indians  when  death  closed  his 
valuable  career,  May  27,  1890.  He  was  succeeded,  in  January,  1891,  by  Rt. 
Rev.  Richard  Scannell  who,  for  four  years  previously,  had  been  bishop  of 
Concordia,  Kansas. 

When  Catholicity  had  so  spread  through  the  state  of  Kansas  in  its 
days  of  peace  as  to  the  number  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  churches, 
attended  by  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  priests,  the  sovereign  pontiff,  Leo 
XIII,  determined  to  divide  the  diocese  of  Leavenworth.  The  counties  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  state,  were  formed  into  the  new  diocese  of  Concor- 
dia. As  its  bishop  was  selected  a  priest  who  had  labored  long  in  the  hard 
missions  of  Tennessee,  and  who  had  displayed  ability  in  many  positions. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Scannell  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Cloyne, 
County  Cork,  Ireland,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1S45,  of  Patrick  and  Johanna 
Collins)    Scannell.     He  attended  the  school  in  his  native  place  till  he  was 


.0.  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

fifteen,  when  he  went  to  Middieton,  the  town  in  which  Curran  was  educated. 
Here  he  pursued  a  classical  course  under  Patrick  Riordan,  a  graduate  of 
Trinity  College.  He  lost  his  mother  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old,  but 
the  piety  inherent  in  the  family  inspired  him  with  the  desire  to  become  a 
priest,  and  he  entered  All  Hallows'  College,  Dublin,  in  1866,  where  he  had 
as  fellow-students  Bishop  Scanlan,  of  Utah,  and  Bishop  O'Reilly,  of  Port 
Augustus.  After  passing  through  his  course  of  philosophy  and  theology,  he 
was  ordained  priest  on  the  26th  of  February,  1 871,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  John 
Francis  Whelan,  vicar-  apostolic  of  Bombay.  Having  been  accepted  for  the 
diocese  of  Nashville,  the  young  priest  came  to  this  country  and  arrived  in 
that  city  in  1871.  He  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Cathedral  as  assistant,  and 
labored  there  till  1878,  when  he  was  appointed  rector  at  St.  Columba's 
Church  in  East  Nashville,  taking  the  place  of  the  Rev.  Michael  Meagher, 
who  died  that  year  as  a  martyr  of  charity  while  attending  the  Catholics  at 
Memphis  who  were  dying  of  yellow  fever.  The  next  year  he  was  recalled 
to  Nashville  to  become  rector  of  the  Cathedral.  When  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Feehan  was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Chicago,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Scannell  was 
appointed  administrator,  sede  vacante,  and  governed  the  diocese  till  the  conse- 
cration of  Bishop  Rademacher,  in  June,  18S3.  He  then  visited  Europe  to 
recruit  his  health,  which  was  seriously  impaired.  In  1885  the  bishop 
intrusted  him  with  the  organization  of  a  new  parish  in  West  Nashville.  Here 
the  active  priest  soon  reared  a  fine  church  dedicated  to  St.  Joseph.  In 
August,  1SS6,  he  became  vicar-general  of  the  diocese.  This  able,  laborious, 
and  experienced  priest  was  elected  in  July,  1SS7,  to  the  see  of  Concordia,  and 
his  bulls  were  issued  on  the  9th  of  August.  He  was  consecrated  in  the 
church  which  he  had  erected,  on  the  30th  of  November,  by  his  grace  Arch- 
bishop Feehan,  assisted  by  Bishop  McCloskey,  of  Louisville,  and  Bishop 
Rademacher,  of  Nashville.  The  sermon  was  pronounced  by  his  grace  Arch- 
bishop Elder,  of  Cincinnati.  The  bishops  of  Fort  Wayne,  Covington,  and 
Mobile  were  also  present.  The  diocese  which  he  proceeded  to  govern  had  a 
nucleus  of  about  twenty  priests  and  thirty  churches. 

He  was  transferred  to  the  diocese  of  Omaha  in  December,  1S90,  leaving 
in  his  former  diocese,  twenty-two  priests  and  ten  ecclesiastical  students,  forty- 
eight  churches  and  twenty-seven  stations,  ten  parochial  schools  with  1,000 
pupils^  and  a  Catholic  population  of  15,000;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  a 
proportionate  success  will  attend  his  zealous  labors  in  Nebraska. 

Co'orado,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  north  of  the  Arkansas,  is  part 


ON  THE  PLAINS. 


405 


of  the  territory  claimed  by  us  as  part  of  ancient  Louisiana,  and  thus  is  within 
the  limits  of  the  original  diocese  of  that  name.  In  the  Spanish  part  there 
were  churches  at  Trinidad,  La  Costilla,  and  Los  Conejos,  with  dependent 
chapels;  but  the  discovery  of  rich  mines  in  the  more  northerly  portion  drew 
numbers  of  miners,  who  soon  founded  Denver,  Central  City,  and  other  towns. 
The  clergy  of    the  diocese  of  Santa 


-mm 

WmMW 


~^ 


^r'ii-.^'f- 


Fe  at  first  extended  their  ministry 
to  these  new-comers,  but,  as  the 
increase  of  population  promised  to 
be  rapid,  Colorado,  which  had  been 
made  into  a  state,  received  a  bishop. 
The  Rev.  Joseph  Projectus  Mache- 
bceuf, for  many  years  on  the  mission 
in  New  Mexico,  was  consecrated  on 
the  1 6th  of  August,  186S,  bishop 
and  vicar-apostolic,  his  jurisdiction 
extending  also  over  Utah. 

Joseph  Projectus  Machebceuf 
was  born  at  Riom,  in  the  diocese  of 
Clermont,  France,  on  the  nth  of 
August,  18 1 2,  and  was  in  childhood 
a  pupil  of  the  Brothers  of  the  Chris- 
tian Schools;  after  being  graduated 
in  the  college  of  his  native  city  he  entered  the  Sulpitian  Seminary  at  Montf  erran, 
where  he  mastered  philo'sophy,  theology,  and  other  branches  of  ecclesiastical 
learning.  After  receiving  ordination  in  the  Advent  of  1S36,  he  was  employed 
in  the  ministry  in  France  for  three  years,  but,  preferring  to  become  a  missionary, 
volunteered  with  Rev.  Mr.  Lamy,  now  archbishop  of  Santa  Fe\  to  accompany 
Bishop  Purcell  to  his  diocese.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1840,  he  was  appointed 
pastor  at  Sandusky,  Ohio,  where  French  priests  had  reared  a  chapel  in  the 
last  century.  Here  he  remained  eleven  years,  developing  the  church  and 
institutions.  Having  been  invited  to  New  Mexico  by  Bishop  Lamy,  then 
vicar-apostolic  of  that  territory,  he  reached  it  by  a  laborious  route  through 
New  Orleans  and  Texas.  As  vicar-general  he  labored  earnestly  in  that  old 
Catholic  field  till  i860,  when  Bishop  Lamy  sent  him  to  Colorado,  where  a 
new  population  was  gathering.  Beginning  as  vicar-general  for  that  territory, 
Rev.  Mr.  Machebceuf  may  be  said  to  have  created  all  that  the  Church  has 


san  miguel's,  santa  fe,  n.  m  ,     oldest 
church  in  the  country, 


4o6  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

there  to-day.  He  built  the  first  church  in  Denver,  and  attended  Catholics 
wherever  they  gathered,  till  other  priests  came  to  assume  local  direction  of 
the  churches  that  grew  up.  So  rapidly  did  Catholicity  develop  in  the  terri- 
tory that  in  1S6S  there  were  seventeen  churches  or  chapels.  Denver  had  a 
convent  of  Sisters  of  Loretto,  with  an  academy  and  a  school  for  boys.  Pope 
Pius  IX  in  that  year  constituted  the  vicariate-apostolic  of  Colorado,  extending 
over  the  territory  of  that  name,  and  also  over  Utah.  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Mache- 
bceuf,  having  been  appointed  titular  bishop  of  Epiphania,  was  consecrated 
August  1 6,  1868,  in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral.  He  lived  to  see  Denver  a  city  of 
seventy-five  thousand  inhabitants,  with  six  Catholic  churches,  with  convents, 
academy,  hospital,  asylum,  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  several  parochial 
schools.  There  are  fifty-one  priests  in  the  vicariate,  officiating  in  ninety-six 
churches  and  chapels,  and  the  Catholic  population  in  1884  was  nearly  fifty 
thousand.  He  died  July  9,  1889,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Nicholas 
C.  Matz. 

The  constant  and  rapid  growth  of  the  contiguous  Wyoming  Territory 
saw  Catholic  churches  springing  up,  and  in  1887  the  time  had  arrived  when 
a  bishop  was  needed  to  organize  the  work  of  Catholicity,  and  give  that  energy 
to  the  creation  of  public  institutions  which  only  the  presence  of  a  bishop  can 
call  forth.  Pope  Leo  XIII,  in  the  year  of  his  sacerdotal  jubilee,  erected 
Wyoming  Territory  into  a  diocese  on  the  9th  of  August,  1887.  The  episcopal 
see  was  fixed  at  Cheyenne,  in  Laramie  County,  a  growing  city,  already  pos- 
sessing a  fine  church,  an  academy  of  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus,  and  a 
parochial  school.  To  guide  the  new  flock  thus  selected  the  sovereign  pontiff 
elected  the  Rev.  Maurice  F.  Burke,  an  active  and '  energetic  priest  of  the 
diocese  of  Chicago.  He  was  born  in  Ireland,  May  5,  1S45,  but  when  a  child 
was  brought  to  this  country  by  his  parents,  who  fixed  their  home  in  Chicago. 
There  young  Maurice  received  his  rudimentary  education,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  entered  the  university  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake.  He  had  chosen 
the  House  of  the  Lord  for  his  inheritance,  and  having  been  accepted  as  a 
student,  was  sent  to  the  American  College  at  Rome,  where,  after  a  thorough 
course  extending  over  nine  years,  he  was  ordained  by  Cardinal  Patrizi  on  the 
22d  of  May,  1875. 

On  his  return  to  his  diocese  he  was  assigned  to  duty  in  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Chicago,  as  assistant  priest.  On  the  24th  of  July,  1S78,  he  was 
appointed  to  St.  Mary's  parish,  Joliet,  and  by  his  energy  and  zeal  erected  a 
very  fine  church  and  parochial  schools,  confiding  the  care  of  the  young  to  the 


ON  THE  PLAINS.  407 

Sisters  of  Loretto.  The  evident  ability  of  the  devoted  priest  marked  him  as  one 
to  whom  important  duties  would  be  confided.  When  the  diocese  of  Cheyenne 
was  erected  the  choice  fell  upon  him,  and  he  was  consecrated  bishop  on  the 
28th  of  October,  18S7,  at  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  Chicago,  by  Arch- 
bishop Feehan,  assisted  by  Bishops  McCloskey,  of  Louisville,  and  Cosgrove,  of 
Davenport.  His  diocese  is  one  in  which  preparation  is  to  be  made  for  an  incom- 
ing population ;  it  contains  now  about  4,500  white  and  3,500  Indian  Catholics. 

It  remains  but  to  notice  briefly  the  illustrious  bishop  in  Dakota  who  is 
now  the  chief  apostle  and  defender  of  our  Indians  on  the  plains.  Martin 
Marty  was  born  at  Schwyz,  in  Switzerland,  on  the  12th  of  January,  1834, 
and,  entering  in  youth  the  great  Benedictine  Abbey  of  Einsiedlen,  made  his 
profession  on  the  20th  of  May,  1855.  The  young  monk  had  already  pursued 
his  theological  studies  with  such  zeal  and  talent  that  the  next  year  he  was 
ordained,  on  the  14th  of  September.  A  colony  of  monks  from  Einsiedlen 
was  sent  to  Indiana  in  1854,  and  founded  St.  Meinrad's.  Dom  Marty  arrived 
in  i860  to  share  the  labors  of  the  sons  of  St.  Benedict,  and  when  the  priory 
was  established  five  years  later  he  was  made  the  first  superior.  The  little 
community  prospered,  receiving  postulants  who  persevered,  and  the  mission 
work  increasing.  Pope  Pius  IX  in  1870  erected  St.  Meinrad's  into  an  abbey, 
constituting  the  fathers  connected  with  it  into  the  "Helveto-American  Con- 
gregation," and  Rt.  Rev.  Martin  Marty  was  made  mitered  abbot.  The  corner- 
stone of  a  new  monastery  was  laid  May  22,  1872.  Abbot  Marty  presided  for 
several  years,  perfecting  the  institutions  under  his  care,  and  extending  the 
missions,  erecting  churches,  and  fostering  education.  But  he  had  always  desired 
to  undertake  missions  among  the  Indians,  and  at  last  he  went  with  some 
fathers  to  Dakota.  The  work  there  gave  such  promising  hopes  that  he 
resigned  his  dignity  of  abbot  to  devote  himself  to  it.  In  1879  tne  territory 
of  Dakota  was  formed  into  a  vicariate-apostolic  and  confided  to  the  care  of 
the  zealous  Benedictine,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Tiberias  on  the  1st 
of  February,  1SS0.  When  Bishop  Marty  attended  the  plenary  council,  four 
years  later,  there  were  nearly  ninety  churches  and  fifty  priests  in  his  vicariate 
with  seven  Indian  missions  attended  by  his  clergy,  Benedictine,  Ursuline,  and 
Presentation  nuns,  with  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  and  Youville  Sisters  of 
Charity  aiding  in  the  good  work. 

The  diocese  of  Sioux  Falls,  comprising  the  state  of  South  Dakota,  was 
established  in  1889,  and  now  contains  about  fifty  churches  attended  by  as 
many  priests. 


Chapter  $£I. 


0V6R  TH6  50R06R. 


Catholicity  not  Petted  in  Canada. — British  Contempt  for  Solemn  Treaties. — 
Robbery  of  Jesuit  Endowments. — The  Long  Struggle  for  Toleration. — 
Trials  of  Bishop  Plessis, — Lord  Castlereagh's  Singular  Message.— The 
American  Revolution  as  a  Medicine. — No  Catholic  Hierarchy  Permitted. 
— A  Bishop's  Triumph  Before  Death. — Growth  of  the  Church  and  Her 
Institutions.-  A  Legion  of  Prelates  and  Priests. — Grand  Work  and  a 
Glowing  Futufe. — A  Scotch  Catholic  Settlement. — Loyal  men  from  the 
Highlands. — The  Clan  MacDonell  and  its  Sufferings. — Emigration  to 
the  New  World. — A  Noble  and  Pious  Soggarth. — Father  Ian  Becomes 
Bishop. — A  Good  Man's  Rest.  -The  Highland  Catholics  of  To-Day. 


grm  O  frequently  do  we  hear  of  the  undue  favoritism  to  the  Catholic- 
Church  in  Canada,  many  people  have  come  to  believe  that  there 
at  least  it  is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  pampered  child  of  a  dotingly 
paternal  government.  They  imagine  that  at  the  conquest  the 
church  of  Quebec,  the  mother-church  of  Canada  well  nurtured 
bv  France,  passed  under  the  civil  jurisdiction  of  England  rooustly 
developed  and  hedged  about  by  invulnerable  treaty  stipulations,  which  have 
invariably  been  most  liberally  construed.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
Even  under  the  French  regime  the  Church  was  not  altogether  unttammeled 
The  evil  influence  of  Madame  Pompadour  was  not  confined  to  Fiance.  W? 
read  that  the  "system  of  vexatious  trickery  organized  against  the  Church  and 
the  people  of  the  country  by  some  of  the  chief  and  subordinate  officials  sent 
out  by  the  court  of  Louis  XV,"  was  such  that  Bishop  Briand,  the  incumbent 
of  the  see  of  Quebec  at  the  date  of  capitulation,  did  not  weep  over  the  result, 
as  he,  in  the  words  of  Mgr.  Plessis,  "perceived  that  religion  herself  wo-ud 
gain  by  the  change  of  domination." 

But  the  effect  of  treaties,  like  that  of  statutes,  depends  very  much  on  the 

408 


OVER  THE  BORDER. 


409 


interpretation;  and  the  nature  of  the  interpretation  is  contingent  upon  the 
predisposition  of  those  in  authority.  The  proximate  consequences  of  the 
change  scarcely  justified  Mgr.  Briand's  expectations,  though  the  ultimate 
result,  no  doubt,  has  been  in  accord  with  his  hope.  The  treaty  of  1763  pro- 
vided for  the  free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  Canada  in  so  far  as  it 
was  compatible  with  the  laws  of 
Great  Britain.  That  was  not  very 
far.  The  proviso  gave  a  danger- 
ous latitude  to  those  charged  with 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs  in  the 
new  colony ;  and  in  the  early  days 
they  were,  as  Governor  Murray 
said,  "  a  most  immoral  collection 
of  men" — men  who  had  come  to 
lord  it  over  the  conquered,  and 
who  were  not  at  all  disposed  to 
put  a  liberal  construction  upon  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty.  The 
imperial  act  of  1774  subjected  the 
Church  in  Canada  to  the  royal 
supremacy  and  handed  it  over  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  those  men, 
whose  great  desire  was  to  make 
the  Church  a  creature  of  the  state 
and  the  colony  Protestant.  The  American  Revolution  cooled  their  ardor. 
During  the  war,  and  for  some  time  after,  the  Catholic  bishop  and  priests 
were  allowed  to  exercise  their  functions  in  comparative  peace.  In  1799, 
however,  renewed  efforts  were  made  by  the  colonial  authorities  to  destroy 
the  authority  of  the  bishop,  to  control  the  appointment  of  parish  priests, 
and  to  get  the  schools  into  their  hands.  From  the  time  of  the  conquest 
the  primary  schools  were  mainly  supported  by  the  Jesuit  endowments, 
but  in  1S00  the  government  seized  the  property  of  the  society,  and 
thus  closed  the  schools.  Much  of  what  was  taken  from  the  schools  went,  as 
Catholic  ecclesiastical  property  had  gone  before,  to  the  maintenance  of  Pro- 
testant worship.  A  great  effort  was  made  to  get  possession  of  the  estates  of 
the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice  for  the  purpose  of  founding  an  educational  institu- 
tion.    Then,  as  now,  it  was  clearly  perceived  that  the  most  effectual  way  of 


MGR.    F.    f)E    LAVAL,     FIRST    BISHOP    OF    QUEBEC. 


THE  COL  UMBIAN  J  UB1LEE. 

undermining  the  faith  of  the  people  was  by  controlling  the  schools.  In  1801 
a  law  for  the  encouragement  of  public  instruction  was  promulgated  with  a 
flourish  of  trumpets  and  many  protestations  of  a  righteous  desire  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  people  by  supplying  more  efficient  schools  than  those  the 
Church  had  established  and  the  state  had  closed.  By  this  law  was 
created  what  might  be  called  a  board  of  education,  consisting  chiefly  of  Pro- 
testants, with  the  anglican  bishop  as  president.  The  Protestants  at  that  time 
were  two  and  one-half  per  centum  of  the  population.  The  following  extract 
from  a  letter  written  by  an  official  of  the  colonial  government  gives  a  good 
idea  of  the  spirit  which  actuated  the  administration: 

"I  have  long  since  laid  it  down  as  a  principle  (which  in  my  judgment  no  governor 
of  this  province  ought  to  lose  sight  of  for  a  moment),  by  every  possible  means  which 
prudence  can  suggest,  gradually  to  undermine  the  authority  and  influence  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  priests.  This  great,  this  highest  object  that  a  governor  can  have  .  .  .  may 
be  accomplished  before  ten  years  shall  have  passed  over.  .  .  .  The  instructions  of 
his  majesty,  by  which  it  is  ordered  that  no  person  in  this  province  shall  have  the  cure 
of  souls  but  by  virtue  of  a  license  under  the  governor's  hand  and  seal,  .  .  .  once 
followed  up,  the  king's  supremacy  would  be  established,  the  authority  of  the  pope 
would  be  abolished,  and  the  country  would  become  Protestant. 

"We  have  been  mad  enough  to  allow  a  company  of  French  rascals  to  deprive  us 
for  the  moment  of  the  means  of  accomplishing  all  this,  but  one  prudent,  decisive  step 
might  rectify  this  absurdity.  In  all  events  I  would  advise  every  governor  of  this  pro- 
vince most  scrupulously  to  follow  the  same  line  of  conduct  which  has  established  so 
widely  the  authority  of  the  pope  of  Rome,  to  avail  themselves  of  every  advantage  that 
can  possibly  occur,  and  never  to  give  up  an  inch  but  with  the  certainty  of  gaining  an  ell." 

This  gentleman  in  his  communication  used  the  term  "  popish  clergy," 
and,  as  an  apology  for  the  employment  of  the  not  very  classical  adjective,  he 
wrote:  "I  call  them  popish  to  distinguish  them  from  the  clergy  of  the 
established  Church,  and  to  express  my  contempt  and  detestation  of  a  religion 
which  sinks  and  debases  the  human  mind  and  which  is  a  curse  to  every 
country  where  it  prevails." 

At  an  anterior  date  the  Anglican  bishop,  Dr.  Mountain,  who  had  been 
given  the  miter  in  England  and  despatched  to  Canada  as  bishop  of  Quebec, 
chagrined  at  the  comparative  failure  of  the  efforts  to  annihilate  the  Church  of 
the  people,  wrote  thus  to  Lord  Hobart,  the  colonial  secretary,  at  London  : 
"  While  the  superintendent  of  the  Roman  Church  assumes  the  title  of 
bishop  of  Quebec,  he,  as  well  as  his  clergy,  studiously  denies  that  title  to  the 
Protestant  bishop;  he  has  the  absolute  disposal  of  all  the  preferments  in  the 
diocese;  he  erects  parishes  and  grants  dispensations  for  marrying  at  his  dis- 
cretion, etc.;  all  of  which  functions  are  clearly  contrary  to  the  royal  instruc- 
tions, and  all  of  which  are  denied  to  the  Protestant  bishop." 


OVER  THE  BOEDER.  ^n 

Such  was  the  animus  of  the  governing  authorities  when  Mgr.  Plessis 
became  bishop  of  Quebec;  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  a  better  picture 
of  the  condition  of  the  Church  at  that  time  than  is  conveyed  in  this  extract 
from  a  letter  addressed  by  the  bishop  to  a  friend  in  London  in  1806: 
"  Examine  the  map  and  you  will  perceive  the  impossibility  of  a  single  bishop 
extending  his  solicitude  with  any  success  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence.  That  space  contains  more  than  200,000  Catholics,  and  yet 
there  are  only  1S0  priests  to  supply  all  their  wants.  Add  to  that  their 
numerous  difficulties  from  their  entanglement  with  a  Protestant  population, 
and  the  constant  vigilance  necessary  to  avoid  being  compromised  with  a  gov- 
ernment which  views  things  only  through  the  medium  of  its  own  principles  and 
is  constantly  making  some  new  effort  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  the  king." 

In  1807  the  good  bishop,  weary  with  constant  conflict  and  discouraged 
by  what  seemed  insurmountable  obstacles  to  the  success  of  his  work, 
acknowledged  to  a  friend  that  human  resources  failed  him,  and  that  he 
scarcely  hoped  for  any  amelioration  from  appealing  to  the  treaty  stipula- 
tions. The  colonial  office  in  England  was  being  urged  to  inaugurate  a  vig- 
orous anti-papal  policy;  and  Dr.  Mountain  himself  repaired  to  London,  .and 
in  many  conferences  with  the  ministers  pressed  that  the  grievances  of  which 
he  complained  in  his  letter  to  Lord  Hobart  might  be  retrieved,  and  that  he 
might  be  made  in  Canada  monarch,  as  to  things  ecclesiastical,  of  all  he  sur- 
veyed. Help  came  from  a  quarter  whence  it  was  least  expected.  Lord 
Castlereagh,  in  a  memorandum  on  the  situation  in  Canada,  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  the  law  secured  to  Canadian  Catholics  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion,  and  to  their  clergy  their  accustomed  dues  and  rights,  subject  to  the 
royal  supremacy ;  that  as  the  bishop  of  Quebec,  who  was  not  a  foreigner,  was  the 
head  of  the  Church  in  Canada,  his  jurisdiction  was  not  opposed  to  the  act  of 
supremacy,  and  that  it  would  be  a  very  delicate  undertaking  to  interfere 
with  the  Catholic  religion  in  Canada.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  it  was  no 
sense  of  justice  which  impelled  this  noble  lord  not  to  apply  his  Irish  formula 
in  the  New  World.     The  storm  brewing  at  Washington  dictated  his  course. 

But  even  this  did  not  effect  a  truce.  The  conflict  continued.  Governor 
Craig,  who  arrived  in  1807,  placed  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  advisers — 
men  who  had  come  to  Canada  to  make  an  Ireland  of  Quebec;  and  the 
opposition  to  the  Church  continued.  Owing  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times, 
however,  the  plan  of  attack  was  somewhat  modified,  or,  rather,  a  more  insidious 
scheme    was    adopted.       The  government  was  prepared  to  fully  recognize 


4I2  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  episcopal  authority  of  the  Catholic  bishop,  to  confirm  him  to  his  see  by- 
commission  from  the  king,  and  even  to  secure  him  a  revenue,  if  the  govern- 
ment were  accorded  the  privilege  of  nominating  the  parish  priests,  which 
privilege,  it  was  believed,  "would  insensibly  operate  in  effectually  undermin- 
ing the  people's  religious  faith." 

Writing  in  1811,  Bishop  Plessis  gave  the  following  account  of  a  confer- 
ence had  with  Sir  James  Craig :  "  Yesterday  I  had  a  conversation  with  his 
excellency  the  governor,  which  lasted  one  hour  and  three-quarters,  in  which 
he  exhausted  himself,  and  me  also,  in  speaking,  without  our  being  able  to  fall 
into  accord  upon  the  only  point  that  was  agitated,  to-wit :  the  nomina- 
tion to  cure's.  He  viewed  it  obstinately  as  a  civil  affair,  and  as  a  prerogative 
of  the  crown  which  it  would  never  abandon." 

The  war  of  1812,  like  the  war  of  Independence,  acted  as  a  sedative, 
of  a  mild  and  transient  kind,  to  the  anti-Catholicism  of  the  colonial  officials. 
After  the  Revolution  Sir  Guy  Carleton  declared  that  the  Catholic  priests  pre- 
served the  province  of  Quebec  to  the  crown.  In  the  interval  of  peace  the 
clergy  were  attacked  and  their  loyalty  questioned.  In  18 13  an  official  despatch 
was  transmitted  to  the  governor  of  Quebec,  informing  him  that  "his  royal  high- 
ness, the  prince  regent,  in  the  name  of  his  majesty,"  desired  that  one  thousand 
pounds  should  thereafter  be  the  allowance  of  the  Catholic  bishop  of  Quebec, 
"as  a  testimony  rendered  to  the  loyalty  and  good  conduct  of  the  gentleman 
...  as  well  as  of  the  other  members  of  the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  province." 
Still  there  was  a  little  lump  of  the  old  leaven  left. 

It  had  been  for  many  years  the  desire  of  the  bishop  of  Quebec  to  have 
his  vast  diocese  subdivided.  The  Church  which  in  the  earlier  days  could 
easily  be  ruled  by  one  ordinary  and  a  coadjutor,  had  grown  with  the  country. 
One  can  now  scarcely  realize  how  Bishop  Plessis,  who  had  to  be  ever  on  the 
alert  to  defend  his  church  from  the  premeditated  assaults  of  the  civil  authori- 
ties, who  was  striving  to  develop  two  or  three  small  seminaries  for  the  train- 
ing of  much-needed  priests,  and  endeavoring  to  supply  the  wants  of  scattered 
and  very  differently  circumstanced  missions  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific^ 
and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  islands  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  could 
undertake  a  journey  to  distant  Prince  Edward  Island,  Cape  Breton,  and  the 
Magdalens,  visiting  en  route  the  scattered  settlements  of  Acadians,  and 
then  making  his  way  as  best  he  could  to  the  faithful  who  were  grouped 
at  different  points  in  the  virgin  forest  of  Upper  Canada.  No  wonder 
he   sought    relief.     When   the  crozier  was  placed    in  his    hand    he    braced 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  4!3 

himself  for  unremitting  toil,  for  trials  and  tribulations.  But  the  burden  was 
more  than  one  man  could  bear.  The  zealous  pastor  bent  beneath  it  and  cried 
for  help.  Rome  was  prepared,  but  another  power  had  to  be  consulted.  In 
those  days  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  civil 
authorities  to  the  erection  of  new  sees;  and,  although  after  years  of  useless 
struggling  they  were  compelled  by  circumstances  to  recognize  the  ordinary 
of  Quebec,  they  seemed  determined  to  have  no  more  Catholic  bishops,  at 
least  with  native  titles,  in  the  British  half  of  the  continent.  In  1817  the 
bishop  of  Quebec  was  relieved  of  the  charge  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  was 
made  an  apostolic  vicariate  and  confided  to  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Edmund 
Burke,  who  had  long  labored  there  as  a  missionary.  This,  however,  was 
scarce  a  perceptible  lightening  of  Mgr.  Plessis'  charge.  He  wished  to  have 
Canada  divided  into  five  dioceses:  two  in  Lower  Canada,  with  their  centers 
at  Quebec  and  Montreal;  another  to  comprise  the  Maritime  Provinces,  a 
fourth  to  include  Upper  Canada,  and  the  fifth  to  extend  over  the  Hudson's 
Bay  country  and  away  across  the  Rockies  to  where  the  waves  of  the  Pacific 
lap  our  western  shore.  This  plan  was  in  part  suggested,  and  in  its  entirety 
concurred  in  by  the  Propaganda;  and,  in  order  to  secure  the  concurrence  of 
the  civil  power,  Bishop  Plessis  journeyed  to  England  in  1819.  Just  after  his 
departure  bulls  arrived  from  Rome  elevating  Quebec  to  the  dignity  of  a 
metropolitan  see,  naming  Mgr.  Plessis  its  first  archbishop,  and  giving  him,  in 
addition  to  the  vicariate  of  Nova  Scotia,  two  suffragan  bishops,  one  for 
Upper  Canada,  the  other  for  Prince  Edward  Island,  New  Brunswick,  and 
the  Magdalens.  But,  as  Bishop  Plessis  feared,  this  had  only  the  effect  of 
strengthening  the  opposition  to  his  plan.  On  no  account  would  the  govern- 
ment assent  to  his  assuming  the  title  of  archbishop;  nor  would  they  agree  to 
the  creation  of  any  new  sees.  After  much  negotiating  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  acquiescence  of  the  powers  that  were  in  the  establishment  of 
apostolic  vicariates  and  in  the  appointment  of  bishops  in  partibus  infidel  ium. 
It  was  explicitly  stipulated,  however,  that  these  titular  bishops  were  not  to 
have  independent  jurisdiction,  but  were  merely  to  be  auxiliaries  to  the  bishop 
of  Quebec,  who  alone  was  to  have  a  legal  status.  Vicariates  were  accord- 
ingly formed,  and  the  men  who  had  been  fixed  upon  to  rule  over  the  desired 
dioceses  were  consecrated. 

The  Rev.  Jean  Jacques  Lartigue,  a  Sulpitian  priest,  was  placed  over 
the  district  of  Montreal,  which  then  contained  189,119  Catholics  of,  with  few 
exceptions,  French  origin. 


4,4  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  presence  of  Irish  Catholics  was  discovered  only  a  short  time  previ. 
ously.  A  priest  was  summoned  to  attend  a  dying  stranger,  and  fhe  stranger 
was  found  to  be  an  Irishman.  The  priest  learned  that  there  were  com- 
patriots of  the  dying  man  in  the  neighborhood,  and  invited  them  to  his 
church.  On  the  following  Sunday,  in  the  sacristy  of  the  old  Bonsecours' 
Church,  thirty  Irish  exiles  met  and  had  the  gospel  preached  to  them  for  the  first 
time  since  they  had  crossed  the  sea.  There  were  only  a  few  Irish  Catholics 
in  Canada  at  that  time,  and  they  came  then  and  afterwards,  to  different  points, 
under  circumstances  which  so  militated  against  their  success  that  their  pros- 
perity cannot  but  be  marveled  at.  The  first  Irish  families  who  arrived  at 
Quebec  were  so  destitute  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  kind  interposition  of 
Bishop  Plessis,  who  placed  them  with  French  farmers  and  well-to-do  towns- 
people, they  would  have  reached  the  land  of  promise  only  to  find  paupers' 
graves  in  its  frozen  ground.  A  sad  story  indeed  is  the  story  of  Irish 
emigration. 

Over  most  of  the  country  south  of  the  Ottawa  spread  "  the  forest 
primeval"  when  the  nineteenth  century  broke  upon  the  world.  What  is  now 
Ontario  was  then  in  the  main  a  wilderness.  Among  the  United  Empire 
loyalists  who  migrated  there  when  the  thirteen  colonies  cut  loose  from 
Britain  were  some  Scotch  Catholics.  These  were  augmented  by  a  colony  of 
a  disbanded  regiment  of  Highlanders,  led  in  1S03  from  the  old  country  by 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Macdonell.  Both  contingents  were  given  land,  and 
grants  were  also  made  by  the  government  for  churches  and  schools  in  recog- 
nition of  the  loyalty  of  the  colonists  and  their  pastor,  and  with  the  object,  no 
doubt,  of  strengthening  that  feeling,  so  that  the  crown  might  have  devoted 
subjects  on  the  border  of  the  young  Republic.  The  first  Irish  settlers  arrived 
in  Upper  Canada  in  1S23.  They  were  not  very  hospitably  received.  Appli 
cation  was  even  made  for  a  military  force  to  drive  them  out,  or  to  guard  the 
loyal  inhabitants;  and  so  exercised  were  the  home  authorities  by  the  reports 
which  the  loyalists  sent  them  concerning  the  "riotous  and  mutinous"  Hiber- 
nians, that  Father  Macdonell,  who  was  then  in  England,  was  requested  to 
hasten  back  to  Canada  to  do  something  with  the  wild  Irish.  He  assured 
them  there  was  no  cause  for  fear,  and  offered  to  pledge  his  life  for  the 
good  conduct  of  the  abused  refugees.  "Put  that  in  writing,"  said  the  under 
secretary  for  the  colonies.     And  the  bond  was  signed. 

When  Father  Macdonell,  who  was  given  charge  of  the  vicariate  of  Upper 
Canada,  came  to  the  country  there  were  only   two   or   three  small   places  of 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  a\^ 

worship  and  a  couple  of  priests — one  a  Frenchman,  without  any  knowledge 
of  English;  the  other  an  Irishman  who  left  the  country  shortly  afterwards. 
For  years  the  apostolic  Macdonell  had  no  fellow-laborers,  and  had  to  travel 
in  the  exercise  of  his  holy  office,  often  with  his  vestments  on  his  back,  over 
seven  hundred  miles  of  a  country  without  roads  or  bridges. 

In  1 82 1  the  Rev.  ./Eneas  Bernard  McEachern  was  consecrated,  and  to 
him  was  confided  the  care  of  the  Church  in  the  Maritime  Provinces,  the  vicar- 
apostolic  of  Nova  Scotia  having  died  two  years  previously.  A  biography  of 
this  missionary  prelate  would  make  interesting  and  edifying  reading.  His 
life,  however,  like  the  lives  of  many  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Faith  in  our 
country,  has  yet  to  be  written.  But  what  at  best  can  one  write  of  a  mission- 
ary priest  but  the  mere  outlines  of  his  career  ?  Only  he  who  has  in  perils  on 
land,  on  river,  and  on  sea,  preached  the  Word  and  administered  the  sacra- 
ments can  fill  in  between  the  lines  the  story  of  such  a  life.  When  Father 
McEachern  arrived  in  Prince  Edward  Island  in  1790  there  were  no  churches, 
no  schools,  no  material  resources,  few  Catholics,  poor  and  scattered,  and  diffi- 
culties innumerable.  The  other  provinces  over  which  he  was  afterwards 
called  to  exercise  episcopal  jurisdiction  presented  a  somewhat  similar  spectacle. 
There  were  a  few  Scotch  settlers,  here  and  there  a  poor  Irish  emigrant,  and 
along  the  shores  hamlets  of  Acadians,  who, 

"Scattered  like  dust  and  leaves,  when  the  mighty  blasts  of  October 
Seize  them,  and  whirl  them  aloft,  and  sprinkle  them  far  o'er  the  ocean," 

drifted  back  to  their  dear  Acadia. 

But  of  all  the  ecclesiastical  districts  into  which  the  old  diocese  of  Quebec 
was  then  divided  the  most  uninviting  was  that  conterminous  with  the  country 
extending  from  what  was  at  that  time  called  Canada  to  the  Pacific,  and  from 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  republic  to  the  frozen  islands  of  the  Arctic. 
There  roamed  the  red  men,  and  with  them  some  venturesome  Canadians  who 
traded  with  the  Indians  for  furs.  Many  of  these  voyageurs  married  Indian 
women  and  settled  along  the  Red  River.  Father  Provencher,  who,  with 
Father  Dumoulin,  was  sent  to  this  mission  in  1818,  was  selected  for  the  charge 
of  the  vicariate. 

In  1824  Joseph  Octave  Plessis,  the  last  bishop  who  alone  ruled  over  the 
whole  of  Canada,  passed  to  his  reward.  He  lived  in  the  seed-time,  and 
labored  faithfully  and  well.  What  a  transformation  has  since  taken  place! 
"  Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about  and  see."  "  The  flowers  have  appeared  in 
our  land     .     .     .     the  fig-tree  hath  put   forth   her   green  figs,  the   vines   in 


416 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


nower  yield  their  sweet  smell."  With  the  development  of  the  country  and 
the  growth  of  civil  liberty,  the  Church  expanded  and  threw  off  the  incubus  of 
state  interference.  Before  a  decade  of  years  elapsed  the  titular  bishops  took 
native  sees;  and  in  1S44  the  ordinary  of  Quebec  publicly  assumed  the  title  of 
archbishop.  Now  a  cardinal  sits  in  the  chair  of  Laval,  and  with  him  six  other 
archbishops,  sixteen  bishops,  and  two  vicars-apostolic  guard  the  spiritual  inter- 
ests of  over  two  millions  of  Catholics  in  this  Dominion;  and  the  sacrifice 
foretold  by  Malachi  is  offered  by  two  thousand  three  hundred  priests.  An 
army  of  religious  go  about  doing  good.  Cathedrals  and  churches,  flanked  by 
colleges  and  schools,  dot  the  land ;  and 

"The  charities  that  soothe,  and  heal,  and  bless, 
Are  scattered  at  the  feet  of  man  like  flowers." 

The  people,  too,  have  prospered.  There  are  no  more  contented  and 
comfortable  husbandmen  than  the  descendants  of  the  old  colonists  who  till  the 
soil.  Many  of  the  offspring  of  poor  emigrants  have  in  the  different  walks  of 
life  attained  positions  of  wealth,  influence,  and  eminence.  Two  gubernatorial 
chairs  are  filled  by  Catholics.  Three  provinces  have  Catholic  prime  minis- 
ters. In  the  parliaments  of  the  nation  Catholics  occupy  prominent  places, 
and  six  out  of  the  fourteen  members  of  the  Dominion  cabinet  are  Catholics. 

A  most  marvelous  example  of  rapid  development  is  furnished  by  Quebec. 
A  colony  whose  population  at  the  date  of  the  conquest  is  estimated  to  have 
been  not  more  than  sixty  thousand,  a  colony  of  Frenchmen  having  to  struggle 
for  existence  and  for  faith  against  powerful  and  alien  rulers,  and  depending 
for*  extension  almost  entirely  on  self-increase,  has  grown  in  Quebec  alone  to 
nearly  a  million  and  a  half,  besides  extending  its  ramifications  into  Ontario 
and  the  New  England  states.  Counting  all,  the  posterity  of  the  sixty 
thousand  now  outnumber  two  millions.  A  cardinal  wearing  the  pallium 
occupies  the  primatial  see.  The  little  seminary  of  long  ago  has  developed 
into  a  great  university  with  branches  in  Montreal,  where  presides  another 
archbishop.  Six  bishops  and  a  vicar-apostolic  watch  over  the  flock  in  other 
parts  of  the  province.  Over  fifteen  hundred  priests  dispense  the  mysteries  in 
one  thousand  temples,  and  teach  in  university,  seminaries  and  colleges.  Of 
the  latter  and  last  there  are  twenty-one,  with  over  half  a  hundred  commercial 
and  classical  academies,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  convents,  in  connection 
with  the  great  majority  of  which  boarding  and  day  schools  are  conducted. 
There  are  in  addition  to  these,  three  thousand  five  hundred  state-supported 
religious   schools,   thirty-seven   hospitals,  and   seventeen   asylums.      Thirteen 


OVER  THE  BORDER. 


417 


communities  of  women  and  twelve  of  men  devote  themselves  mainly  to  teach- 
ing and  active  charity. 

It  is  the  fashion  with  some  people  to  say  that  Quebec  is  priest-ridden  and 

crushed  by  clerical  imposts;  and  what  has  been  written  may  seem  to  them  but 

proof  of  what  they  assert.     Mr.  Edward  Fairer,   the  present    editor-in-chief 

of  the  Toronto  Mail,  an  ultra-Protestant  journal,  effectually  disposed  of  such 

nonsense  in  a  paper  contributed  a 

few    years    ago    to    the    Atlantic 

Monthly.      He    wrote:     "The 

habitant  is  not  crushed  by  clerical 

imposts.     .      .     .     As  a  class  the 

Canadian  priests  are  men  of  much 

merit.     Their   parishes    in    very 

many  cases    are    as    large    as    an 

English  county,  and  their  work, 

especially  in  the    winter-time, 

involves  not  only  arduous  toil  but 

no  small  peril.  The  history  of  the 
priesthood  is  the  history  of  the 
country." 

In    Ontario,  where    Bishop 

Macdonell  in  the  first  years  of  the 
century  labored  almost  unaided, 
three  archbishops,  four  bishops, 
and  one  vicar-apostolic,  assisted 
by  four  hundred  priests,  watch 
over  a  flock  numbering  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  thousand.  In  the  centers  of  population  catheural 
crosses  point  aloft  to  heaven,  and  the  province  which  boasts  of  its  Protestant- 
ism is  jeweled  with  more  than  five  hundred  Catholic  fanes.  There  are  a 
university,  three  colleges,  thirty-seven  academies,  and  two  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  state-supported  parochial  schools.  The  sick  are  cared  for  in 
nine  hospitals,  and  orphaned  youth  and  destitute  old  age  find  refuge  in  seven- 
teen asylums.  Different  communities  of  religious  teach  and  tend  the  poor 
and  sick,  while  from  more  than  one  convent  of  cloistered  nuns  ascend  per- 
petual prayer  and  praise. 

Less  than  one  hundred  years  ago  there  were  in  the  Maritime  Provinces 
28 


-X> 

; 

_^"> ' 

40     ^ 

4^-' 

; 

A- 

r    '"'■'-• 

MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP  J.    WALSH,    TORONTO. 


4Ig  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

only  a  few  humble  chapels  like  that  in  the  storied  village  of  Grand-Pre",  "bn 
the  shores  of  the  Basin  of  Minas;"now  there  are  almost  four  hundred  sanctu- 
aries, wherein  every  one  that  asks  receives,  and  he  who  seeks  finds.  An 
archbishop,  four  bishops,  and  two  hundred  and  forty  priests  have  the  cure  of 
over  three  hundred  thousand  souls.  For  the  education  of  boys  there  are  four 
colleges,  one  conducted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  and  an  academy 
directed  by  the  Christian  Brothers;  and  four  different  sisterhoods  have  charge 
of  forty  boarding-schools  for  girls.  A  non-religious  school  system  is  by  law 
established  in  the  Maritime  Provinces,  but,  notwithstanding  this,  there  are 
many  Catholic  schools,  especially  for  girls,  maintained  without  any  assistance 
from  the  state,  except  in  Halifax,  where  schools  under  the  direction  of 
religious  are  supported  by  the  government  as  the  result  of  a  compromise. 

The  Northwestern  vicariate  of  former  days  is  now  an  ecclesiastical  pro- 
vince, embracing  Manitoba,  British  Columbia,  and  the  intervening  territories. 
The  Catholics  of  these  regions  are  only  about  one-fifth  of  the  population. 
They  numbered  in  British  Columbia,  in  1881,  10,043,  ano^  *n  Manitoba  and 
the  Northwest  Territories,  in  1885,23,952.  These  are  ministered  to  by  an 
archbishop,  two  bishops,  two  vicars-apostolic,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
priests.  The  Jesuits  conduct  a  theological  seminary  and  college  at  Winnipeg, 
Manitoba;  and  in  British  Columbia  there  are  two  colleges  directed  by  the 
Oblates  of  Mary  Immaculate.  Four  sisterhoods  manage  a  score  of  academies 
for  girls,  and  there  are  several  Indian  industrial  schools  under  the  supervision 
of  religious.  There  are  five  hospitals  and  seven  asylums.  In  Manitoba  and 
the  territories  the  school  system  is  denominational,  and  the  different  parishes 
have  their  schools.  A  similar  system  does  not  obtain  in  British  Columbia; 
still  a  few  Catholic  schools  are  in  operation  in  that  province. 

Catholic  progress  in  this  country  may  not  be  as  striking  as  that  in  the 
United  States;  yet  in  Canada  the  Catholic  population  has  in  this  century  been 
blessed  with  a  tenfold  increase,  and  the  Church,  like  "a  tree  which  is  planted 
Aiear  the  running  waters,"  has  taken  deep  root,  and  its  branches  have  spre.id 
wer  all  the  land. 

Of  the  Scotch  Catholic  settlement  referred  to  above,  we  are  enabled  to 
furnish  an  interesting  account.  "  You  will  hear  more  Gaelic  spoken  in 
Canada  in  one  week  than  you  would  hear  during  a  month's  sojourn  in  the 
Highlands!"  Such  was  the  astounding  assertion  made  some  time  ago  at  a 
Montreal  dinner-table  by  a  Scottish  laird,  himself  of  Canadian  birth,  and  an 
extensive  land-owner  in  Ontario  as  well  as   in  North  Britain.     And   such  is 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  419 

indeed  the  case.  Along  the  shore  of  Lake  St.  Francis,  and  beyond,  where 
the  broad  blue  ribbon  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  dotted  with  tiny  verdant  islets, 
among  which  loyal  Canadians  peep  shyly  across  to  the  state  of  New  York, 
dwell  a  sturdy  race  of  men  as  truly  Highland  in  heart  and  speech  as  when 
they  left  their  beloved  hills  a  hundred  years  ago.  A  nature,  if  loyal  to  one 
attachment,  will  be  loyal  to  all.  These  Highlanders  in  Canada  have  pre- 
served their  faith  and  have  adhered  to  their  language  and  traditions. 

To  visit  the  Gae^  in  the  home  of  his  adoption,  you  leave  Montreal,  going 
by  railroad  westward  for  about  two  hours  and  a  half,  and  arrive  at  Lancaster, 
the  county  town  of  Glengarry,  the  home  of  the  Chlanadh  nan  Gael.  Glen- 
garry is  the  most  easterly  county  of  Ontario,  and  is  one  of  those  into  which 
the  district  of  Lunenbourg  was  divided  in  1792.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east 
by  County  Soulanges,  on  the  north  by  Prescott,  west  by  County  Stor- 
mont — also  largely  peopled  with  Scotch  settlers — and  on  the  south  by  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

The  county  comprises  four  townships:  Charlottenburg,  Lancaster, 
Lochiel,  and  Kenyon.  These  are  again  subdivided  into  "  concessions,"  and 
the  concessions  into  lots.  Lancaster,  the  county  town,  is  in  the  township  of 
Charlottenburg  and  lies  on  the  banks  of  the  Riviere-aux-Raisins.  It  is  the 
outlet  for  produce  from  the  inland  villages,  and  the  place  of  starting  for 
stage-coaches  to  different  points.  The  roads  here  are  atrocious,  and  the 
coaches  "  rattle  your  bones  over  the  stones "  while  taking  you  through  a 
country  so  magnificent  that  you  wonder  why  the  dwellers  therein  do  not 
mend  their  ways.  In  Charlottenburg  are  also  the  parishes  of  St.  Raphael's, 
Martintown  and  Williamstown.  The  township  of  Lancaster  lies  east  of 
Charlottenburg,  and  was  called  the  "  sunken  township  "  on  account  of  the 
first  French  settlers  having  considered  it  too  swampy  for  habitation.  Lochiel 
lies  to  the  north,  and  boasts  of  quite  a  rising  town,  Alexandra,  conl  'ning 
seven  hundred  inhabitants,  a  high  school,  and  a  convent  under  the  Sist  s  of 
the  Holy  Cross.  Kenyon  is  north  of  Charlottenburg,  and  is,  like  the  ot.  ers, 
a  country  of  magnificent  agricultural  development. 

The  counties  of  Stormont  and  Dundas  are,  if  we  except  a  few  Germans, 
entirely  Scotch,  but  are  not  Catholic,  as  in  Glengarry.  The  pioneer  settlers 
were  from  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  whither  many  had  emigrated  from 
Scotland  and  from  Germany  before  the  Revolution.  When  the  proclamar 
tion  of  peace  in  17S3  deprived  the  Scottish  soldiers  who  formed  the  Royal 
New   York  regiment,  under  Sir  John  Johnson,  of   their  occupation,  nothing 


420  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

was  left  for  them  but  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  British  government  and  settle 
on  lands  granted  them  in  Canada  west.  Loyalty  came  more  natural  to  their 
mountain  instincts  than  policy,  and  they  were  in  those  days  much  more  con- 
scientious than  practical.  Each  soldier  received  a  grant  of  a  hundred  acres 
fronting  on  the  river,  and  two  hundred  within  the  county  on  which  he  settled. 
That  these  people  were  for  the  main  part  Protestant  is  easily  seen  by  the 
names  which  they  bestowed  on  their  villages,  such  as  Matilda,  Williamstown, 
Charlotte,  and  Mariatown,  which  latter  was,  we  are  toid,  "  called  after  Cap- 
tain Duncan's  daughter  Maria."  There  were  many  Catholics  also  in  Sir 
John  Johnson's  regiment,  and  they  probably  turned  the  first  sod  in  what  is 
now  Glengarry;  but  the  real  influx  of  Catholic  Highlanders  did  not  take 
place  until  17S6  and   1802. 

Throughout  the  last  century  religious  persecution  prevailed  in  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  not  in  actual  strife  or  bloodshed,  but  in  the  merciless 
bigotry  and  continued  obstruction  that  comes  so  readily  to  those  "children  of 
this  world,  who  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light."  The 
old  chieftains  who  had  clung  to  their  God  and  their  sovereign  were  attainted, 
incarcerated  in  Edinburg  Castle  or  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  their  sons  of 
tender  age,  removed  from  the  influence  of  early  associations,  were  the  help- 
less pupils  of  the  sanctimonious  dominies,  who  banished  from  their  young 
minds  every  ray  of  Catholic  hope  and  joy,  and  sent  them  back  to  their 
country  as  strangers  and  sojourners — sometimes  as  fierce  denouncers  of  the 
faith  in  which  they  were  born. 

Strong  in  loyalty   and  conservative  to  the   heart's   core,  for  years  the 

powerful    clan    of    MacDonald   escaped  unscathed.       Descended    from    the 

mighty  Somerled,  Thane  of   Argyle,  by  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of 

Olaf,  surnamed   the  Red,  the  Norwegian   king  of   the   Isles,  this  branch  of 

Siol   Cuin  (the  race  of  Conn)    had   accepted  the  faith  of  St.   Columba,  the 

"royal  O'Neil,"    and  never  wavered  from  his  teachings.     For  centuries  they 

had  lived  and  died  Catholics,  and  the  bones  of  their  chieftains  had  been 

"  Carried  to  Colme's  Kill,  the 
Sacred  store-house  of  their  predecessors, 
And  guardian  of  their  bones." 

In  rugged  Inverness,  where  the  mighty  houses  of  Clanranald  and  Glen- 
garry, divided  by  Loch  Nevish,  held  watch  and  ward  over  the  heather-clad 
mountains  and  deep  and  dangerous  arms  of  the  sea;  back  through  the  braes 
of  Lochaber  to  where  the  McDonells  of  Keppoch  dwelt  under  the  shadow 
of  Ben  Nevis;  over  the  Sound  of  Sleat,  by  whose  waters  McDonald  of  that 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  421 

ilk  kept  his  enemies  at  bay,  and  westward  to  the  wild  rocks  of  the  Hebrides, 
the  clan  Donald  practiced  their  Faith.  By  dint  of  much  caution,  and  with 
great  labor,  these  faithful  mountaineers  were  fed  with  the  sacraments  of  their 
Church.  Priests'  heads  were  then  as  valuable  as  were  those  of  wolves  in  the 
days^of  Alfred,  and  if  a  saggarth  was  caught  by  "the  reformed,"  woe  to  him! 

In  spite  of  these  dangers,  young  men  escaped  to  the  continent,  and  in 
the  Scots'  College,  Rome,  and  at  Valladolid,  in  Spain,  studied  for  the  priest- 
hood. After  their  ordination  they  would  return  to  their  beloved  hills  to 
brave  death  and  save  souls.  Jesuit  and  Irish  secular  priests,  outlawed,  and 
with  a  price  set  upon  them  dead  or  alive,  sought  this  remote  field  for 
their    devoted  labors. 

Across  the  rough,  gray  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Hebrides,  in  many  a  cave 
and  sheltered  nook  of  the  island  of  South  Uist,  the  clansmen,  in  their  belted 
tartans,  assisted  at  the  Holy  Sacrifice  and  received  the  Bread  of  Heaven.  Like 
the  Israelites,  they  "  ate  it  with  their  loins  girt,  and  standing,"  for  the  morn- 
ing mist  rolling  off  Benbecula  might  disclose  to  them  a  watchful  foe,  and  the 
waves  of  Minch,  now  trembling  in  the  dawn  of  day,  might,  ere  the  sun 
climbed  beyond  the  mountains'  crest,  bear  on  their  bosom  the  boat  of  the 
Sassenach  spy.  If  the  spy  were  not  well  attended  and  strongly  armed  it 
would  be  worse  for  him,  for  meekness  and  gentleness  were  Christian  char, 
acteristics  not  strongly  marked  in  this  race,  and  they  acted  literally  on  St. 
Paul's  injunction  to  be  "first  pure  and  then  peaceable."  Their  precept  was, 
Luathic  do  liambh  agus  cruadhich  do  Chuille — "Quicken  thy  hand  and 
harden  thy  blows."  An  amusing  specimen  of  this  spirit  is  handed  down  from 
the  prayer  of  a  clansman  before  the  battle  of  Sheriff muir;  "O  Lord!  be  thou 
with  us;  but,  if  thou  be  not  with  us,  be  not  against  us,  but  leave  it  between  the 
red-coats  and  us!" 

At  last  some  among  this  chosen  people  of  God  fell,  lured  by  the 
inducements  of  the  supporters  of  the  elector  of  Hanover,  as  they  had  persist- 
ently called  his  Britannic  majesty.  Not  content  with  embracing  Calvinism 
themselves,  they  endeavored  to  inoculate  their  people.  One,  indeed,  tried  an 
untoward  application  by  means  of  severe  blows  from  his  bati-bui — or  yellow 
walking-stick — with  which  he  hoped  to  induce  his  tenantry  to  repair  to  the 
Protestant  meeting-house.  To  this  day  Calvinism  is  spoken  of  by  the 
descendants  of  those  people  as  Credible  a  bhati-bui — the  religion  of  the  yel- 
low stick. 

The  tyranny  of  these  foes  of  their  own  household,  combined  with  the 


.22  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

poverty  and  wretchedness  prevailing  throughout  the  Highlands,  caused  many 
of  the  MacDonalds  and  their  Catholic  neighbors  to  turn  their  thoughts  to 
America,  whence  came  alluring  stories  of  plenty  and  peace.  At  home  the 
country  had  been  drained  to  provide  means  for  the  insurrection  which  they 
hoped  would  put  their  exiled  prince  on  the  throne  of  the  Stuarts.  The  rav- 
ages of  war  had  laid  their  lands  waste,  the  more  progressive  Lowlanders  and 
the  absentee  nobles  were  turning  the  tenant-holdings  into  sheep-walks, 
inch  by  inch  their  birthright  was  leaving  them,  their  dress  was  forbidden, 
their  arms  seized,  their  very  language  was  made  contraband ;  so,  facing  the 
difficulty  like  brave  men,  they  determined  to  emigrate.  In  the  year  1786  two 
ships  sailed  from  Scotland  to  Canada  filled  with  emigrants.  The  first  left 
early  in  the  season,  but  sprang  a  leak  and  was  obliged  to  put  into  Belfast  for 
repairs;  resuming  her  voyage,  she  reached  the  American  coast  too  late  to 
attempt  making  Quebec  harbor,  and  therefore  landed  her  passengers  at  Phil- 
adelphia. The  emigrants  were  lodged  in  a  barracks  evacuated  by  the  troops 
after  the  proclamation  of  peace,  but  in  the  course  of  the  winter  a  third  mis- 
fortune befell  them:  the  barracks  took  fire  and  burned  to  the  ground,  consum- 
ing in  the  flames  their  worldly  all.  These  poor  pilgrims  then  went  through 
to  Lake  Champlain  in  boats,  and  were  met  at  Ile-aux-Noix  by  their  friends 
who  had  already  established  themselves  in  Ontario.  Who  but  Highland 
hearts  would  undertake  such  a  journey  for  friends  ?  At  a  bad  season  of  the 
year,  over  slushy  roads,  when  time  was  precious  and  horse-flesh  valuable,  they 
started  in  capacious  sleighs  for  their  old  friends  and  kindred,  and  drove  them 
to  the  forest  that  was  to  be  their  home,  housing  and  feeding  them  until  their 
own  log-houses  were  erected. 

The  second  band  of  emigrants  before  referred  to  had  a  much  more  pros- 
perous voyage.  They  were  from  Knoydart,  and  were  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Rev.  Alexander  MacDonald,  of  the  family  of  Scothouse,  a  cousin  of  the 
chief  of  Glengarry.  He  was  a  man  of  courage  and  strong  will,  and  marshaled 
his  flock  with  prudence  and  discretion.  As  the  good  ship  MacDonald  glided 
out  of  the  harbor  of  Greenock  the  priest  addressed  his  flock  and  put  them 
under  the  protection  of  St.  Raphael,  the  guide  of  the  wanderer.  A  few 
moments  later  there  was  a  wail  of  terror:  the  ship  was  aground.  " Sios  air 
er  glunean,  agus  dianibh  umeigJi''' — "  Down  on  your  knees  and  pray !" — 
thundered  the  priest;  St.  Raphael  interceded,  the  ship  slid  off,  and  in  the 
Quebec  Gazette,  1786,  is  this  entry: 

"Arrived,  ship  MacDonald,  from  Greenock,  with  emigrants,  nearly  the  whole  of  a 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  423 

parish  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  who  emigrated  with  their  priest  and  nineteen  cabin 
passengers,  together  with  five  hundred  and  twenty  steerage  passengers,  to  better  their 
case,  up  to  Cataraqui." 

Cataraqui  was  the  ancient  name  for  Kingston;  there,  however,  they  did 
aot  go,  but  to  what  is  now  known  as  St.  Raphael's  parish,  some  miles  north 
of  Lancaster.  Here  they  fell  to  work,  in  spite  of  numerous  hardships,  to 
construct  their  houses,  and  also  to  build  the  pioneer  church,  called  "  Blue 
Chapel."  Of  course  church  and  parish  were  dedicated  to  their  archangel 
guardian.  In  the  year  1802  another  very  large  party  of  emigrants  arrived 
from  Glengarry,  Inverness-shire,  who,  settling  near  the  earlier  comers,  gave 
the  name  of  their  native  glen  to  the  whole  district  During  the  winter  of 
1803  the  good  priest  of  St.  Raphael's  fell  ill  far  away  from  any  comfort  or 
from  medical  aid  to  soothe  or  assuage  his  malady;  he  was  deprived,  too,  of 
the  services  of  a  brother  priest  to  administer  the  consolations  of  religion. 
His  people  rallied  round  him,  and  the  strongest  men  came  forward;  they  con- 
structed a  leabaith  ghidain,  and  carried  him  upon  it  through  the  forest  paths 
and  over  the  snow  mountains  to  Williamstown.  Hence,  when  the  ice  broke 
up,  he  was  taken  in  a  canoe  down  Riviere-aux-Raisins  to  the  mission  at 
Lachine,  where  he  died  on  the  19th  of  May,  1803.  He  was  succeeded  in  St. 
Raphael's  by  a  Father  Fitzsimmons. 

The  chronicle  of  the  emigrants  of  1802  introduces  one  of  the  grandest 
figures  in  Canadian  history — the  Rev.  Alexander  (Allastair)  MacDonald,  or 
MacDonell,  later  the  first  bishop  of  Upper  Canada.  He  was  of  the  house  of 
Glengarry,  a  branch  of  clan  Donald  now  generally  recognized  as  inheriting 
the  chieftainship  of  the  whole  clan.  For  services  rendered  to  the  royal  house 
of  Stuart  they  were  rewarded  by  Charles  II  with  a  peerage  under  the  title  of 
Lord  MacDonell  and  Arross.  The  Rev.  Alexander  MacDonald  was  born  at 
Innishalaggan  in  1760,  and  studied  at  Valladolid. 

About  the  year  1790  trade  between  the  river  Clyde  and  the  North 
American  colonies  had  been  greatly  injured  by  the  proclamation  of  peace  and 
the  independence  of  those  colonies,  and  the  merchants  of  Glasgow  and 
Greenock  turned  their  attention  to  the  importation  and  manufacture  of  cotton. 
This  branch  of  industry  grew  rapidly,  and  in  1793  over  eighty  thousand  peo- 
ple were  employed  in  it.  The  great  demand  for  labor  drained  the  agricul- 
tural districts  and  sent  up  the  price  of  all  kinds  of  provisions.  The  lairds, 
finding  they  could  obtain  so  ready  a  market,  determined  that  it  would  be 
more  to  their  advantage  to  turn  their  mountain  estates  into  sheep-walks  man 


434  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

to  allow  them  to  be  occupied  by  the  numerous  and  poor  clansmen,  who  were 
indifferent  farmers  and  could  scarcely  obtain  from  the  soil  sufficient  for  their 
own  maintenance. 

Accordingly  the  tenants  were  turned  adrift;  sometimes  two  hundred  gave 
place  to  one  south-country  shepherd,  or,  as  the  local  phraseology  expressed 
it, "  Two  hundred  smokes  went  through  one  chimney."  These  poor  people 
were  destitute  and  helpless;  they  had  never  been  beyond  the  gray  line  of 
ocean  that  washes  the  rocks  of  the  Hebrides  and  runs  into  the  deep  indentures 
of  the  Inverness-shire  coast.  The  southern  language  was  to  them  an  unknown 
tongue;  to  make  or  to  take  care  of  money  was  beyond  their  ken.  The  means 
of  emigration  were  denied  them.  British  cruisers  had  orders  from  the  admi- 
ralty to  prevent  the  departure  of  emigrants  from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland, 
and  to  press  such  able-bodied  men  as  they  found  on  board  of  emigrant-ships. 

It  was  when  affairs  were  in  this  pitiable  state  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mac- 
Donald  came  to  the  rescue.  Leaving  the  scene  of  his  missionary  labors  on 
the  borders  of  Perth,  he  repaired  to  Glasgow,  where  he  obtained  an  intro- 
duction to  the  principal  manufacturers.  He  proposed  to  them  that  they 
should  give  employment  to  his  destitute  countrymen.  This  they  were  willing 
enough  to  do,  but  reminded  the  priest  of  two  obstacles:  one,  their  ignorance 
of  the  English  language;  the  other,  their  profession  of  the  Catholic  faith.  At 
that  time  the  prejudice  against  Catholics  was  so  strong  in  Glasgow  that  they 
were  always  in  danger  of  insult  and  abuse.  It  was  hardly  safe  for  a  priest  to 
reside  among  them;  he  would  be  subject  to  annoyance  and  assault,  and,  as 
the  penal  laws  wei-e  still  in  force,  he  would  also  be  liable  to  be  brought  before 
a  court  of  justice. 

Dr.  MacDonald  expressed  his  conviction  that  "  although  the  letter  of  the 
law  was  in  force,  the  spirit  of  it  was  greatly  mitigated,"  and  declared  that  if 
the  manufacturers  would  take  the  Highlanders  under  their  protection  he  would 
run  his  chances  of  safety  and  take  up  his  residence  among  them  as  interpreter 
and  clergyman.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  from  1792  to  1794  the  plan  worked 
admirably. 

Then  came  the  war  with  France.  The  manufacturers  received  a  sudden 
check;  many  failed,  and  others  were  almost  at  a  stand.  The  poor  High- 
landers were  again  out  of  employment  and  again  destitute.  Dr.  MacDonald 
then  conceived  the  plan  of  getting  them  embodied  in  a  Highland  corps  under 
his  kinsman  called  Allastair  Ruagh  (the  red),  the  young  chief  of  Glengarry. 
He  assembled  a  meeting  of  Catholics  at  Fort  Augustus   in   February,  1794, 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  42^ 

when  an  address  was  drawn  up  to  the  king,  offering  to  raise  a  Catholic  corps 
under  the  command  of  the  young  chieftain,  who,  with  Fletcher,  the  laird  of 
Dunens,  proceeded  to  London  to  lay  it  before  the  king.  It  was  most  gra- 
ciously received;  the  manufacturers, of  Glasgow  warmly  seconded  it,  furnish- 
ing cordial  recommendations  of  the  Highlanders,  and  in  August  letters  of  ser- 
vice were  issued  to  Alexander  MacDonell,  of  Glengarry,  to  raise  the  Glengarry 
Fencible  Regiment  as  a  Catholic  corps,  of  which  he  was  appointed  colonel. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  MacDonald  was  gazetted  chaplain  to  this  regiment,  which  did 
service  in  Guernsey  and  afterwards  in  Ireland. 

An  anecdote  is  told  of  them  at  Waterford  which  shows  the  honest  sim- 
plicity of  their  nature  and  their  ignorance  of  worldly  wisdom.  When  they 
entered  the  town  billet-money  was  distributed  among  them.  Before  night 
the  order  was  countermanded;  they  were  ordered  to  New  Ross.  Being  told 
of  this,  each  honest  Scot  returned  his  billet-money!  While  they  were  quar- 
tered in  Connemara  two  young  men  named  Stewart  were  brought  by  the 
commanding  officer  before  a  drum-head  court-martial,  whereupon  a  private 
stepped  out  of  the  ranks,  recovered  his  arms,  saluted  his  colonel,  and  said: 

"  Ma  dhoirtear  diar  difhuil  nan  Stuibhartich  an  a  sko  a  noc,  bi  stri 
s'anchuis" — "  If  there  will  be  a  drop  of  the  Stewart  blood  spilt  here  to-night 
there  will  be  trouble."  "  Go  back  to  the  ranks,  you  old  rebel,"  was  the 
answer;  but  the  Stewarts  escaped  scot-free.  The  colonel  at  this  time  was  not 
Glengarry,  but  his  cousin  Donald  MacDonell,  who  was  afterwards  killed  at 
Badajos  at  the  head  of  the  "  forlorn  hope." 

The  regiment  was  disbanded  in  1802,  and  the  men  were  again  as  destitute 
as  ever.  Their  chaplain  then  set  out  for  London,  and  entered  into  a  nego- 
tiation with  the  government  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  assistance  to  further 
their  emigration  to  Upper  Canada.  This  plan  was  opposed,  and  the  govern- 
ment offered  to  settle  them  in  Trinidad.  Dr.  MacDonald,  however,  perse- 
vered, and  at  length  procured  from  Mr.  Addington,  the  premier,  an  order  to 
grant  two  hundred  acres  of  land  to  every  Highlander  who  should  arrive  in 
the  province.  After  enduring  extreme  opposition  from  Highland  landlords, 
governors,  and  members  of  parliament — even  from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who 
offered  them  land  in  Cornwall— the  devoted  priest  obtained  the  desire  of  his 
heart  and  saw  his  beloved  people  sail  for  Canada  in  1S02.  As  has  been  before 
said,  they  named  their  new  home  after  their  native  glen,  and  every  head  of  a 
family  called  his  plantation  after  the  farm  he  had  possessed  among  the  grand, 
old  hills  of  Inverness-shire. 


26  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  all  the  Catholic  settlers  were  MacDonells  (or 
MacDonalds).  Among  those  of  1784  we  find  the  name  of  Fraser,  McLennan, 
Hay,  Rose,  Glasford,  and  others;  among  the  bands  of  1786  were  Grants,  Mc- 
Intoshes,  McWilliamses,  McDougalls,  McPhees,  McGillises,  McGillivrays, 
McCuaigs,  and  Campbells.     Those  of  1802  were  more  than  half  MacDonalds. 

In  1S04  Dr.  MacDonald  followed  his  people  to  Canada.  He  proceeded 
first  to  visit  the  Rev.  Roderick  (Rory)  MacDonald  at  the  Indian  mission  of 
St.  Regis,  then  went  to  Kingston.  During  this  time  the  people  of  St. 
Raphael's  had  taken  a  dislike  to  Father  Fitzsimmons  and  clamored  to  have 
him  removed,  probably  because  they  saw  a  chance  of  having  his  place  filled 
by  their  beloved  pastor  of  old  days.  Father  Roderick,  from  St.  Regis, 
reasoned  with  them  by  letter,  but  in  vain.  At  last  a  sturdy  clansman,  John 
MacDonald,  surnamed  «  Bonaparte,"  pushed  his  way  from  St.  Raphael's  to 
Quebec  in  midwinter,  1805,  and  laid  his  petition  before  Bishop  du  Plessis, 
who  came  to  Glengarry  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year  and  appointed  Dr. 
MacDonald  parish  priest  of  St.  Raphael's. 

The  people's  joy  was  very  great  at  having  their  beloved  priest  with 
them  once  more.  They  gathered  from  near  and  far  to  bid  him  welcome. 
The  little  "Blue  Chapel"  was  filled  to  overflowing;  devout  worshipers 
knelt  along  the  aisles,  on  the  doorsteps,  and  out  on  the  short,  crisp  grass  of 
the  woodland  meadows.  When  the  notes  of  the  Tantum  Ergo  rose  on  the 
air  they  pictured  the  Benediction  service  in  their  former  home,  where  they 
had  knelt  on  the  heather  of  the  beloved  glen,  through  whose  mountains 
their  clear,  wild  music  had  so  often  sounded  that  hymn  of  adoration,  borne 
along  the  rippling  waves  of  the  Garry  to  float  over  the  waters  of  dark  Loch 
Ness  and  echo  amid  the  wild  hills  of  Glen  More.  The  "  Blue  Chapel "  was 
soon  too  small  for  the  parishioners,  and  Dr.  MacDonald  went  home  to  Scot- 
land in  18 19  to  procure  assistance  toward  the  erection  of  a  larger  church. 
During  his  absence  he  was  elected  bishop  of  Upper  Canada.  He  returned 
in  1820,  bringing  with  him  from  Glasgow  a  stone-mason,  who  set  about 
building  the  present  parish  church  of  St.  Raphael's.  The  bishop  was  conse- 
crated in  Montreal  in  1820,  and  was  received  in  Glengarry  with  a  great  dis- 
play of  rejoicing.  After  remaining  there  for  two  years  he  removed  to  Kings- 
ton, which  place  became  his  home, 'the  diocese  having  been  divided  and 
Bishop  Power  appointed  bishop  of  Toronto.  Bishop  Gaulin,  coadjutor  to 
Bishop  MacDonald,  was  assistant  priest  at  St.  Raphael's  after  181 2,  as  the 
bishop  was  constantly  traveling. 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  427 

Bishop  MacDonald  organized  his  immense  diocese,  bought  land,  built 
convents  and  churches,  also  founded  at  St.  Raphael's  the  college  of  Iona,  a 
portion  of  which  was  built  in  18 18  for  a  public  school;  the  western  part  was 
added  for  ecclesiastics  in  1S26.  Here  he  taught  himself,  aided  by  professors 
whom  he  obtained  from  Montreal.  Fourteen  ecclesiastics  were  ordained 
from  this  primitive  seat  of  learning.  The  bishop's  house,  built  in  1808,  is  a 
spacious  stone  mansion  capable  of  accommodating  many  persons,  and  fronting 
on  a  large  garden  laid  out  in  1826  by  a  gardener  whom  he  brought  out  from 
Scotland. 

The  bishop  seems  here  to  have  found  rest  and  solace  among  his  flowers. 
He  founded  the  Highland  Society  and  encouraged  among  the  people  the 
preservation  of  their  nationality.  In  a  pastoral  still  extant  he  expresses  him- 
self very  strongly  against  "those  radicals  who  aim  at  the  destruction  of  our 
holy  religion,"  and  strives  to  inculcate  on  his  people  a  spirit  of  moderation  and 
gratitude  to  the  government,  who  had  certainly  befriended  them  better  than  had 
their  own  natural  chieftains  at  home.  When  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  18 19 
the  bishop  endeavored  to  interest  Cardinal  Wilde  in  his  Glengarry  colony, 
and,  it  is  said,  wanted  him  to  visit  Upper  Canada,  his  eminence  being  then 
not  even  a  priest,  simply  a  very  wealthy  widower. 

In  1840  the  venerable  prelate  went  home  to  Scotland  for  the  last  time, 
and  visited  an  old  friend,  Father  Gardiner,  in  Dumfries,  in  whose  arms  he 
died.  Mortal  illness  seized  him  before  he  reached  the  end  of  his  journey, 
and  his  first  words  of  greeting  were:  "Dear  old  friend,  I've  come  to  die  with 
you."  His  remains  were  brought  to  St.  Raphael's,  then  removed  to  Kingston 
in  i860.  Thus  passed  away  one  of  the  grandest  men  whom  God  ever  sent  to 
hew  for  his  people  a  path  through  the  wilderness. 

Among  those  who  came  out  in  the  ship  MacDonald  were  one  John 
MacDonald,  of  the  MacDonalds  of  Loupe,  and  Anna  McGillis,  his  wife, 
with  three  children.  The  three  multiplied  to  nine  before  many  years  passed, 
and  of  these  two  sons  entered  the  Church;  the  eldest,  yEneas  (Angus),  joined 
the  Sulpitians  and  passed  forty  years  as  a  professor  in  the  Montreal  semi- 
nary. He  then  retired  to  Glengarry,  where,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  he  died 
universally  beloved.  Two  brothers  and  two  sisters  died,  aged  respectively 
ninety-eight,  eighty-two,  seventy-three,  and  sixty-seven  years;  there  are  now 
living  in  Cornwall  two  brothers  and  one  sister,  aged  eighty-eight,  eighty-one, 
and  seventy-eight  years.  The  second  son,  John,  studied  for  the  priesthood, 
and  soon  after  his  ordination  was  an  assistant  at  St.  Raphael's;  thence  he  was 


428  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

removed  to  Perth,  where  he  suffered  many  hardships  for  ten  years.  He  was- 
vicar-general  of  Kingston  and  parish  priest  of  St.  Raphael's  for  many  years, 
and  died  at  Lancaster  on  the  16th  of  March,  1879,  in  the  ninety-seventh  year 
of  his  age. 

This  latter  was  a  man  of  very  determined  character  and  somewhat  stern 
in  his  treatment  of  his  flock,  who  one  and  all  obeyed  him  as  little  children. 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing  in  those  days  to  see  a  man  with  a  sheep-skin  on 
his  head  or  a  wooden  gag  in  his  mouth — a  penance  awarded  by  Father  John. 
A  pulpit  was  a  conventionality  that  he  scorned ;  he  always  addressed  his 
people  while  walking  to  and  fro  behind  the  Communion  railing.  If  any 
luckless  wight  incurred  his  displeasure  he  was  pitilessly  and  publicly 
rebuked,  though  sometimes  the  worm  turned.     For  instance: 

"John  Roy  MacDonald,  leave  this  church."  Dead  silence.  "John 
Roy  MacDonald,  I  say  leave  this  church."  John  Roy  MacDonald  rises  and 
goes  slowly  and  solemnly  out,  stepping  carefully  over  the  far-apart  logs  that 
did  duty  for  a  floor. 

Father  John  proceeds  with  his  sermon,  when  creak,  creak,  creak,  back 
over  the  logs  comes  John  Roy  MacDonald  and  calmly  resumes  his  seat. 

"John  Roy  MacDonald,  did  I  not  tell  you  to  leave  this  church?  " 

"Yes,  Maister  Ian,  and  I  will  be  for  to  go  out  of  the  church  for  to 
pleass  you,  and  now  I  wass  come  pack  for  to  pleass  myself  !  " 

It  was  not  the  ancient  Scotch  custom  to  call  priests  father;  hence  Father 
John  was  always  spoken  to  and  of  as  Maister  Ian. 

Through  great  and  manifold  hardships  have  these  people  worked  their 
way  to  comfort  and  ease.  Coming  from  a  life  of  freedom,  and  in  many 
instances  careless  idleness,  in  a  sea-girt  home  where  a  wealth  of  fresh  fish 
was  always  to  be  had  for  very  slight  exertion,  agricultural  labor  was  almost 
unknown  to  them.  In  Canada  they  found  themselves  obliged  to  work  hard 
and  in  the  face  of  disheartening  obstacles.  Their  new  home  was  in  many 
parts  either  swamp-land  or  else  sandy  and  full  of  stones;  the  stones  had  to  be 
picked  up  and  made  into  walls  to  divide  the  farms,  and  the  swamp-land 
drained  and  reclaimed.  Often  they  had  to  lay  roads  of  logs  across  the 
marshes  and  jump  from  one  log  to  another,  carrying  on  their  backs  bags  of 
grain  to  be  ground  at  Williamstown,  where  Sir  John  Johnson  had  erected  a 
mill.  Williamstown  is  to-day  a  thriving  place,  with  a  fine  convent  and  as 
pretty  a  church  as  there  is  to  be  found  in  Canada.  All  these  obstacles  they 
surmounted   as  became   the   hardy  mountaineers   they  were,  and   from   their 


OVER  THE  BORDER.  429 

?anks  came  some  of  the  celebrated  characters  of  Canadian  history,  such  as  the 
first  speaker  of  the  Upper  Canadian  Parliament,  which  met  at  Niagara,  Sep- 
tember 17,  1792 — Col.  John  MacDonell,  of  Greenfield,  for  many  years  mem- 
ber for  Glengarry  and  attorney-general.  He  was  colonel  of  the  Glengarry 
Fencibles,  raised  for  the  War  of  181 2,  and  was  killed  while  serving  under 
Brock  at  Queenstown  Heights. 

From  St.  Raphael's  came  the  family  of  Sandfield  MacDonald,  of  which 
the  late  Hon.  John  Sandfield  MacDonald  was  the  eldest  son.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  politicians  of  his  time,  and  premier  of  the  Canadian  govern- 
ment. His  brother,  the  Hon.  D.  A.  MacDonald,  one  of  the  crown  ministers 
of  the  late  Liberal  or  Grit  government,  was  lieutenant-governor  of  Ontario 
for  five  years. 

Among  the  "places  of  interest"  to  a  Catholic  stranger  in  Canada  west 
there  is  none  more  delightful  than  St.  Raphael's,  where  so  many  historic 
memories  meet  and  touch,  and,  interweaved  with  the  faith  that  is  in  them, 
live  on  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  is  difficult  of  access;  so  are  most 
poetic  places  nowadays.  You  leave  Lancaster  in  a  "  Black  Maria "  that 
groans  and  creaks  and  bounces  over  the  road  in  a  way  that  will  test  your 
nerves.  Your  driver  is  a  yellow-haired  Gael  with  a  tendency  to  moralize  on 
the  evils  of  intemperance;  but  as  he  speaks  the  wind  wafts  over  his  shoulder 
his  breath,  tainted  with  an  unmistakable  odor  of  John  Barleycorn.  As  you 
leave  Lancaster  a  wayside  workshop  strikes  your  eye,  neat,  white,  and  dapper. 
From  its  eave  depends  a  sign;  you  expect  at  the  most  an  intimation  that 
festive  buggies  and  neat  jaunting-sleighs  are  made  within;  but  no:  ''A  large 
supply  of  elegant  coffins  always  on  hand!"  This  singular  memento  tnori  sets 
you  thinking  until  you  come  to  the  end  of  your  seven-mile  drive  and  dis- 
mount at  "  Sandfield's  Corner,"  your  oscillating  conveyance  going  jolting  on 
to  Alexandria.  You  follow  in  the  wake  of  a  barefooted  small  boy  whose 
merry  black  eyes  proclaim  him  an  interloper  and  a  Frenchman.  Along  the 
side  of  the  old  "military  road"  you  go  under  elm-trees  of  giant  height  until 
you  reach  the  quaint  old  hamlet  dedicated  to  "Raphael  the  healer,  Raphael 
the  guide."  Village  there  is  none;  only  a  post-office  and  store,  an  inn,  a 
school-house,  two  cottages,  with  the  church,  presbytery,  and  college.  The 
former  stands  on  the  brow  of  a  hill  and  is  remarkably  large  and  lofty  for  a 
country  church.  On  a  chiseled  slab  over  the  door  you  read:  "  Teag  de 
(House  of  God)  iiidccxxi."  Entering  you  are  struck  by  the  bareness  of  the 
vast  roof,  unsupported   by   pillars  or  galleries.     The  sanctuary  is  formed  by 


4oG  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

a  rood-screen  dividing   it  from   the  passage  that   connects  the   sanctuaries. 
Behind  this  screen  is  a  white  marble  slab  bearing  the  inscription : 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1843, 

the  Highland  Society  of  Canada 

erected  this  tablet  to  the  memory  of 

the  Honorable  and  Right  Reverend 

Alexander  MacDonell, 

Bishop  of  Kingston, 

Born  1760 — Died   1840. 

Though  dead  he  still  lives 

in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

Under  the  floor  at  the  gospel  side  of  the  sanctuary  lie  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  good  and  revered  Father  John.  Upon  the  main  altar  a  statue  of  the 
patron  of  the  church,  St.  Raphael,  the  "human-hearted  seraph" — imported 
from  Munich  by  the  present  parish  priest,  Father  Masterson — looks  as  full  of 
beauty  and  compassion  as  even  Faber  has  portrayed  him. 

The  side  altars  have  also  fine  statues  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St. 
Joseph,  and  the  church  throughout  gives  evidence  of  tasteful  care.  In  the 
graveyard  there  are  many  old  tombs,  of  which  the  inscriptions  are  defaced 
by  time.  One  of  the  oldest  bears  the  date  of  182S,  and  on  it  the  passer-by  is 
requested,  "in  the  name  of  God,"  to  pray  for  the  soul  of  Mary  Watson, 
spouse  of  Lieutenant  Angus  MacDonell,  Glengarry  Light  Infantry.  Near 
the  church  there  was  a  building  called  a  convent,  but  the  bishop  never  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  nuns  for  the  mission.  The  inclosure  across  the  road  is 
occupied  by  the  presbytery  and  college,  now  used  as  a  chapel  in  which  Mass 
is  said  daily,  and  in  which,  when  the  writer  first  saw  it,  the  descendants  of 
the  mountaineers  were  repeating  the  rosary  on  a  golden  May  evening.  The 
building  is  small,  and  has,  of  course,  been  greatly  altered,  all  the  partitions 
having  been  removed  to  render  it  fit  for  use  as  a  chapel.  The  garden  of  the 
bishop  is  still  a  mass  of  bloom,  and  in  its  center  walk  stands  a  moss-grown 
sun-dial,  whereon  we  trace:  "R.J.  McD.  1827" — a  relic  of  Maister  Ian. 
From  the  wall  of  one  of  the  rooms  in  which  he  lived  the  grand  old  bishop's 
portrait  looks  down  on  his  people.  It  shows  a  man  of  commanding  figure 
and  noble  and  benign  aspect,  withal  bearing  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
pictures  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  The  church,  house,  college,  and  garden  have 
been  much  improved  by  Father  Masterson,  who  succeeded  Father  John,  after 
being  his  assistant  for  many  years. 

The  people  of   Glengarry  seem  to   live  on  very  good  terms  with  their 


OVER  THE  BORDER. 


431 


Protestant  neighbors,  and  tell  with  pleasure  of  Father  John's  custom  of  read- 
ing the  Bible  aloud  to  those  of  them  who  wished  him  to  do  so.  The  bishop 
was  revered  by  all  sects,  and  when  he  received  visitors  of  state  in  Kingston 
the  wife  of  the  Protestant  minister  used  to  go  over  to  do  the  honors  of  his 
house.  All  through  the  country  the  farms  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any 
others  of  the  Dominion,  and  are  graced  by  magnificent  trees.  The  roads  are 
bordered  with  beech,  ash,  birch,  tamarack,  maple,  butternut,  spruce,  willow, 
and  pine,  while  the  elms  in  every  direction  offer  studies  for  an  artist  in  their 
rugged  and  graceful  curves.  These  elms  were  the  staple  commodity  for 
export,  and  the  year  in  which  the  people  found  no  market  for  their  wood 
was  one  in  which  their  sufferings  were  extreme;  they  still  speak  of  it  as 
"  the  year  of  elms."  A  small  river  called  the  Beaudette  winds  through  the 
country.  On  each  side  of  it  are  marsh-lands,  covered  in  places  with  low- 
sized  bushes;  water  scenery  is  certainly  wanting  in  Glengarry. 

The  Highlanders  are  grave  and  serious,  clannish  as  of  old,  standing  by 
each  other  "gnaillean  ri gtiaillean^  (shoulder  to  shoulder)  in  all  disputes. 
The  old  antipathy  between  the  clans  is  still  in  some  instances  cherished.  It 
is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  young  lawyer  of  Glengarry,  who  is,  in  the  opinion 
of  many,  heir  to  the  title  and  chieftainship,  actually  refused,  some  time  ago, 
to  accept  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the  Marquis  of  Lome,  declaring  that  a 
MacDonell  could  not  and  would  not  be  the  guest  of  a  Campbell  of  Argyle! 

The  national  dress  is  rare  now  and  only  comes  out,  like  the  bagpipes,  on 
state  occasions.  The  girls,  in  spite  of  Father  John's  penances,  have  cultivated 
their  decided  talent  for  dancing,  but  there  is  generally  none  of  the  gayety 
and  careless  amusement  so  common  among  the  French-Canadians.  Hospi- 
tality is  a  predominant  characteristic  of  the  Highlanders — a  hospitality  so 
generous,  sincere,  and  hearty  that,  having  experienced  it,  you  will  be  ready 
to  say  with  Burns: 

"When  death's  dark  stream  I  ferry  o'er — 

A  time  that  surely  shall  come — 
In  heaven  itself  I'll  ask  no  more 

Than  just  a  Highland  welcome." 


Chapter  ££U. 


CATHOMCS  IN  TH6  ClUIfc  WAR. 


Attitude  of  the  Church. — Neither  Partisan  nor  Abettor. — Knew  no  North, 
no  South. — Her  Master  the  Prince  of  Peace. — His  Work  Her  Only  Con- 
cern.— Help  for  the  Sick  and  Wounded. — Sisters  of  Mercy  and  Charity. 
— Their  Gentle  Ministrations. — Hated  and  Despised  at  First. — Grate- 
fully Loved  When  Known.— Conversions  in  Field  and  Hospital. — "What- 
ever Sister  Believes,  I  Believe." — Catholic  Army  Chaplains. — Men  Who 
Never  Shrank  From  Duty. — Charity  That  Was  Not  Sectional. — Fathers 
cooney  and  corby,  c.  s.  c. — the  solemn  absolution  scene. — bravery  of 
Catholic  Soldiers. — The  Irish  Catholic  Everywhere. — Testimony  to  His 
Gallantry.- — Officers  no  Less  Brave. — Names  not  Necessary  Where  All 
Were  Brave. — The  Good  Effects  of  Catholic  Example. 


^HE  Catholic  Church  of  America,  regarding  war  as  a  great  calamity, 
and  civil  war — of  state  against  state,  citizen  against  citizen,  even 
brother  against  brother — as  the  direst  of  all  evils,-  scrupulously 
abstained  from  uttering  one  word  that  could  have  a  tendency  to 
inflame  or  exasperate  the  passions  which  others  were  doing  their 
utmost  to  excite  to  uncontrollable  fury.  The  mission  of  the 
Church  was  to  proclaim  glad  tidings  of  peace  to  man,  not  to  preach  strife  and 
hatred  amongst  brethren.  Thus  those  who  visited  the  Catholic  churches  of 
the  United  States  from  the  spring  of  1861  to  the  autumn  of  that  year,  would 
never  have  supposed,  from  anything  heard  within  their  walls,  that  the  trumpet 
had  sounded  through  the  land;  that  armies  were  gathering,  and  camps  were 
forming;  that  foundries  were  at  full  blast,  making  implements  of  death;  that 
artificers  were  hard  at  work,  fashioning  the  rifle  and  the  revolver,  sharpening 
the  sword,  and  pointing  the  bayonet;  that  dockyards  rang  with  the  clang  of 
hammers,  and  resounded  with  the  cries  of  myriads  of  busy  men — that  America 

432 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  433 

was  in  the  first  throes  of  desperate  strife.  Nor,  as  the  time  went  on,  and  all 
the  pent-up  passions  of  years  were  unloosed,  and  a  deadly  war  progressed 
with  varying  fortunes,  and  fury  possessed  the  heart  of  a  mighty  people, 
could  the  stranger  who  entered  a  Catholic  temple  scarcely  believe  in  the 
existence  of  the  storm  that  raged  without;  the  only  indications  of  the  tremen- 
dous conflict  being  the  many  dark  robes,  the  sad  livery  of  woe,  worn  by 
women  and  children — the  mothers,  wives,  or  orphans  of  those  who  had  fallen 
in  battle;  for,  save  in  the  greater  solemnity  of  the  priest,  as  he  raised  the 
hearts  of  his  congregation  to  the  throne  of  God,  there  to  sue  for  grace  and 
pardon,  there  was  nothing  to  imply  the  existence  of  a  struggle  whose  gigantic 
proportions  filled  the  world  with  amazement.  The  Catholic  Church  was 
content  to  preach  "Christ  crucified"  to  its  own  followers,  as  to  all  who  came 
to  listen.  It  regarded  its  pulpit  as  a  sacred  chair,  from  which  it  was  to  teach 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  how  man  could  best  fulfill  his  duties  to  his  Crea- 
tor, his  country,  and  his  neighbor.  It  deemed — and  the  judgment  of  the  wise 
and  good  will  say  it  deemed  rightly — that  if  the  minister  of  religion  became 
a  firebrand,  instead  of  a  preacher  of  peace,  he  misunderstood  his  duty,  and 
prostituted  the  sanctity  of  his  office ;  it  held,  that  it  was  a  gross  desecration  of 
a  temple  erected  to  the  worship  of  the  Deity,  to  suffer  it  to  resound  with  the 
language  of  unholy  strife — with  eloquent  incentives  to  massacre  and  desolation. 

Others  might  act  as  they  pleased ;  they  might  turn  their  churches  into  polit- 
ical assemblies,  and  their  pulpits  into  party  platforms — they  might  rage,  and 
storm,  and  fulminate — they  might  invoke  the  fiercest  passions  of  the  human 
breast,  and  appeal  to  the  lowest  instincts  of  man's  nature — they  might  stimu- 
late their  hearers  to  a  wider  destruction  of  life  and  poverty,  to  sadder  and 
more  terrible  havoc ;  others  might  do  this,  as  others  did — but  the  Catholic 
Church  of  America  was  neither  bewildered  by  the  noise  and  smoke  of 
battle,  nor  made  savage  by  the  scent  of  blood;  she  simply  fulfilled  her  mission, 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Apostles — she  preached  the  Word  of  God  in  loving- 
ness  and  peace. 

The    startling    contrast  which  the   Catholic  Church  thus  presented  to 

most,  indeed  nearly  all,  of  the  other  churches  during  this  period  of  national 

tribulation,  was  not  without  its  influence  on  the  public  mind  of  America.     It 

made  men  think  and  reflect,  and   in   numberless    instances   conviction   came 

with  thought  and   reflection.     The  fervid  and  furious  "  sermons  "  that  were 

listened  to  with  flashing  eyes  and  quickened  pulses  by  the  majority  of  those 

to  whom  they  were  addressed,  excited   the  sorrow  or  disgust  of  not  a  few. 
29 


434 


CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


A  Protestant  gentleman,  speaking  to  a  Catholic  friend  in  New  York,  thus 
referred  to  the  prevailing  topics  which  inspired  the  eloquence  of  his  Boanerges: 

"  My  wife  urged  me  yesterday  to  accompany  her  to  our  church.  I 
refused.  She  was  rather  angry.  *  Weil,  my  dear,'  I  said, 'you  may  go  if 
you  please;  the  pew  is  there  for  you — I  pay  for  it.-  But  I  shan't  go.  When- 
ever I  have  gone  I  have  never  heard  but  three  sermons  at  the  most — popery, 
slavery,  and  war — war,  slavery,  and  popery!  These  may  satisfy  you — 
they  don't  me.  When  I  go  to  church  I  wish  to  be  made  better,  not  worse. 
Now  I  think  a  little  of  the  Gospel,  that  tells  us  something  of  peace  and 
charity,  would  do  me  good — your  war,  and  slavery,  and  popery  don't.  I 
repeat,  my  dear,  you  may  go  if  you  please;  but  I'm — blessed  if  I  do.* " 

If  the  Catholic  Church  could  do  nothing  to  prevent  war,  she  could  at 
least  do  much  to  mitigate  its  horrors;  and  accordingly  she  commissioned 
her  noblest  representatives — her  consecrated  daughters — to  minister  in  the 
public  hospitals,  in  the  camp,  and  in  the  prisons — wherever  wretchedness,  and 
misery,  and  suffering  appealed  most  powerfully  to  their  Christian  duty  and 
womanly  compassion. 

The  events  of  the  war  brought  out  in  the  most  conspicuous  manner  the 
merits  and  usefulness  of  the  religious  orders,  especially  those  of  charity  and 
mercy,  and  the  holy  cross,  and,  spite  of  prejudice  and  bigotry,  made  the  name 
of  "  sister  "  honored  throughout  the  land.  Prejudice  and  bigotry  are  power- 
ful with  individuals  and  communities,  powerful,  too,  in  proportion  to  the 
ignorance  which  shrouds  the  mind  of  man.  Still,  these  are  but  relatively 
strong,  and  must  yield  before  a  force  superior  to  their's — truth.  And  as 
month  followed  month,  and  year  succeeded  to  year,  the  priceless  value  of 
services  having  their  motive  in  religion  and  their  reward  in  the  consciousness 
of  doing  good,  were  more  thoroughly  appreciated  by  a  generous  people.  At 
their  presence  in  an  hospital,  whether  long  established  or  hastily  improvised, 
order,  good  management,  and  economy  took  the  place  of  confusion,  lax 
administration,  and  reckless  expenditure,  if  not  worse.  Obstacles,  in  many 
instances  of  a  serious  nature,  were  placed  deliberately  in  their  path;  but.  with 
tact,  and  temper,  and  firmness,  these  were  encountered  by  women  who  had 
no  vanity  to  wound,  no  malice  to  inflame,  and  whose  only  object  was  to 
relieve  the  sufferings  of  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  most  efficacious  manner. 

It  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  difficulties  and  obstacles,  however 
apparently  formidable  at  first,  vanished  before  the  resistless  influence  of  their 
sincerity  and  their  goodness,  and   the  quite   as   conclusive   evidence  of   their 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  435 

usefulness.  But  the  greater  their  success,  the  greater  the  strain  on  the 
resources  of  the  principal  orders.  Not  only  did  death  and  sickness  thin  their 
ranks,  but  the  war,  by  adding  fearfully  to  the  number  of  helpless  orphans, 
added  likewise  to  their  cares  and  responsibilities.  What  with  ceaseless  duty 
in  the  hospitals,  teaching  in  their  schools,  visiting  the  sick,  providing  for  the 
fatherless  whom  every  great  battle  flung  upon  their  protection,  administering 
the  affairs  of  institutions  periled  by  the  universal  disturbance,  bringing  relief 
and  consolation  to  the  prisoner  in  the  crowded  building  or  wretched  camp  to 
which  the  chance  of  war  consigned  the  soldier  on  either  side — the  sisters 
were  tried  to  the  very  uttermost.  Nothing  but  the  spirit  of  religion, 
together  with  their  womanly  compassion  for  the  sick  and  the  suffering  and 
their  interest  in  the  brave  fellows  who,  docile  children  in  their  hands,  fol- 
lowed them  with  wistful  eyes  as,  angels  of  light  and  mercy,  they  brought 
balm  to  the  heart  of  the  wounded — nothing  short  of  the  sublime  motives  by 
which  these  ladies  were  animated,  could  have  sustained  them  throughout  four 
long  years  of  ceaseless  toil  and  never-ending  anxiety. 

At  first,  the  soldiers  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  them,  and  could  not 
comprehend  who  they  were,  or  what  was  their  object.  And  when  the  patient 
learned  that  the  sister  with  the  strange  dress  belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church 
— that  church  of  which  so  many  vile  stories  had  been  told  him  from  child- 
hood— a  look  of  dread,  even  horror,  might  be  observed  in  his  eyes  as  he 
instinctively  recoiled  from  her  proffered  services.  This  aversion  rarely  con- 
tinued long;  it  melted  away  like  ice  before  the  sun;  but,  unlike  the  ice,  which 
the  winter  again  brings  round,  this  feeling  never  returned  to  the  heart  of  the 
brave  man  whom  the  fortune  of  war  placed  under  the  care  of  the  sister. 
Once  gone,  it  was  gone  forever.  How  the  prejudice,  deep-seated,  and 
ingrained,  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the  sisters,  may  be  best  exemplified  by 
a  few  incidents,  taken  at  random  from  a  vast  number  of  a  similar  nature 
gathered  in  many  parts  of  the  country. 

Seven  Sisters  of  Mercy,  belonging  to  the  Houston  Street  Convent  in 
New  York,  were  sent  to  an  hospital  attached  to  a  federal  corps.  When  they 
first  entered  the  wards,  which  were  crowded  with  sick  and  wounded,  the 
soldiers  regarded  them  with  amazement.  One  of  the  sisters,  a  genial  Irish- 
woman, referring  to  this  her  first  visit  to  the  hospital,  told  with  much  humor 
how  the  bewildered  patients  took  the  sisters  for  seven  widows,  who  were 
looking  for  the  dead  bodies  of  their  husbands! 

Among  the  patients,  there  was  one  mere  lad — indeed  almost  a  child, 


436  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

scarce  fit  to  leave  his  mother's  guardianship — and  he  lay  with  his  face  on  the 
pillow,  as  an  hospital  attendant,  not  eminent  for  humanity,  carelessly  sponged 
a  fearful  wound  in  the  back  of  the  poor  youth's  neck.  The  hair  had  been 
matted  with  the  clotted  blood,  and  the  rude  touch  of  the  heartless  assistant 
was  ao-ony  to  the  miserable  patient.  "Let  me  do  it,"  said  the  sister,  taking  the 
instrument  of  torture  from  the  unsympathizing  hand;  and  then,  with  tepid 
water  and  soft  sponge,  and  woman's  delicacy  of  touch,  the  hideous  sore  was 
tenderly  cleansed.  "Oh,  who  is  that? — who  are  you — you  must  be  an  angel!" 
cried  the  relieved  youth.  The  hair  was  gently  separated  from  the  angry 
flesh,  so  that  the  grateful  patient  could  turn  his  head  and  glance  at  the  "angel;" 
but  no  sooner  did  he  cast  one  rapid  look  at  the  strange  garb  and  the  novel 
head-dress  of  the  sister,  than  he  shrieked  with  terror,  and  buried  his  face  in 
the  pillow.  " Do  not  fear  me,"  said  a  voice  full  of  sympathy;  "I  am  only 
anxious  to  relieve  your  sufferings."  The  work  of  mercy  was  proceeded  with, 
to  the  ineffable  comfort  of  the  wounded  boy,  who  murmured — "  Well,  no 
matter  what  you  are,  you're  an  angel  anyhow." 

At  times  there  were  as  many  as  eighty  sisters  in  or  near  Richmond,  in 
active  attendance  in  the  hospitals,  giving  their  services  alike  to  the  wounded 
soldiers  of  both  armies.  In  one  of  the  Richmond  hospitals  the  following 
took  place: 

A  sick  man,  looking  steadily  from  his  pillow  at  the  sister,  who  was  busy 
in  her  attentions  to  him,  abruptly  asked — 

"  Who  pays  you? — what  do  you  get  a  month?  " 

"We  are  not  paid;  we  do  not  receive  salaries,"  replied  the  sister. 

"  Then  why  do  you  work  as  you  do? — you  never  cease  working." 

"  What  we  do,  we  do  for  the  love  of  God — to  Him  only  we  look  for  our 
reward — we  hope  He  will  pay  us  hereafter." 

The  wounded  man  seemed  as  if  he  could  not  entirely  comprehend  a 
devotion  so  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  almighty  dollar;  but  he  made  no 
further  remark  at  the  time.  When  he  became  more  confidential  with  the 
sister,  the  following  dialogue  was  held — 

Patient.  Well,  sister,  there  is  only  one  class  of  people  in  this  world 
that  I  hate. 

Sister.  And  who  may  those  be? 

Patient.   The  Catholics. 

Sister.  The  Catholics!     Why  do  you  hate  them? 

Patient.  Well,  they  are  a  detestable  people. 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  437 

Sister.  Did  you  ever  meet  with  a  Catholic  that  you  say  that  of  them? 

Patient.  No,  never;  I  never  came  near  one. 

Sister.  Then  how  can  you  think  so  hardly  of  persons  of  whom  you  don't 
know  anything? 

Patient.  All  my  neighbors  tell  me  they  are  a  vile  and  wicked  people. 

Sister.  Now,  what  would  you  think  and  say  of  me,  if  I  were  one  of  those 
Catholics. 

Patient,  (indignantly).     Oh,     sister!      you! — you     who     are     so     good! 
Impossible! 

Sister.  Then,  indeed,  I  am  a  Catholic — a  Roman  Catholic. 

The  poor  fellow,  whose  nerves  were  not  yet  well  strung,  rose  in  his  bed 
as  with  a  bound,  looked  the  picture  of  amazement  and  sorrow,  and  burst  into 
tears.  He  had  so  lately  written  to  his  wife  in  his  distant  home,  telling  her  of 
the  unceasing  kindness  of  the  sister  to  him,  and  attributing  his  recovery  to  her 
care;  and  he  was  now  to  disclose  the  awful  fact  that  the  sister  was,  after  all, 
one  of  those  wicked  people  of  whom  he  and  she  had  heard  such  evil  things. 
This  was,  at  first,  a  great  trouble  to  his  mind ;  but  the  trouble  did  not  last  long, 
for  that  man  left  the  hospital  a  Catholic,  of  his  own  free  choice,  and  could 
then  understand,  not  only  that  his  neighbors  had  been,  like  himself,  the  dupes 
of  monstrous  fables,  but  how  the  sister  could  work  and  toil  for  no  earthly 
reward. 

A  sister  was  passing  through  the  streets  of  Boston  with  downcast  eyes 
and  noiseless  step,  reciting  a  prayer  or  thinking  of  the  poor  family  she  was 
about  to  visit.  As  she  was  passing  on  her  errand  of  mercy,  she  was  suddenly 
addressed  in  language  that  made  her  pale  cheek  flush,  by  a  young  man  of 
remarkable  appearance  and  free,  swaggering  gait.  The  sister,  though  griev- 
ously outraged,  uttered  no  word,  but  raised  her  eyes,  and  looked  at  the 
offender  with  calm,  steady  gaze,  in  which  volumes  of  rebuke  were  expressed. 
Time  passed  on;  the  war  intervened;  and  when  next  they  met  it  was  in  a 
ward  of  a  military  hospital  in  Missouri.  The  once  powerful  man  was  now 
feeble  as  an  infant,  and  had  not  many  days  to  live.  The  sister,  seeing  his 
condition,  asked  him  if  he  belonged  to  any  church;  and  on  his  replying  in  the 
negative,  she  asked  if  he  would  be  a  Catholic.  "  No — not  a  Catholic — I 
always  hated  Catholics,"  he  replied.  "  At  any  rate,  you  should  ask  the  par- 
don of  God  for  your  sins,  and  be  sorry  for  whatever  evil  you  have  done  in 
your  life,"  urged  the  sister. 

"  1  have  committed  many  sins  in  my  life,  sister,  and  I  am  sorry  for  them. 


43S  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

and  hope  to  be  forgiven ;  but  there  is  one  thing  that  weighs  heavy  on  my 
mind  at  this  moment — I  once  insulted  a  sister  in  Boston,  and  her  glance 
haunted  me  ever  after:  it  made  me  ashamed  of  myself.  I  knew  nothing  then  of 
what  sisters  were,  for  I  had  not  known  you.  But  now  that  I  know  how  good 
and  disinterested  you  are,  and  how  mean  I  was,  I  am  disgusted  with  myself. 
Oh,  if  that  sister  were  here,  I  could  go  down  on  my  knees  to  her  and  ask  her 
pardon!" 

"  You  have  asked  it,  and  received  it,"  said  the  sister,  looking  full  at  him, 
but  with  a  sweet  expression  of  tenderness  and  compassion. 

"  What!  Are  you  the  sister  I  met  in  Boston?  Oh,  yes!  you  are — I  know 
you  now.  And  how  could  you  have  attended  on  me  with  greater  care  than 
on  any  of  the  other  patients? — I  who  insulted  you  so!" 

"  I  did  it  for  our  Lord's  sake,  because  He  loved  His  enemies  and  blessed 
those  who  persecuted  Him.  I  knew  you  from  the  first  moment  you  were 
brought  into  the  hospital,  and  I  have  prayed  unceasingly  for  your  conversion," 
said  the  sister. 

"  Send  for  the  priest!"  exclaimed  the  dying  soldier;  "the  religion  that 
teaches  such  charity  must  be  from  God." 

And  he  did  die  in  the  sister's  faith,  holding  in  his  failing  grasp  the 
emblem  of  man's  redemption,  and  murmuring  prayers  taught  him  by  her 
whose  glance  of  mild  rebuke  had  long  haunted  him  like  a  remorse  through 
every  scene  of  revelry  or  of  peril. 

"Do  you  believe  that,  sister?  If  you  believe  it,  I  believe  it,  too."  There 
was  scarcely  an  hospital  at  either  side  of  the  line,  North  or  South,  of  which 
the  sisters  had  the  care,  in  which  these  apparently  strange  but  most  signifi- 
cant words  were  not  uttered  by  the  sick  and  the  dying.  Many  of  the  poor 
fellows  had  not  the  vaguest  notion  of  religious  teaching,  never  having  troubled 
themselves  with  such  matters  in  the  days  of  their  youth  and  health;  and 
when  the  experienced  eye  of  the  sister  discerned  the  approach  of  death,  the 
patient  would  be  asked  if  he  wished  to  see  a  clergyman.  Frequently  the 
the  answer  would  be  that  he  did  not  belong  to  any  religion.  "  Then  will  you 
become  a  Catholic,"  would  follow  as  a  fair  question  to  one  who  proclaimed 
himself  not  to  belong  to  any  church,  or  to  believe  in  any  form  of  Christianity. 
From  hundreds,  nay  thousands  of  sick  beds,  this  reply  was  made  to  that 
question:  "I  don't  know  much  about  religion,  but  I  wish  to  die  in  the 
religion  of  the  sisters."  When  asked,  for  example,  if  he  believed  in  the 
Trinity,  the  dying  man  would  turn  to  the  sister  who  stood  by  his   bedside, 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  439 

and  inquire — "Do  you,  sister?"  and  on  the  sister  answering,  "Yes,  I  do," 
he  would  say,  "  Then  I  do — whatever  the  sister  believes  in,  I  do."  And  thus 
he  would  make  his  confession  of  faith. 

A  soldier  from  Georgia,  who  was  tended  by  the  sisters  in  an  hospital  in  St. 
Louis,  declared  that  "  he  had  never  heard  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  knew  nothing 
about  him."  He  was  asked  if  he  would  become  a  Catholic.  "  I  have  heard  of 
them,"  he  said;  "  I  would  not  be  one  of  them  at  all — they  are  wicked  people. 
But  I'll  be  the  same  as  you,  sister;  whatever  that  is,  it  must  be  good." 

It  really  matters  little,  when  referring  to  the  services  of  the  sisters  dur- 
ing the  war,  which  army,  which  state,  or  which  hospital  is  mentioned  as  the 
scene  of  their  labors.  Their  charity,  like  their  order,  was  universal;  and 
whether  they  ministered  to  the  sick  in  a  Union  or  Confederate  army,  or  in  a 
Northern  or  Southern  state,  it  was  the  same  in  motive  and  in  object.  Next 
to  the  sick  in  the  hospital,  the  prisoner  was  the  dearest  object  of  their  solicitude. 

The  sisters  in  Charleston  did  glorious  service  during  the  war — to  the 
sick,  the  dying,  the  prisoner,  and  the  needy.  At  certain  times  immense 
numbers  of  prisoners  were  camped  outside  the  city.  They  were  in  a  miser- 
able state.  Charleston,  partly  consumed  by  the  tremendous  fire  of  i86i,by 
which  an  enormous  amount  of  property  was  destroyed,  and  further  assailed 
by  a  bombardment  scarcely  paralleled  in  modern  history,  could  not  afford  much 
accommodation  to  the  captured  of  the  enemy.  Penned  up  together,  and 
scantily  fed,  the  condition  of  the  prisoner  was  far  from  enviable;  it  was 
indeed  deplorable.  To  these  poor  fellows  the  sisters  were  in  reality  what 
they  were  styled — "  angels  of  mercy." 

Presented  with  a  universal  pass  by  General  Beauregard,  the  sisters  went 
everywhere  unquestioned,  as  if  they  were  so  many  staff  officers.  The  general 
had  likewise  presented  them  with  an  ambulance  and  a  pair  of  splendid  white 
horses,  remarkable  for  their  beauty,  and,  on  account  of  their  color,  conspicu- 
ous at  a  considerable  distance.  Many  a  time  has  the  sight  of  these  horses 
brought  gladness  to  the  heart  of  the  prisoner,  as  he  beheld  them  turning  the 
corner  of  the  highway  leading  to  the  camp.  When  the  white  specks  were 
seen  some  three-quarters  of  a  mile  on  the  road,  the  word  was  given,  "The 
sisters  are  coming!"  As  that  announcement  was  made,  the  drooping  spirit 
revived,  and  the  fainting  heart  was  stirred  with  hope;  for  with  the  sisters 
came  food,  comforts,  presents,  perhaps  a  letter,  or  a  least  a  message — and 
always  sweet  smiles,  gentle  words,  sympathy  and  consolation.  The  ambu- 
lance, drawn  by  the  gallant  white  steeds,  was  usually  filled  with  hundreds  of 


44o  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

white  loaves— in  fact,  with  everything  which  active  charity  could  procure  or 
generosity  contribute.  The  rations  given  to  the  prisoners  were  about  as  good  as 
the  Confederate  soldiers  had  for  themselves;  but  to  the  depressed,  pent-up 
prisoner,  these  were  coarse  and  scanty  indeed.  "  Sister!  Sister  of  Charity! 
Sister  of  Mercy! — put  something  in  this  hand!"  "Sister, sister,  don't  forget 
me!"-_ "Sister,  sister,  for  the  love  of   God!" — "Oh,  sister,  for  God's  sake!" 

such  were  the  cries  that  too  often  tortured  the  tender  hearts  of  the  sisters 

as  they  found  their  stock  of  provisions  fast  running  out,  and  knew  that  hun- 
dreds of  hungry  applicants  were  still  unsatisfied.  Many  a  time  did  they 
turn  away  on  their  homeward  journey  with  whitened  lips  and  streaming  eyes,  as 
they  beheld  these  outstretched  hands,  and  heard  those  cries  of  gaunt  and  fam- 
ished men  ringing  in  their  ears.  To  the  uttermost  that  they  could  do,  the  sisters 
did, and  this  the  prisoners  knew  in  their  grateful  hearts.  These  horses  shed  light 
in  their  path;  the  clatter  of  their  feet  was  as  music  to  the  ear  of  the  anxious 
listener;  and  the  blessings  of  gallant  suffering  men  followed  that  chariot  of 
mercy  wherever  it  was  borne  by  its  snowy  steeds  in  those  terrible  days  of  trial. 
Such  was  the  effect  produced  by  the  sisters  on  the  minds  of  the  patients 
in  their  charge,  that  when  wounded  or  sick  a  second  time,  they  would  make 
every  possible  effort  to  go  back  to  the  same  hospital  in  which  they  had  been 
previously  cared  for,  or,  if  that  were  not  possible,  to  one  under  the  manage- 
ment of  these  good  women.  Instances  have  been  told  of  wounded  men  who 
traveled  several  hundred  miles  to  come  again  under  the  charge  of  the  sisters; 
and  one,  in  particular,  of  two  men  from  Kentucky,  who  had  contrived  to 
make  their  way  to  the  large  hospital  at  White  Sulphur  Springs  in  Virginia, 
a  distance  of  200  miles  from  where  they  had  been  wounded.  They  had  been 
under  the  care  of  the  sisters  on  a  former  occasion,  and  had  then  agreed  that 
should  they  ever  be  wounded  or  fall  sick  again,  they  would  return  to  the  same 
hospital,  and  if  they  were  to  die  that  they  should  die  in  the  faith  of  the  sisters 
who  had  been  so  good  to  them.  Both  these  men  were  American  Protestants, 
and  had  never  seen  a  Catholic  priest  before  they  beheld  the  clergyman  who 
received  them  into  the  Church  in  the  Virginian  hospital.  One  of  the  two  men 
was  past  cure,  and  was  conscious  of  his  approaching  death.  "Ben,"  said  the 
dying  man  to  his  comrade,  "all  is  right  with  me — I  am  happy ;  but  before  I  die, 
let  me  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  you  become  a  Catholic."  Ben  willingly 
consented  to  what  he  had  before  resolved  on  doing,  and  he  was  received  into 
the  Church  in  the  presence  of  his  dying  friend,  over  whose  features  there 
stole  a  sweet  smile,  that  did  not  depart  even  in  death. 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  44 r 

"Oh,  my  God!  what's  that!  what's  that!"  shrieked  a  poor  Southern 
boy,  when  he  first  saw  a  sister,  as  she  leaned  over  his  hospital  pallet.  His 
terror  was  equalled  only  by  his  genuine  horror  when  he  discovered  she  was 
a  Catholic.  Soon,  however,  his  eyes  would  wander  round  the  ward  in  search 
of  the  nurse  with  the  sweet  smile,  the  gentle  voice,  and  the  gentler  word. 
Like  many  of  his  class  he  was  utterly  ignorant  of  religion  of  any  description ; 
he  disliked  "Papists,"  and  he  thought  that  sufficed  for  every  spiritual  pur- 
pose. At  length  he  wished  to  be  baptized  in  the  sister's  faith,  and  his 
instruction  was  commenced.  He  was  told  he  should  forgive  his  enemies. 
"Am  I  to  forgive  the  Yankees?"  he  asked,  with  indignant  eagerness.  "Cer- 
tainly," replied  the  sister,  "you   must   forgive   everybody."     "  Ma'am,   no 

not  the  Yankees! — no,  ma'am — not  the  Yankees! — I  can't."  "But  you  must 
forgive  your  enemies,  or  you  can't  be  a  Christian.  God  forgave  those  who 
put  him  to  death,"  persisted  the  sister.  "  Well,  Sister,  as  you  ask  me  to  do 
it,  I  will  forgive  the  Yankees;  but  'tis  hard  to  do  it  though,  I  tell  you." 

The  doctors  were  not  one  whit  behind  the  humblest  soldiers  in  ignorant 
dislike  of  the  sisters. 

A  Federal  doctor  was  at  first  inclined  to  be  rude  and  uncivil  to  the  sisters 
in  the  crowded  Southern  hospital,  then  in  possession  of  the  forces  of  the 
Union,  and  occasioned  them  no  little  anxiety  by  his  manner,  it  was  so  full  of 
evident  dislike  and  suspicion.  They  wisely  took  no  notice  of  it,  but  devoted 
themselves  the  more  sedulously  to  their  arduous  duties.  At  the  end  of  a  few 
weeks,  by  which  time  his  manner  had  become  kind  and  respectful,  the  doctor 
candidly  confessed  to  one  of  the  Sisters  what  his  feelings  had  been,  and  how 
completely  they  were  changed.  "  I  had  such  an  aversion  to  Catholics,"  said 
he,  "that  I  would  not  tolerate  one  of  them  in  an  hospital  with  me.  I  had  heard 
of  the  sisters,  but  I  was  resolved  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with  them  in  any 
place  in  which  I  had  control.  I  confess  to  you  my  mind  is  entirely  changed ; 
and  so  far  from  not  wishing  to  have  sisters  in  an  hospital  where  I  am,  I 
never  want  to  be  in  an  hospital  where  they  are  not." 

The  officials  were,  if  possible,  still  more  suspicious,  still  more  prejudiced. 

"  I  used  to  be  up  at  night  watching  you,  when  I  should  have  been  in  my 
bed.  I  wanted  to  see  what  mischief  you  were  after,  for  I  thought  you  had 
some  bad  motive  or  object,  and  I  was  determined  to  know  what  it  was.  I 
could  find  nothing  wrong,  but  it  was  a  long  time  before  I  could  believe  in 
you,  my  prejudice  against  you  was  so  strong.  Now  I  can  laugh  at  my 
absurd  suspicions,  and  I  don't  care  telling  you  of  my  nonsense."    This  speech 


442  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

was  made  by  the  steward  of  an  hospital  to  sisters  to  whom  he  had  given 
much  trouble  by  his  manner,  which  seemed  to  imply — "  You  are  humbugs, 
and  I'll  find  you  out,  my  ladies!  clever  as  you  think  you  are."  He  was  a 
good  but  prejudiced  man;  and  once, that  he  was  convinced  how  groundless 
were  his  suspicions,  he  not  only  treated  the  sisters  with  marked  respect,  but 
became  one  of  their  most  strenuous  and  valuable  supporters. 

A  doctor  of  the  Federal  service,  who  was  captured  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh, 
said  to  a  Catholic  bishop — "bishop,  I  was  a  great  bigot,  and  I  hated  the 
Catholics;  but  my  opinions  are  changed  since  this  war.  I  have  seen  no 
animosity,  but  fraternal  love,  in  the  conduct  of  the  priests  of  both  sides.  I 
have  seen  the  same  kind  offices  rendered  without  distinction  to  Catholics 
soldiers  of  the  North  and  South.  The  very  opposite  with  Protestant  chap- 
lains and  soldiers." 

"What  conclusion  did  you  draw  from  this? — these  Catholics  are  not  Free- 
masons," said  the  bishop. 

"Well,"  replied  the  doctor,  "I  drew  this  from  it — that  there  must  be  some 
wonderful  unity  in  Catholicity  which  nothing  can  destroy,  not  even  the  pas- 
sions of  war." 

"A  very  right  inference,"  was  the  bishop's  rejoinder. 

An  officer  who  was  brought  in  wounded  to  an  hospital  at  Obanninville, 
near  Pensacola,  which  was  under  the  care  of  sisters,  asked  a  friend  in  the 
same  hospital  what  he  would  call  "those  women" — how  address  them  ?  "Call 
them  'Sisters,' replied  his  friend.  "Sisters!  They  are  no  sisters  of  mine;  I 
should  be  sorry  they  were."  'I  tell  you,  you  will  find  them  as  good  as  sisters 
in  the  hour  of  need."  'I  don't  believe  it,"  muttered  the  surly  patient.  Owing, 
in  a  great  measure,  to  the  care  of  his  good  nurses,  the  officer  was  soon  able  to 
leave  the  hospital  strong  in  body  as  well  as  improved  in  mind.  Before  he 
was  well  enough  to  leave,  he  said  to  his  friend: — "Look  here!  I  was  always 
an  enemy  to  the  Catholic  Church.  I  was  led  to  believe  by  the  preachers  that 
these  sisters — both  nuns  and  priests — were  all  bad.  But  when  I  get  out  of 
this,  I  be  gol-darned,  if  I  don't  knock  the  first  man  head  over  heels  who  dares 
say  a  word  against  the  sisters  in  my  presence!"  He  was  rough,  but  thoroughly 
honest. 

During  the  war,  a  number  of  the  sisters  were  on  their  way  to  an  hospital, 
to  the  care  of  which  they  had  been  urgently  called,  and,  as  the  train  remained 
stationary  at  one  of  the  stopping-places  on  the  route,  their  dress  excited  the 
wonder  and   ridicule    of    some    thoughtless    idlers,  who  entered  the  car  and 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  443 

seated  themselves  opposite  to,  but  near,  the  objects  of  their  curiosity,  at  whom 
they  looked  and  spoke  in  a  manner  far  from  complimentary.  The  sisters 
bore  the  annoyance  unflinchingly.  But  there  was  assistance  nearer  than  they 
or  their  cowardly  tormentors  supposed.  A  stout  man,  bronzed  and  bearded, 
who  had  been  sitting  at  one  end  of  the  car,  quietly  advanced,  and  placing 
himself  in  front  of  the  ill-mannered  offenders,  said,  "Look  here,  my  lads!  You 
don't  know  who  these  ladies  are;  I  do.  And  if  you  had  been,  like  me,  lying 
sick  and  wounded  on  an  hospital  bed,  and  been  tended  night  and  day  by  those 
ladies,  as  I  was,  you'd  then  know  them  and  respect  them  as  well  as  I  do. 
They  are  holy  women.  And  now,  if  you  don't,  every  one  of  you,  at  once 
quit  this  car,  I'll  call  the  conductor,  and  have  you  turned  out;  and  if  you  say 
one  word  more,  I'll  whip  you  all  when  I  have  you  outside."  The  young 
fellows  shrank  away  abashed,  as  much  perhaps  at  the  justice  of  the  rebuke  as 
at  the  evident  power  by  which,  if  necessary,  it  would  have  been  rendered  still 
more  impressive. 

It  was  a  touching  sight  to  witness  the  manner  in  which  soldiers  who  had 
experienced  the  devotedness  of  the  sisters  to  the  sad  duties  of  the  hospital, 
exhibited  their  veneration  for  these  "  holy  women."  Did  the  sisters  happen 
to  be  in  the  same  car  with  the  gallant  fellows,  there  was  not  one  of  them 
who  did  not  proffer  his  place  to  the  sister,  and  who  did  not  feel  honored  by 
her  acceptance  of  it.  Maimed,  lopped  of  limb,  scarcely  convalescent,  still 
there  was  not  a  crippled  brave  of  them  who  would  not  eagerly  solicit  the 
sister  to  occupy  the  place  he  so  much  required  for  himself.  "  Sister,  do  take 
my  seat;  it  is  the  most  comfortable."  "  Oh,  Sister,  take  mine;  do  oblige  me." 
"No,  Sister!  mine."  Sweet  was  the  sister's  reward  as,  in  their  feeble  but 
earnest  tones  of  entreaty,  and  the  smiles  lighting  up  pale,  wan  faces,  she  read 
the  deep  gratitude  of  the  men  who  had  bled  for  what  each  deemed  to  be  the 
sacred  cause  of  country.  Wherever  the  sister  went,  she  brought  with  her 
an  atmosphere  of  holiness.  At  the  first  sight  of  the  little  glazed  cap,  or  the 
flapping  cornet,  or  the  dark  robe,  or  at  the  whisper  that  the  sister  was  com- 
ing or  present,  even  the  profane  and  the  ribald  were  hushed  into  decent  silence. 

A  Baptist  preacher  was  rather  unexpectedly  rebuked  in  the  midst  of  his 
congregation  by  one  of  its  members  who  had  experience  of  the  sisters  in  the 
hospital.  Addressing  his  audience,  he  thought  to  enliven  his  discourse  with 
the  customary  spice — vigorous  abuse  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  a  lively 
description  of  the  badness  of  nuns  and  priests;  in  fact,  taking  the  Awful  Dis- 
closures of  Maria  Monk  as  his  text  and  inspiration.     But  just  as  the  preacher, 


444  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

warming  with  his  own  eloquence,  was  heightening  his  picture  with  colors 
borrowed  from  a  rather  prurient  imagination,  these  strange  words  were 
thundered  forth  by  a  sturdy  western  farmer,  who  sprang  to  his  legs  in  an 
impulse  of  uncontrollable  indignation — "Sir,  that's  a  damned  lie!"  The 
consternation  of  the  audience  was  great,  the  excitement  intense.  The 
preacher  solemnly  reminded  his  erring  brother  that  that  was  "the  house  of 
God."  "  Well,  sir,"  replied  the  farmer,  "  as  it  is  the  house  of  God,  it  is  a  lie 
without  the  damned."  Then,  looking  round  boldly  at  the  meeting,  which 
contained  many  to  whom  he  was  well  known,  he  thus  continued:  "I 
thought  and  believed  the  same  as  you  thought  and  believed,  because  I  was 
told  so,  as  you  were;  but  I  have  lived  to  learn  the  difference — to  know  that 
what  we  were  told,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  is  not  true.  I  was  in  the  prison  at 
M'Dowall's  College;  I  was  there  for  six  months;  and  I  saw  the  sisters  wait- 
ing on  the  prisoners,  and  nursing  the  sick — unpaid  and  disinterested.  I  saw 
them  giving  up  their  whole  time  to  doing  good,  and  doing  it  without  fee  or 
reward.  I  saw  the  priests,  too,  constant  in  their  attendance — yes,  shaming 
other  ministers  by  the  manner  in  which  they  did  their  duty.  That  six  months 
cured  me  of  my  folly;  and  I  tell  you,  you  know  me  to  be  a  man  of  truth,, 
that  the  Catholic  Church  is  not  the  thing  it  is  represented  to  be,  and  that 
sisters  and  priests  are  not  what  our  minister  says  they  are;  and  that  I'll 
stand  to." 

The  sympathies  of  the  audience  went  with  the  earnestness  of  the  speaker,, 
whose  manner  carried  conviction  to  their  minds;  and  so  strongly  did  the  tide 
of  feeling  flow  against  the  preacher,  that  he  dexterously  returned  to  what». 
in  parliamentary  phrase,  may  be  described  as  "the  previous  question." 

Whether  in  the  hospital  and  the  prison,  or  on  the  field  of  battle,  the 
Catholic  chaplain  won  the  respect  of  all  classes  and  ranks  of  men.  Soldiers 
of  world-wide  fame  have  spoken  with  enthusiasm  of  the  gallantry  and  devo- 
tion of  the  Catholic  military  chaplains,  who  calmly  performed  their  duty 
amidst  the  fury  of  conflict,  and  while  bullets  whistled  by  them,  and  shells 
shrieked  as  they  passed  over  their  heads.  The  idea  of  danger  may  cross  the 
mind  of  the  Catholic  priest,  but  it  never  deters  him  from  the  discharge  of 
his  duty,  which  is  performed  as  coolly  on  the  battle-field  as  in  the  wards  of 
an  hospital.  Soldier  of  the  Cross,  he  encounters  danger  in  every  form  and 
under  every  aspect.  Without  departing  in  the  least  from  his  ordinary  course,. 
or  making  the  slightest  attempt  at  display,  the  Catholic  priest — so  long  the 
object  of  the  foulest  calumny  and  the  most  disgusting  ribaldry — found  in  the 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  445 

events  of  the  war  daily  opportunities  of  exhibiting  himself  in  his  true  light; 
and  soon  was  suspicion  changed  into  confidence,  and  prejudice  into  respect. 
Unswerving  attention  to  duty  is  the  grand  characteristic  of  the  Catholic 
priest;  and  when  the  non-Catholic  officer  or  private  found  the  priest  always 
at  his  post,  attending  on  the  sick,  raising  the  drooping  spirits  of  the  patient, 
preparing  the  dying  for  their  last  hour,  he  could  not  help  contrasting  the 
untiring  devotion  of  the  Catholic  chaplain  with  the  lax  zeal — if  zeal  it  could 
be  called — of  too  many  of  those  who  assumed  that  office,  or  that  distinctive 
title,  during  the  war. 

Throughout  the  war  the  Catholic  priest  acted  in  the  spirit  of  his  Church. 
The  Church  was  a  peace-maker,  not  a  partisan.  So  -were  her  ministers.  It 
little  mattered  to  the  priest  at  which  side  the  wounded  soldier  had  fought,  or  in 
what  cause  the  prisoner  had  been  made  captive;  it  was  sufficient  for  him  to 
,  know  that  the  sick  and  the  imprisoned  stood  in  need  of  his  assistance,  which 
he  never  failed  to  afford.  The  Church  deplored  the  outbreak  of  war, 
mourned  over  its  horrors,  and  prayed  for  its  cessation.  As  with  the  Church, 
so  with  the  priest.  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  suppose  that  the  Catholic 
priests  did  not  feel  a  sympathy  with  one  side  or  the  other;  but  no  weakness 
common  to  humanity  could  deaden  the  feeling  of  charity,  which  is  the  living 
principle  of  Catholicity ;  and  while  the  Federal  chaplain  ministered  to  the 
Confederate  soldier  or  prisoner,  the  Confederate  chaplain  ministered  with 
equal  care  and  solicitude  to  the  soldier  who  fought  under  the  banner  of  the 
Union.  This  Catholic  charity — this  spiritual  bridging  over  of  the  yawning 
gulf  of  raging  passions — produced  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of 
thoughtful  men.  Many  instances  might  be  told  of  the  manner  in  which 
this  feeling  operated  on  the  minds  of  individuals;  one  will  suffice: 

A  lawyer  of  Louisiana  was  practicing  in  Missouri  at  the  opening  of  the 
war;  and  being  known  as  a  Confederate  sympathizer,  was  arrested,  and  sent 
as  a  prisoner  to  Fort  Warren,  in  Boston  Harbor.  He  had  studied  law  in 
Boston,  where  he  imagined  he  had  made  several  lasting  friends  of  members 
of  his  profession.  Taking  means  to  communicate  with  some  of  those  on 
whom  he  most  relied  for  sympathy,  if  not  for  assistance,  he  informed  them 
of  his  position,  and  besought  their  aid,  in  the  name  of  friendship  and  the 
memory  of  the  pleasant  days  of  the  past;  but  he  appealed  in  vain— fear  of 
being  compromised  by  a  suspected  rebel,  or  the  bitter  prejudice  born  of  the 
hour,  was  too  strong  to  be  overcome  by  a  momentary  impulse;  and  the 
prisoner  languished   in    captivity.     They — the   friends  of    his  youth — came 


.6  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

not;  but  an  Irish  priest  did.  Attracted  to  the  prisoner  by  feelings  of  com- 
passion, he  comforted  and  consoled  him,  and  assisted  him  to  the  utmost  of  his 
means  and  influence.  That  lawyer  learned  to  love  the  Church  of  which  that 
priest  was  a  worthy  minister;  and  his  own  words  may  throw  light  on  his  con- 
version, which  took  place  soon  after:— "Looking  back  upon  the  war, I  see  that 
the  Protestants  of  the  North  were  charitable  to  their  own  side,  and  that  the 
Protestants  of  the  South  were  very  charitable  to  their  side;  but  the  Catholics 
are  the  only  body  of  Christians  who  practiced  charity  for  its  own  sake,  irrespec- 
tive of  politics,  and  who  did  so  even  when  it  was  unpopular  if  not  danger- 
ous, for  them  to  do  so." 

The  recorded  experience  of  some  of  these  devoted  chaplains  gives  a  good 
idea  of  the  merits  of  the  Catholic  soldier.  There  is  a  passage  in  a  diary  kept 
by  Father  Sheeran,  which  exemplifies  the  conduct  of  the  Irish  Catholic 
soldier  better  than  any  description  could  do.  Father  Sheeran  was  one  day 
rebuking  a  simple  Irishman,  who  with  others  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  a 
surprise  attack  upon  the  federals,  for  having  taken  part,  as  he  alleged  he  had, 
in  the  plunder  and  oppression  of  the  South.  The  Irishman's  reply,  while 
bearing  the  impress  of  truth,  represents  accurately  what  was  the  feeling  and 
conduct  of  his  countrymen  during  the  war. 

«  Well,  father,"  said  he,  "  I  know  they  done  them  things,  but  I  never  took 
part  with  them.  Many  a  day  I  went  hungry  before  I  would  take  anything 
from  the  people.  Even  when  we  had  to  fall  back  from  Lynchburg  under 
Hunter  thro'  Western  Virginia,  and  our  men  were  dropping  by  the  roadside 
with  hunger,  and  some  were  eating  the  bark  off  the  trees,  I  never  took  a  meal 
of  victuals  without  paying  for  it." 

The  truth  is,  not  only  was  the  Catholic  Irishman  free  from  the  angry 
passions  by  which  others  were  animated,  but  he  was  constantly  impressed  by 
the  strongest  religious  influence;  and  to  this  cause  may  be  ascribed  much  of 
the  chivalrous  bearing  which  he  displayed  in  the  midst  of  the  most  trying 
temptation  to  license  and  excess.  The  war  had  in  it  nothing  more  remark- 
able than  the  religious  devotion  of  the  Irish  soldier  whenever  he  was  within 
the  reach  of  a  chaplain.  The  practice  of  their  faith,  whether  before  battle  or 
in  retreat,  in  camp  or  in  bivouac,  exalted  them  into  heroes.  The  regiment 
that  in  some  hollow  of  the  field,  knelt  down  to  receive,  bare-headed,  the  bene- 
diction of  their  priest,  next  moment  rushed  into  the  fray  with  a  wilder  cheer 
and  a  more  impetuous  dash.  That  benediction  nerved,  not  unmanned,  those 
gallant   men,  as  the  enemy  discovered  to   their  cost.      Even  in  the  depth  of 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  447 

winter,  when  the  snow  lay  thick  on  the  earth,  the  Irish  Catholic — federal  or 
confederate,  it  mattered  not  which — would  hear  Mass  devoutly  on  the  bleak 
plain  or  the  wild  hill-side,  standing  only  when  that  posture  was  customary, 
and  kneeling  in  the  snow  and  slush  during  the  greater  portion  of  the  time. 
The  same  Father  Sheeran  has  told  how  he  was  impressed  with  the  piety  of 
his  poor  fellows  on  one  desperate  Christmas  morning,  when,  so  heavy  was 
the  snow-storm,  that  he  quite  lost  his  way,  and  did  not  for  a  considerable 
time  reach  the  appointed  place  where  he  was  to  celebrate  Mass.  But  there, 
when  he  arrived,  was  a  great  crowd  of  whitened  figures  clustered  round  the 
little  tent,  in  which  an  altar  had  been  erected  by  the  soldiers — the  only  cleared 
place  being  the  spot  on  which  the  tent  was  placed.  And  there,  while  the  storm 
raged,  and  sky  and  earth  were  enveloped  in  the  whirling  snow,  the  gallant 
Irishmen  prayed  with  a  fervor  that  was  proof  against  every  discouragement. 
Before  battle,  it  was  not  unusual  for  the  Catholic  soldiers  to  go  to  con- 
fession in  great  numbers,  and  prepare  by  a  worthy  Communion  to  meet  what- 
ever fate  God  might  send  them  in  the  coming  tight.  This  practice  excited 
the  ridicule — the  quiet  ridicule — of  some,  but  it  also  excited  the  respect  of 
others.  A  distinguished  colonel,  of  genuine  American  race,  who  bore  on  his 
body  the  marks  of  many  wounds,  life  memorials  of  desperate  fights,  made 
warm  reference  to  the  gallantry  of  the  Irish;  and  he  thus  wound  up: 
"  Their  chaplain — a  plucky  fellow,  sir,  I  can  tell  you — had  extraordinary 
influence  over  them ;  indeed  he  was  better,  sir,  I  do  believe,  than  any  provost- 
marshal.  They  would  go  to  Mass  regularly,  and  frequently  to  confession. 
'Tis  rather  a  curious  thing  I'm  going  to  tell  you ;  but  it's  true,  sir.  When  I 
saw  those  Irishmen  going  to  confession,  and  knelling  down  to  receive  the 
priest's  blessing,  I  used  to  laugh  in  my  sleeve  at  the  whole  thing.  The  fact 
is — you  will  pardon  me — I  thought  it  all  so  much  damned  tomfoolery  and 
humbug.  That  was  at  first,  sir.  But  I  found  the  most  pious  of  them  the  very 
bravest — and  that  astonished  me  more  than  anything.  Sir,  I  saw  these  men 
tried  in  every  way  that  men  could  be  tried,  and  I  never  saw  anything  superior 
to  them.  Why,  sir,  if  I  wanted  to  storm  the  gates  of  hell,  I  didn't  want  any 
finer  or  braver  fellows  than  those  Irishmen.  I  tell  you,  sir,  I  hated  the  blarney 
before  the  war;  but  now  I  feel  like  meeting  a  brother  when  I  meet  an  Irish- 
man. I  saw  them  in  battle,  sir;  but  I  also  saw  them  sick  and  dying  in  the 
hospital,  and  how  their  religion  gave  them  courage  to  meet  death  with  cheer- 
ful resignation.  Well,  sir," — and  the  great,  grim,  war-beaten  soldier  softly 
laughed  as  he  added — "  I   am  a  Catholic  now,  and    I  no   longer  scoff  at  a 


448  CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

priest's  blessing,  or  consider  confession  a  humbug.  I  can  understand  the  dif- 
ference now,  I  assure  you." 

There  were  other  converts  of  the  battle-field  and  the  hospital,  besides  the 
colonel — and  of  higher  rank,  too — who,  like  him,  caught  their  first  impression 
of  the  truth  from  the  men  whom  religion  made  more  daring  in  the  fight,  more 
resigned  in  sickness,  more  courageous  in  death. 

An  Irish  soldier,  wounded  badly,  was  lying  on  a  hard-fought  field  in 
Upper  Georgia,  towards  Chattanooga.  He  was  found  by  a  chaplain  attached 
to  his  corps  in  a  helpless  condition,  leaning  against  a  tree.  The  priest  seeing 
the  case  to  be  one  of  imminent  danger  proposed  to  hear  his  confession,  but 
was  surprised  to  hear  him  say — "  Father,  I'll  wait  a  little.  There's  a  man 
over  there  worse  wounded  than  I  am;  he  is  a  Protestant,  and  he's  calling  for 
the  priest — go  to  him  first."  The  priest  found  the  wounded  Protestant, 
received  him  into  the  Church,  and  remained  with  him  till  he  expired;  he  then 
returned  to  hear  the  confession  of  the  Irish  Catholic,  whose  first  words  were 
— "  Well,  father,  didn't  I  tell  you  true?  I  knew  the  poor  fellow  wanted  you 
more  than  I  did."     The  priest  and  the  penitent  survived  long  to  tell  the  story. 

It  is  not  within  the  purpose  of  this  book,  however,  to  supply  anything 
like  a  history  of  the  services  of  Catholic  army  chaplains.  The  general  nature 
of  these  will  be  sufficiently  understood  from  what  has  been  already  said  and 
from  the  illustration  we  are  permitted  to  print  of  Rev.  Father  Cooney, 
C.S.C.,  in  his  functions  with  the  army  of  the  Cumberland.  We  are  also 
impelled  to  quote  from  a  paper  by  Maj.-Gen.  St.  Clair  Mulholland,  the  par- 
ticulars of  a  remarkable  scene  in  which  Very  Rev.  Father  Corby,  now  pro- 
vincial of  the  same  order  of  the  Holy  Cross,  was  the  central  and  impressive 
figure.  Gen.  Mulholland  has  been  depicting  the  fearful  second  day  of 
Gettysburg. 

"  When  the  third  federal  army  corps  is  forced  to  retire  before  the  con- 
federates, help  is  called  for.  General  Hancock  tells  Caldwell  to  have  his  divi- 
sion ready.  '  Fall  in!'  and  the  men  run  to  their  places.  '  Take  arms! '  and 
the  four  brigades  of  Cook,  Cress,  Brook  and  Kelly,  are  ready  for  the  fray. 
There  is  yet  a  few  minutes  to  spare  before  starting,  and  the  time  is  occupied 
by  one  of  the  most  impressive  religious  ceremonies  I  have  ever  witnessed. 
The  Irish  brigade,  which  had  been  commanded  formerly  by  Gen.  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher,  and  whose  green  flag  had  been  unfurled  in  every  battle  in 
which  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  engaged,  from  the  first  Bull  Run 
to  Appomattox,  was  now  commanded  by  Col.  Patrick  Kelly,  of  the  Eighty- 
eighth  New  York,  and  formed  a  part  of  this  division.  The  brigade  stood  in 
columns  of  regiments  closed  in  mass.  As  the  large  majority  of  its  members 
were  Catholics,  the  chaplain  of  the  brigade,  Rev.  William  Corby,  C.  S.  C, 
proposed  to  give  a  general  absolution  to  all  the  men  before  going   into   the 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  449 

fight.  While  this  is  customary  in  the  armies  of  the  Catholic  countries  of 
Europe,  it  was,  perhaps,  the  first  time  it  was  ever  witnessed  on  this  continent, 
unless,  indeed,  the  grim  old  warrior,  Ponce  de  Leon,  in  search  of  the  fountain 
of  youth,  as  he  tramped  through  the  everglades  of  Florida,  or  DeSoto  on  his 
march  to  the  Mississippi,  indulged  in  this  act  of  devotion.  Father  Corby 
stood  upon  a  large  rock  in  front  of  the  brigade,  addressing  the  men;  he 
explained  what  he  was  about  to  do,  saying  that  each  one  would  receive  the 
benefit  of  the  absolution  by  making  a  sincere  act  of  contrition,  and  firmly 
resolving  to  embrace  the  first  opportunity  of  confessing  his  sins,  urging  them 
to  do  their  duty  well,  and  reminding  them  of  the  high  and  sacred  nature  of 
their  trust  as  soldiers,  and  the  noble  object  for  which  they  fought.  The 
brigade  was  standing  at  '  order  arms,'  and  as  he  closed  his  address,  every  man 
fell  on  his  knees,  with  head  bowed  down.  Then,  stretching  his  right  hand 
towards  the  brigade,  Father  Corby  pronounced  the  words  of  absolution.  The 
scene  was  more  than  impressive,  it  was  awe-inspiring.  Near  by  stood  Gen. 
Hancock,  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  throng  of  officers,  who  had  gathered 
by  to  witness  this  very  unusual  occurrence,  and  while  there  was  profound 
silence  in  the  ranks  of  the  second  corps,  yet  over  to  the  left,  out  by  the  Peach 
Orchard  and  Little  Round  Top,  where  Weed,  and  Vincent,  and  Haslett  were 
dying,  the  roar  of  the  battle  rose  and  swelled  and  re-echoed  through  the 
woods.  The  act  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  with  all  the  surroundings.  I  do 
not  think  there  was  a  man  in  the  brigade  who  did  not  offer  up  a  heart-felt 
prayer.  For  some  it  was  their  last;  they  knelt  there  in  their  grave-clothes — in 
less  than  half  an  hour  many  of  them  were  numbered  with  the  dead  of  July  2d." 

The  picture  which  we  present  of  this  memorable  scene  is  a  copy  of  a 
painting  by  the  lamented  Paul  Wood,  a  young  student  artist  of  Notre  Dame 
University,  and  pupil  of  Gregori's,  who  wa6  accidentally  killed  in  Chicago  a 
few  months  ago.  The  gifted  boy,  though  but  seventeen  years  of  age,  had 
already  enriched  Prof.  Edward's  famous  collection,  in  the  Bishops'  Memorial 
Hall,  with  several  portraits  and  subjects  of  historic  value. 

And  now  a  few  words  about  the  actual  combatants  of  Catholic  faith. 
Catholics  did  not  enter  the  army  at  either  side  as  a  matter  of  calculation  and 
prudence,  but  as  a  matter  of  duty,  and  from  an  impulse  of  patriotism.  Yet 
if  they  had  acted  on  deliberation,  they  could  not  have  done  more  wisely  than 
they  did.  "  Foreigners  and  aliens  "  they  would  mostly  have  proved  them- 
selves to  be,  had  they  stood  coldly  aloof,  or  shown  themselves  insensible  tc 
the  cause  which  stirred  the  heart  of  the  nation  to  its  depths,  and,  as  it  were  in 
a  moment,  made  gallant  soldiers  of  peaceful  civilians.  They  vindicated  their 
citizenship  not  alone  by  their  services,  but  by  their  sympathies;  and  in  their 
terrible  sacrifices — on  every  bloody  field  and  in  every  desperate  assault — in 
every  danger,  toil,  and  suffering — they  made  manifest  their  value  to  the  state, 
no  less  by  their  devotion  than  their  valor. 

From  every  state;  from  every  city,  town  and  village;  from  the  forest 
and  the  prairie,  the  hill  and  the  plain;  from  the  workshop,  the   factory,  and 


<i5° 


CATHOLICS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


the  foundry;  from  the  counter  and  the  desk,  from  the  steamboat,  the  wharf, 
and  the  river  bank — wherever  the  Irish  were,  or  whatever  their  occupation 
they  obeyed  the  summons  of  their  adopted  country,  and  rushed  to  the  defence 
of  its  banner.  They  either  formed  organizations  of  their  own,  or  they  fell 
into  the  ranks  of  their  fellow  citizens  of  other  nationalities.  But  special 
organizations,  distinctive  and  national,  had  for  them  peculiar  attractions;  and 
once  the  green  flag  was  unfurled,  it  acted  with  magnetic  influence,  drawing 
to  it  the  hardy  children  of  Erin.  There  were,  in  both  armies,  companies, 
regiments,  brigades,  exclusively  Irish — and  that  simply  means  Catholic — but 
whether  there  was  a  special  organization  or  not,  there  was  scarcely  a  regi- 
ment in  either  service  which  did  not  also  contain  a  smaller  or  greater  number 
of  Irish  citizens.  We  cannot  venture  to  particularize  or  enumerate.  The 
attempt  would  be  idle,  if  not  invidious.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  more  than 
state  that  Catholics  of  other  races,  French,  Bavarian,  Polish,  Austrian,  etc., 
were  proportionately  numerous,  brave  and  devoted. 

As  we  can  not  attempt  an  enumeration  of  the  various  Irish  organizations 
that  won  distinction  in  the  war,  neither  can  we  venture  on  a  list  of  the  gal- 
lant Irish  officers,  even  of  the  highest  rank,  who  signalized  themselves  by 
their  achievements  in  that  memorable  struggle.  We  have  seen  such  a  long 
list  of  men  who  commanded  regiments,  brigades,  divisions,  and  corps;  but 
fearing  to  fall  into  error,  we  prefer  to  deal  in  generalities.  Very  certain  it 
is,  and  known  of  all  men,  that  the  gallantry  and  skill  of  the  Irish  officer,  of 
whatever  rank,  was  quite  as  conspicuous  as  the  dash  and  endurance  of  the 
rank  and  file. 

But  above  all  other  merits,  and  beyond  all  price,  as  serving  to  dispel 
bigotry  and  prejudice  against  the  Catholic  religion,  were  the  faith,  the  piety, 
the  resignation  of  the  Irish  Catholic  soldier,  of  whatever  rank,  as  he  lay 
wounded  or  dying  in  the  hospital.  In  the  devotedness  of  the  sister  and  the 
priest  there  was  a  beautiful  exemplification  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  charity; 
in  the  unmurmuring  resignation  of  the  Catholic  soldier  there  was  the  irresis- 
tible evidence  of  Christian  faith.  Many  a  proud  scoffer,  to  whom  the  very 
name  of  Catholic  had  been  odious,  received  his  first  impression  of  the  truth 
from  the  edifying  demeanor  of  some  Irish  soldier  who  lay  in  anguish  by  his 
side,  and  who,  before  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  had  not  been 
ashamed  to  crave  the  blessing  of  his  priest. 


GttmpUv  <K££tlI, 


A  TyPICAb  FOUNDATION. 


Blessed  Mary  of  the  Lakes. — Facts  of  History  and  Topography. — Missionaries 
on  Fruitful  Ground. — Saintly  Father  De  Seille. — The  Viaticum  by  His 
Own  Hand. — Father  Sorin's  Purchase  from  the  Indians. — An  Eventful 
History.— Brother  Francis  Xavier. — The  Notre  Dame  of  To-day. — Noble 
Grounds  and  Buildings. — The  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart. — Treasures 
of  Art  and  Piety. — University  Hall. — Gregori's  Mural  Paintings. — 
Memorials  of  the  Bishops. — Prof.  Edward's  Life  Work. — A  Museum  of 
Catholic  History. — A  Statue  Seen  from  Afar. — The  Shining  Dome. — The 
Surrounding  Panorama. — Scenes  of  Sylvan  Beauty. — The  University  Dis- 
cipline and  Education. — Home  of  the  Venerable  Founder. — Good  Wishes. 


S  originally  admitted  into  the  Union,  the  north  line  of  Indiana  was 
continuovis  with  that  of  Ohio.  Shortly  after  the  admission  of  the 
J  [  state,  however,  it  was  suggested  that  if  the  line  were  placed  ten 
miles  further  north,  Indiana  would  have  the  advantage  of  a  port 
on  Lake  Michigan,  to  gain  which  advantage  what  was  called  the 
ten-mile  purchase  was  effected.  Whether  the  present  value  of  the 
lake  port,  Michigan  City,  would  justify  the  price  paid  for  it  we  will  not  now 
inquire.  But  Indiana  gained  unlooked-for  advantages  besides.  Besides  the 
site  of  the  widely  known  and  very  successful  college  whose  early  history  this 
chapter  chronicles,  a  noble  river,  the  St.  Joseph  (sometimes  called  "  Big 
St.  Joseph,"  to  distinguish  it  from  a  branch  of  the  Maumee  named  after  the 
same  saint),  which  would  otherwise  belong  wholly  to  Michigan,  now  has  its 
most  important  "  bend  "  in  the  Hoosier  State — a  bend  which  has  given  its 
name  to  a  municipality  mentioned  by  Parkman  in  his  carefully  written  work, 
"The  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,"  as  the  present  village  of  South  Bend, 
although  at  the  date  of  the  edition  before  us  that  village  was  already  a  city 
of  20,000  inhabitants,  and  has  since  probably  doubled  its  figure. 

45 ! 


452  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

A  peculiarity  of  the  location  is  that  it  is  on  the  water-shed  of  the  conti- 
nent. A  shower  of  rain  falling  here  may  send  some  of  its  waters  to  one 
extremity  of  the  United  States  and  some  to  the  other.  Drained  into  the 
St.  Joseph,  it  would  pass  into  Lake  Michigan  and  through  the  romantic 
Mackinaw  Strait  into  Lake  Huron;  by  St.  Clair  River  and  lake,  and  the 
Detroit  River,  into  storm-lashed  Erie  and  over  roaring  Niagara;  and  then  by 
Ontario  and  the  Thousand  Isles,  by  historic  Montreal  and  Quebec,  into  the 
mif*-covered  North  Atlantic.  But,  falling  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  roof- 
ndge,  the  drops  might  be  carried  into  the  Kankakee,  which  rises  just  west  of 
*;he  city  limits,  and  thus  pass  into  the  adjacent  Prairie  State,  into  the  Illinois 
River,  and  so  to  swell  the  surging  flood  that  carries  fertility  and  commerce 
through  the  great  valley  of  the  South  and  West,  by  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans,  so  into  the  tropical  billows  of  the  Gulf. 

Here,  then,  as  we  might  have  inferred,  is  one  of  the  principal  "portages" 
over  which  the  aboriginal  canoes  were  carried  when  it  was  desired  to  transfer 
them  from  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lake  basin  to  those  of  the  Mississippi 
V  alley.  The  country  to  the  north  of  South  Bend  still  bears  the  name  of 
Portage  Prairie — a  well-known  rendezvous  to  the  hardy  and  adventurous 
coureurs  des  bois  at  a  time  when  France  claimed  all  the  territory  necessary 
to  connect  Canada  with  Louisiana,  and  had  even  established  lines  of  trading- 
posts,  forts,  and  Indian  mission  churches  in  various  directions  throughout  its 
forests  and  prairies. 

The  river  St.  Joseph  well  deserves  its  Catholic  name.  More  than  two 
hundred  years  ago,  in  the  autumn  of  1686,  a  tract  of  land  on  this  river  was 
granted  to  the  Jesuit  missions  on  condition  of  their  erecting  a  chapel  and  resi- 
dence there  within  three  years.  This  is  the  earliest  grant  of  land  on  record 
within  the  limits  of  the  present  state  of  Indiana.  The  portage  and  the  sources 
of  the  Kankakee  were  deemed  of  sufficient  interest  to  afford  material  for  a 
graphic  description  written  by  Charlevoix  in  172 1.  Within  the  present  cen- 
tury it  was  an  important  center  for  the  fur-traders,  before  the  settlement  of 
the  country  drove  the  beaver  from  his  dam  and  the  buffalo  from  his  range. 
The  buffalo,  indeed,  is  still  to  be  found  in  Indiana — on  the  state  seal. 

About  three  miles  north  of  the  extreme  southern  point  of  this  elbow  of 
St.  Joseph  River,  and  on  the  concave  side  of  the  curve,  lies  the  site  of  Notre 
Dame,  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter.  Here  two  little  lakes,  fed  by 
never- failing  springs,  discharge  their  crystal  waters  into  the  river  by  a 
westerly-flowing  rivulet.     These  lakes  were  originally  surveyed  and  mapped 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  453 

as  one,  but  the  land  between  them,  now  dry,  was  never  covered  by  any 
great  depth  of  water,  and  in  after  years,  its  marshy  exhalations  causing  ill- 
health,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  introduce  a  system  of  drainage  which  con- 
verted the  original  single  lake  into  two,  of  which  the  larger  covers  about 
twenty-five  acres,  the  smaller  seventeen.  A  rising  ground  between  the  lakes 
is  still  known  as  the  "Island."  The  once  submerged  flat  lands  are  planted 
with  shade-trees  or  form  stretches  of  open  meadow.  The  original  oak  groves 
are  preserved  on  the  north  and  east  of  the  lakes,  and  the  scene  retains  much 
of  its  native  wilderness,  forming  a  delightful  contrast  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
age of  the  culture  and  classic  taste  of  a  large  institution  of  learning. 

In  1830  the  tract  adjoining  these  lakes  was  conveyed  by  purchase  to 
Rev.  Stephen  Theodore  Badin,  the  proto-priest  of  the  United  States,  being 
the  first  ordained  within  the  limits  of  our  country.  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs  as 
the  locality  was  then  called,  was  the  center  of  an  extensive  range  of  missions. 
The  resident  priest  here  attended  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  all  settlers  and 
sojourners,  white  and  red,  between  Coldwater,  Michigan,  and  the  Illinois 
line,  east  and  west,  and  from  Kalamazoo  to  Rochester,  north  and  south — a 
parish  as  large  as  an  average  diocese.  A  little  log  church  of  the  period  was 
long  preserved  here  as  a  relic  of  more  unworldly  days. 

The  list  of  missionaries  among  the  Pottawatomies  and  Miamis  in  the 
region  to  which  we  now  refer  begins  with  the  celebrated  Marquette,  who, 
on  his  return  from  the  village  of  the  Kaskaskias,  descended  the  St.  Joseph  on 
the  trail  by  which  it  is  reached  from  the  Kankakee  by  "portage."  Whether 
he  resided  here  for  any  length  of  time  is  uncertain,  but  his  successor,  Father 
Allouez,  is  known  to  have  been  a  resident.  Under  the  grant  of  land  already 
spoken  of  as  made  to  the  Jesuits  in  1686,  at  such  point  as  they  might  select 
on  the  river,  he  chose  a  locality  twenty-five  leagues  from  its  mouth,  and 
there  built  a  chapel  and  mission  house,  which  was  the  scene  of  his  labors  until 
his  death  in  August,  1689,  after  a  missionary  career  of  thirty  years.  He  may 
be  considered  the  founder  of  the  Church  in  Indiana,  concerning  which  he 
writes:  "It  is  said  that  the  first  who  found  churches  are  generally  saints. 
This  thought  so  touches  my  heart,  that  although  I  am  good  for  nothing,  I 
desire  to  expend  myself  more  and  more  for  the  salvation  of  souls."  A  saint, 
indeed — St.  John  Francis  Regis — had  been  his  own  preceptor. 

Several  French  missionaries  were  here  in  succession  to  Father  Allouez, 
and  in  1738  the  pastor  was  Father  Peter  Luke  De  Jaunay.  Missions  were 
now  opened    at  Vincennes    and    where  Fort  Wayne  now  stands,    and    these 


454  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

soon  became  the  centers  of  activity,  so  that  the  mission  on  the  "Big  St. 
Joseph"  was  thenceforth  obscured  by  their  fame. 

The  abandonment  of  French  claims  upon  Indiana,  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  put  a  new  face  upon  public 
affairs,  and  Indiana  was  admitted  as  a  state  before  we  hear  of  another  resident 
missionary  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph.  Father  Badin,  whose  purchase  in 
1830  we  have  already  noticed,  fixed  his  abode  in  Michigan,  so  that  Father 
Louis  De  Seille  is  usually  regarded  as  the  first  pastor  of  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs. 
His  sojourn  here  probably  began  in  1832.  His  house  was  a  log  cabin,  divided 
into  two  apartments,  one  for  a  chapel,  the  other  for  his  dwelling.  A  rude 
bed,  a  table,  some  books,  and  a  few  chairs  were  his  only  furniture.  A  little 
wooden  altar  in  his  chapel  had  for  its  sole  ornament  a  beautiful  picture  of  the 
Mater  Dolorosa.  Here  he  lived,  died,  and  was  buried.  A  simple  cross  now 
marks  the  site.  The  body  of  the  sainted  dead  has  been  laid  in  a  vault  beneath 
the  altar  of  the  new  church  at  Notre  Dame. 

His  death  was  marked  by  interesting  and  affecting  incidents.  He  had 
visited  Pokagon,  an  Indian  village,  now  a  railway  station  on  the  Michigan 
Central  about  seven  miles  from  Niles,  and  hence  seventeen  from  his  home. 
When  he  took  leave  of  his  Indian  congregation  there  he  told  them  they  would 
probably  never  see  him  again.  He  seemed  to  have  an  intimation  of  approach- 
ing death,  although  in  the  prime  of  life  and  to  all  appearance  full  of  vigor. 
"I  have  a  great  journey  to  perform,"  he  said ;  "pray  for  me,  and  do  not  forget 
to  say  your  beads  for  me."  His  hearers  were  afflicted  at  the  prospect 
of  losing  their  beloved  Black-Robe,  and  the  warmth  of  their  protestations 
of  attachment  touched  his  heart.  The  farewell  taken,  he  left  them  on  foot, 
making  his  return  journey  by  the  woodland  trail.  He  had  a  horse  for  distant 
sick-calls — sixty  or  eighty  miles  sometimes — but  the  foot-paths  were  more 
direct  than  such  bridle-roads  as  they  had  then. 

He  reached  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs  that  same  day,  apparently  in  good 
health,  but  the  next  morning  was  taken  sick.  Priests  were  sent  for,  the 
nearest  points  being  Logansport  and  Chicago.  Sickness,  however,  in  one 
case,  and  absence  from  home  in  the  other,  prevented  aid  from  coming. 
Finally  Bishop  Brute"  sent  Rev.  Louis  Neyron  from  the  southern  extremity  of 
Indiana,  but  he  came  too  late  to  afford  him  those  consolations  with  which  he 
had  so  often  fortified  the  last  hours  of  others.  When  it  became  evident  that 
death  was  at  hand  he  dragged  himself  to  the  altar  of  his  little  chapel,  assisted 
by  two  of   his  good  friends,  Coquillard  and  Bertrand — early  French  settlers, 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  453 

whose  names  will  never  disappear  from  this  neighborhood.  Arrived  there,  he 
opened  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  exerting  his  remaining  strength  in  a  final  effort 
to  receive  his  Savior  as  the  guide  of  his  departing  soul ;  and  thus  he  passed  away, 
exactly  sixty  years  ago.    His  books  and  chalice  are  still  treasured  at  Notre  Dame. 

His  successor,  Father  Petit,  seems  to  have  completed  the  conversion  of 
the  tribe.  During  the  short  time  of  his  residence  at  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs  he 
baptized  three  hundred  Indians,  and  presented  at  one  time  two  hundred  for 
confirmation  in  the  log  church  by  the  side  of  the  lake.  The  deportation  of 
the  Indians  under  Governor  Cass  began  in  1S40.  Father  Petit  accompanied 
his  beloved  spiritual  children  to  their  new  home — if  the  name  of  home  could 
be  given  to  the  uncongenial  climate  and  soil  of  the  new  reservation.  Fraud- 
ulent representations  were  made  to  induce  the  red  man  to  leave  his  native 
land  to  the  encroaching  Caucasian.  Many  of  the  Indians  had  accepted  civil- 
ization, such  as  it  was,  were  living  in  settled  homes,  and  had  even  become 
attached  to  their  white  neighbors.  One  white  lady  of  wealth  and  influence 
was  looked  upon  with  the  reverence  due  to  a  mother  by  the  Indian  women. 
She  treacherously  lent  herself  to  the  deportation  scheme,  telling  her  red 
friends  that  she  would  accompany  them  to  the  new  reservation,  which  was 
represented  as  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  She  did  indeed  accom- 
pany them  thither,  but,  having  acted  as  a  decoy,  returned. 

Father  Petit  died  beyond  the  Mississippi,  but  his  remains  were  brought 
back  to  the  scene  of  his  missionary  triumphs,  and  they  repose  with  those  of 
Father  De  Seille  beneath  the  altar  of  Notre  Dame. 

Active  as  these  men  had  been  in  spiritual  architecture — in  the  building 
of  those  edifices,  "  not  made  by  hands,"  which  redound  beyond  all  others  to 
the  divine  glory — little,  if  anything,  had  yet  been  done  for  material  splendor 
or  even  comfort.  A  ten-acre  clearing  supplied  the  bare  necessaries  of  life. 
Log  walls  screened  the  sanctuary  from  the  wintry  blast  and  summer  blaze. 
The  natural  beauty  of  the  crystal  lakes  was  the  only — and  sufficient — charm 
that  the  landscape  afforded.  Dense  woods  lay  between  the  missions  and  the 
nearest  white  settlement.  Where  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive  now  wakes 
the  echoes,  the  occasional  creaking  of  an  emigrant  wagon  making  its  uncer 
tain  way  through  the  forest  was  the  only  sound  indicative  of  land-travel. 
The  river  was  the  chief  highway  of  such  commerce  as  existed.  By  this  the 
early  settlers  received  their  supplies  in  exchange  for  peltries  and  other 
products  of  the  chase  and  farm.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when 
Father  Edward  Sorin  arrived  here  in  1842. 


4C6  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

The  Indians,  even,  were  here  still  in  large  numbers,  for  the  deportation, 
begun  in  1840,  was  not  completed  in  less  than  three  years.  A  remnant,  in 
fact,  is  still  among  us,  and  Indian  blood  has  rarely  been  altogether  absent 
from  the  veins  of  the  youthful  throng  that  assemble  to  receive  Catholic 
instruction  at  Notre  Dame. 

Father  Sorin,  at  that  time  in  the  prime  of  youth  and  energy,  had  united 
himself  to  a  community,  the  Congregation  of  Holy  Cross,  whose  aim  was 
the  education  of  boys,  and,  in  obedience  to  his  superiors,  had  left  his  native 
France  to  extend  the  blessed  influence  of  religion  in  a  new  world.  Making 
his  first  resting-place  in  the  neighborhood  of  Vincennes,  Bishop  de  la  Hailan- 
diere,  who  then  filled  the  episcopal  chair  at  that  mission,  spoke  to  him  of  the 
lovely  spot  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state — a  spot  already  sanctified  by  the 
lives  of  so  many  holy  men,  whose  benedictions,  lavished  upon  it,  were  doubt- 
less destined  to  bear  noble  fruit — and  encouraged  him  to  go  thither,  giving 
him  possession  of  the  land  on  condition  that  a  college  building  should  be  put 
up  and  maintained  there. 

Accordingly,  in  November,  1842,  Father  Sorin,  accompanied  by  seven 
brothers  of  his  congregation,  started  for  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs,  to  encounter  for 
the  first  time  the  rigors  of  a  Northern  winter.  Of  his  companions  but  one, 
Brother  Francis  Xavier,  now  survives.  A  writer  in  the  "  Silver  Jubilee :' 
book,  published  in  1869,  describes  this  brother  as  one  "who  has  made  the 
coffins  of  all  who  have  died  at  Notre  Dame,  and  most  likely  will  do  the  same 
kind  office  for  many  more  yet  before  he  drives  the  last  nail  into  his  own." 

The  words  were  prophetic.  The  writer  was  laid  in  his  grave  by  the 
good  brother  in  November,  1874,  while  Brother  Francis  is  still  hale,  vigor- 
ous, and  kind  as  when  those  lines  were  written. 

The  college  was  begun  on  the  28th  of  August,  1843,  and  made  habitable 
the  following  spring.  Pupils  had  already  been  received,  however,  and 
accomodated  in  a  brick  building  now  known  as  the  Farm  House,  and  which 
is  consequently  honored  as  the  original  seat  of  learning  at  Notre  Dame. 
Three  churches  and  three  college  buildings  have  occupied  the  first  sites.  The 
first  church  and  second  college  were  destroyed  by  fire.  The  first  college  and 
second  church  were  ruthlessly  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  nobler 
structures. 

The  Know-nothing  excitement  against  Catholics  was  felt  to  some  extent 
here  in  early  times,  but  Father  Sorin's  address  and  exquisite  tact  soon  made 
the  most  influential  Protestants  of  the  neighborhood  his  friends.     Children 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


457 


of  all  denominations  were  intrusted  to  his  care  to  be  educated,  and  soon 
it  was  suggested  to  him  that  a  college  charter  enabling  him  to  confer  the 
usual  degrees  and  hold  the  buildings  tax-free  could  be  procured  from  the 
state  of  Indiana.  This  was  done  in  1844,  and  thenceforward  the  university 
of  Notre  Dame  became  a  power  in  the  land. 

Here  we  avail  ourselves  of  a  graphic  description,  recently  published  in 
the  Scholastic,  to  make  our  readers  somewhat  acquainted  with  the  Notre 
Dame  of  to-day.  A  drive  of  twenty  minutes  north  from  South  Bend — now 
a  pleasant  and  prosperous  city,  and  one  of  the  chief  manufacturing  centers 
of  the  country — brings  the  visitor  into  a  broad  and  beautiful  avenue,  with  its 
shady  trees  on  each  side  forming  a  most  delightful  and  refreshing  arcade. 
This  is  the  entrance  to  the  college  grounds  and  opens  in  front  of  a  group  of 
magnificent  buildings,  any  one  of  which  would  attract  attention  and  be  con- 
sidered an  adornment  even  in  a  large  city.  The  avenue  leading  to  the  col- 
lege is  very  nearly  one  mile  long  and  is  shaded  on  either  side  by  stately  maples. 
Just  off  the  main  road  which  intersects  the  avenue  at  the  college  gate  are  two 
pretty  little  buildings — the  one  on  the  east  side  is  the  Notre  Dame  post-office 
— a  favor  obtained  from  the  government  in  the  year  1851  through  the  influ- 
ence and  good  offices  of  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay ;  the  one  on  the  west  is  the 
porter's  lodge.  Passing  up  the  avenue  the  visitor  sees  in  front  of  him  the 
main  building,  the  dimensions  of  which  are  320x155  feet  and  five  stories 
in  height,  surmounted  by  a  magnificent  gilt  dome  which  forms  the  pedestal 
of  a  colossal  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  head  of  which  is  encircled  by  a 
crown  of  twelve  electric  stars,  while  at  the  feet  twenty-four  electric  lights 
form  a  beautiful  crescent.  The  height  of  the  statue  from  the  ground  is  200 
feet.  There  is  no  grander  monument  to  God's  ever-Blessed  Mother  in  the 
New  World,  and  it  forms  a  most  magnificent  tribute  of  gratitude,  on  the  part 
of  the  inmates  of  Notre  Dame,  to  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  under  whose  protec- 
tion this  spot  of  earth  has  been  placed  since  its  foundation. 

To  the  east  of  the  main  building  are  St.  Edward's  Hall,  surmounted  by 
a  cross,  the  base  of  which  rests  on  a  large  fresco  of  the  Guardian  Angel ; 
the  College  of  Music,  an  exceedingly  handsome  structure — having  much  the 
appearance  of  an  opera-house ;  and  Science  Hall,  a  building  fully  as  large  as  the 
old  college  and  of  pleasing  architectural  design.  Farther  east  are  smaller 
buildings,  like  the  others,  of  cream-colored  brick,  with  iron  and  stone  trim- 
mings; these  are  the  gymnasiums  for  seniors,  juniors,  and  minims. 

West  of  the  main  building  are   the  church,  Manual   Labor   School,  the 


sg  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

residence  of  the  Very  Rev.  Father  Sorin,  founder  of  Notre  Dame  and 
superior-general  of  the  congregation  of  Holy  Cross,  whose  members  con- 
duct the  university;  while  farther  west  are  the  Professed  House  for  the 
religious,  the  seminary,  and  to  the  south  lies  the  farm,  with  its  workshops,  a 
bake-house,  large  stables,  etc.  In  the  distance  west  may  be  seen  St.  Mary's 
Academy,  a  flourishing  school  for  young  ladies,  in  charge  of  the  Sisters  of 
Holy  Cross. 

But  our  description  of  the  buildings  of  Notre  Dame  necessarily  involves 
a  more  specific  reference  to  some  of  them,  and  we  begin  with  what  has  been 
aptly  styled  "the  crowning  glory  of  Notre  Dame,"  the  church. 

A  history  almost  like  that  of  the  college  itself  might  be  written  of  the 
church  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  from  the  log  building  which  Father  Sorin 
found  upon  the  banks  of  St.  Mary's  Lake  to  the  present  Gothic  structure, 
which  has  been  pronounced  worthy  of  any  city  in  the  Union.  In  the  form  of 
a  Latin  cross,  it  is  27b  feet  long  and  1 14  feet  wide  at  transepts,  and  is  of  cream- 
colored  brick,  with  marble  trimmings,  in  keeping  with  the  other  buildings. 
The  foundation  was  commenced  by  Father  Sorin  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  December  8,  1868,  the  very  day  Pius  IX  of  happy 
memory  opened  the  Vatican  council.  The  interior  is  one  of  the  grandest 
works  of  art  the  New  World  possesses.  The  bell  in  its  tower  has  a  national 
reputation,  and  is  the  largest  in  the  United  States,  and  one  of  the  finest  in 
the  world;  it  also  has  a  chime  of  twenty-three  bells,  the  finest  and  largest  but 
one  in  the  country. 

The  church  consists  of  a  nave,  aisles,  and  transepts,  with  a  chancel  and 
seven  apsidal  chapels — which  are  all  frescoed  in  the  highest  style  of  art.  Its 
clustered  columns  are  of  a  serpentine  marble,  with  capitals  of  golden  oak 
leaves,  between  which  peep  sculptured  cherubs.  The  frescoes  are  brilliant 
and  truthful.  The  ceiling  of  the  nave  is  covered  with  angels  on  a  blue  field 
studded  with  golden  stars.  No  two  are  alike  in  attitude  or  expression. 
Some  scatter  flowers  on  the  worshipers;  others  chant,  while  others 
accompany  them  with  instruments.  On  the  spandrels  of  the  architrave 
are  life-sized  saints  painted  on  gold  and  all  remarkable  for  their  grace  and 
beauty.  The  eight  large  panels  of  the  vault  formed  by  the  intersection 
of  the  nave  and  transepts  are  ornamented  with  colossal  figures  of  the  four 
evangelists  and  the  prophets  Moses,  David,  Jeremias  and  Daniel,  seated  on 
clouds  on  a  ground  of  gold  mosaic.  Between  the  windows  are  placed  the 
Stations  of  the  Cross,  set  in   Gothic  frames,  elaborately  ornamented   with 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  450. 

gilded  gables  and  pinnacles.  On  the  ceiling  of  the  transepts  are  immense 
paintings  from  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  On  either  side  of  the  organ 
are  two  large  mural  paintings;  the  one  on  the  left  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful in  the  church.  It  represents  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  desert  attacked 
by  serpents;  Moses  stands  in  the  center,  pointing  to  the  brazen  serpent,  invit- 
ing all  to  look  up  and  be  healed ;  many  of  the  people  are  beyond  human  aid ; 
others  are  on  the  ground,  suffering  the  agonies  of  death;  while  a  number, 
terrified  by  the  cries  and  groans  of  the  dying,  eagerly  look  upon  the  sign  that 
shall  cause  them  to  live.  The  expressions  are  wonderfully  lifelike.  The 
fresco  on  the  right  l'epresents  Christ  walking  on  the  water;  St.  Peter,  whose 
faith  is  failing,  sinks  beneath  the  wave ;  the  rest  of  the  apostles  are  seen  in 
an  open  boat  in  the  background.  The  picture  is  a  thanksgiving  for  the  res- 
cue of  Very  Rev.  Father  Sorin,  when  in  danger  of  being  drowned  on  the 
steamer  & Amerique.  All  the  stained-glass  windows,  sixty-four  in  number, 
are  real  gems  of  art.  They  were  imported  from  France,  and  manufactured 
by  the  Carmelite  nuns  of  Le  Mans  after  designs  by  the  best  artists,  and  are 
memorials  from  different  individuals.  The  woodwork  of  the  interior  of  the 
sacred  edifice  is  oiled  oak  and  polished  walnut,  selected  and  finely  carved. 
The  altar  was  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition.  It  was  made  in  Paris,  and  is  of 
gold  and  gilded  bronze,  elegantly  chased  and  richly  enameled.  Under  it  are 
the  bodies  of  two  martyrs  taken  from  a  catacomb  of  the  second  century. 

Before  the  altar  are  burning  continually  nine  lamps,  filled  with  the 
purest  olive  oil,  typical  of  the  nine  choirs  of  angels.  All  are  fine  works  of 
art,  but  the  middle  one,  called  the  Sanctuary  Lamp,  is  magnificent.  It  is  of 
gold,  cloisonne  enameling  and  precious  stones.  The  light  is  supported  by 
three  dragons;  their  eyes  are  of  rose  topazes;  their  heads  of  solid  silver,  sur- 
mounted by  an  egret  of  lilac  and  golden  plumage;  nine  topazes  and  tur- 
qoises  glitter  amid  their  feathers;  on  the  throat  of  each  is  a  beautiful  corne- 
lian; on  the  back  of  the  neck  is  a  crest  of  malachite,  and  the  quills  of  each 
wing  are  fastened  with  malachite  and  Indian  garnet ;  between  these  figures 
are  three  blue  and  gold  shields,  representing  scenes  in  the  Nativity.  Over 
the  Blessed  Virgin's  altar  is  an  oil-painting  of  Jesus  and  His  Mother  that 
was  formerly  suspended  in  the  room  where  Pope  Pius  IX  died.  On  the 
head  of  the  statue  of  Mary  is  a  crown  of  solid  gold,  studded  with  precious 
stones  and  inlaid  with  pearls,  presented  by  the  Empress  Eugenie,  in  1866. 
A  large  crown  suspended  near  this,  the  gift  of  thirty  persons,  represents  the 
fifteen  Mysteries  of  the  Rosary,  on  blue  enameled  pictures,  about  which  are 


4g0  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

the  names  of  the  contributors.  The  organ  is  of  Gothic  structure  and  rose- 
wood finish,  forty  feet  high,  twenty  feet  wide  and  twelve  feet  deep.  The 
cross  on  the  top  is  sixty  feet  from  the  ground-floor. 

In  the  sacristy  of  the  church  are  many  valuable  relics.  Among  them  are 
pieces  of  the  true  cross,  manger,  and  garments  of  Our  Lord ;  also  pieces  of  the 
veil  and  girdle  of  His  Mother;  a  chalice  and  paten  which  were  used,  and 
given,  by  Pope  Pius  IX;  a  large  crucifix,  fully  seven  feet  high,  and  an 
ostensorium  over  four  feet  high,  both  of  beaten  gold  and  silver,  with  figures, 
presented  by  Napoleon  III. 

Returning  now  to  the  university,  we  enter  the  main  building,  wherein 
the  libraries,  museums,  art  galleries,  class-rooms,  study-halls,  dormitories,  lav- 
atories, refectories,  etc.,  are  appropriately  and  conveniently  arranged.  On 
the  first  floor  are  the  refectories,  lavatories,  armories,  etc.  The  refectories  are 
richly  ornamented  with  mural  paintings,  representing  many  of  the  most  cele- 
brated churches  and  buildings  in  the  world,  and  beautifully  illustrating  the 
progress  of  architecture. 

On  the  main  floor  the  visitor  finds  himself  surrounded  by  t'he  famous 
frescoes  illustrating  the  life  of  Columbus,  the  work  of  Luigi  Gregori,  an 
Italian  artist,  who  was  occupied  for  many  years  in  decorating  the  interiors  of 
various  buildings  here.  In  the  vestibule  the  life-size,  full  length  figures  of 
Columbus  and  Queen  Isabella,  from  authentic  portraits,  appear  on  the  right 
and  left — a  fitting  introduction  to  the  grand  historic  series  which  is  to  follow, 
and  which  begins  in  the  hall  itself  with  Columbus  begging  his  bread  at  the 
door  of  the  monastery  whose  truly  noble  inmates  first  recognized  his  worth, 
and  brought  his  project  before  the  notice  of  the  queen.  Opposite,  we  see  the 
departure  of  the  caravels  on  their  adventurous  journey,  with  Columbus  kneel- 
ing to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  friendly  monk  to  whom  he  owed  so  much. 
Next  to  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  picture  of  the  series,  though  one  of 
the  smallest,  representing  the  mutiny  at  sea,  in  which  the  crew  are  threaten- 
ing the  life  of  the  great  discoverer.  The  violence  of  the  mutineers  is  made 
to  contrast  admirably  with  the  calm  confidence  of  Columbus.  Opposite,  land 
has  been  discovered,  and  the  ringleaders  of  the  mob  are  on  their  knees  suing 
for  pardon.  Next  a  broad  space  is  devoted  to  the  scene  at  the  landing,  where 
the  hero  is  planting  the  cross  on  the  shore,  surrounded  by  enthusiastic 
comrades  and  awe-stricken  Indians.  On  the  other  side  of  the  hall  is  the 
largest  picture  of  all,  showing  Columbus,  on  his  triumphant  return,  present- 
ing the  aborigines  and   productions  of  the  New   World  to  Ferdinand   and 


THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  46r 

Isabella,  enthroned  under  a  canopy  erected  in  the  open  air,  and  surrounded  by 
numerous  court  officials  and  an  apparently  unlimited  throng  of  spectators. 
After  this  transitory  scene  of  splendor  we  see  another  proof  of  fortune's 
inconstancy:  Columbus  in  chains,  the  victim  of  successful  treachery,  while 
two  Indians,  amazed  at  the  perfidy  of  the  white  man,  appear  to  be  his  only 
friends.  Last  scene  of  all,  we  have  his  death,  receiving  the  blessings  of 
religion,  his  chains  hanging  by  his  bedside,  above  the  chart  of  his  discoveries. 
Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Faculty,  admirable  copies  of  these  paintings  have 
been  obtained  for  illustrating  the  present  work. 

We  next  find  ourselves  at  the  rotunda,  on  whose  pavement  of  tiles  we 
may  stand  and  gaze  upwards  two  hundred  feet  into  the  concavitv  of  the  dome, 
also  decorated  with  appropriate  designs  by  the  same  talented  artist. 

In  the  story  above  are  more  recitation-rooms,  private  rooms  occupied  by 
teachers  and  others,  two  large  dormitories  over  the  study-rooms,  and  two 
finely  decorated  apartments  in  which  the  Columbian  and  Cecilian  societies 
respectively  hold  their  meetings. 

The  Columbian  room  is  painted  in  fresco,  with  full  length  portraits  of 
the  benefactors  of  the  university,  a  category  which  includes  characters  as 
incongruous  as  those  of  Henry  Clay  and  the  late  emperor  of  the  French 
making  a  picturesque  ensemble.  Cecilia  Hall  is  likewise  a  very  shrine  of  art 
one  of  its  paintings,  a  portrait  of  Shakespeare,  being  pronounced  by  all  art 
critics  as  Gregori's  masterpiece. 

In  the  third  story,  the  greater  part  of  the  front  extension  is  occupied  by 
a  spacious  hall,  devoted  to  the  purpose  of  a  college  library.  Here,  besides 
the  usual  formidable  array  of  classics  and  works  of  reference,  may  be  found 
some  curious  old  volumes  dated  from  the  century  in  which  printing  was 
invented,  illuminated  with  initial  letters  painted  by  hand  after  the  printing 
was  finished.  Quaint  modern  reproduction  of  mediaeval  work  will  also 
interest  the  aesthete. 

Meanwhile  the  various  galleries  and  halls  through  which  we  have  been 
passing,  even  including  the  stairways,  are  occupied  and  enriched  by  a  unique 
collection  that  commends  itself  to  the  interest  of  all  who  love  and  venerate 
the  good  men  who  have  ruled  over  American  dioceses.  While  a  boy  at  col- 
lege, Prof.  J.  F.  Edwards  conceived  the  happy  idea  of  erecting  a  national 
monument  to  our  prelates  in  the  form  of  a  Bishops'  Memorial  Hall.  He 
immediately  went  to  work,  and  after  years  of  persistent  search,  he  has  brought 
together  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  life-size  paintings,  crayons,  engrav- 


462  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

ings,  photographs,  rare  old  daguerreotypes,  miniatures  on  ivory,  busts  and 
casts *bf  all  the  bishops  and  archbishops  who  have  held  dioceses  within  the 
present  limits  of  the  United  States.  The  portraits  have  been  placed  in  a 
large  cruciform  gallery,  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet  in  length,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  at  the  arms,  and  a  uniform  width  of  sixteen  feet.  Besides  the 
portraits,  there  is  also  an  extensive  collection  of  autograph  letters  and  original 
documents  written  by  the  prelates;  bound  books,  pamphlets  and  pastorals 
published  by  them ;  manuscripts  relating  to  their  histories,  and  printed  volumes 
containing  their  biographies.  In  large,  glass-covered  cabinets  are  displayed 
wonderful  collections  of  miters,  crosiers,  episcopal  rings,  gold  chains,  pectoral 
crosses  and  other  articles  used  by  our  bishops,  archbishops,  and  cardinals. 
These  cabinets, when  placed  in  line,  form  a  continuous  stretch  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety-two  feet  by  three  in  width.  In  a  separate  case  are  displayed 
manuscript  sermons  and  letters  written  by  Archbishop  Carroll,  a  book  from 
his  pen — the  first  written  and  published  by  an  American  Catholic  in  the 
United  States — a  piece  of  the  gold  chain  from  which  he  suspended  his  pec- 
toral cross,  several  rare  engravings  of  the  prelate  himself,  a  picture  of  Pope 
Pius  VI,  who  founded  the  American  hierarchy,  and  a  rare  old  bust  of  the 
archbishop  which  stood  for  years  on  a  mantle-piece  in  the  private  room  of 
his  kinsman,  Daniel  Carroll,  of  Duddington.  Near  by  is  shown  a  gold 
embroidered  red  velvet  miter,  worn  by  Most  Rev.  Francis  Patrick  Kenrick, 
president  of  the  First  Plenary  Council.  A  heavily  embroidered  and  jeweled 
gold  cloth  miter,  worn  by  Archbishop  Spalding  when  he  opened  the  Second 
Plenary  Council,  stands  surrounded  by  all  his  published  works.  In  the  section 
devoted  to  the  Western  dioceses  is  found  a  curious  old  crosier,  of  exquisite 
workmanship,  made  of  tortoise-shell  and  silver.  It  was  used  by  the  vener- 
able Garcia  y  Moreno,  first  bishop  of  the  Pacific  slope.  Dioceses  North, 
East,  South,  and  West  are  represented  by  souvenirs  of  their  prelates. 

This  is  the  first  attempt  ever  made  in  any  country  to  illustrate  a  nation's 
whole  episcopacy  by  a  monument  of  this  description.  Many  persons  gave 
willingly  of  their  treasures  to  assist  in  building  this  monument  to  our  loved 
bishops.  They  deprived  themselves  of  the  pleasure  of  having  relics  at  home 
in  order  to  secure  their  greater  safety  in  this  collection,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  increase  their  value  by  making  them  parts  of  a  systematic  series.  The 
hundreds  of  tourists  and  others  who  visit  Notre  Dame  daily  have  their  atten- 
tion drawn  by  this  Memorial  Hall  to  the  great  work  done  by  the  American 
hierarchy,  and  a  desire  is  excited  to  know  more  of  the  life  and  work  of  the 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  463 

truly  apostolic  men  who  planted  and  fostered  the  faith  in  our  midst.  No  one 
can  glance  at  the  Indian  dictionaries,  grammars,  prayer-books  and  other 
works  prepared  for  the  Lake  Superior  tribes,  without  forming  a  high  estimate 
of  the  services  rendered  religion  by  the  sainted  Baraga,  who  endured  untold 
hardship  to  preach  the  faith  of  Christ  to  the  untutored  savages  of  the  North. 
In  the  same  case  with  these  works  are  displayed  some  manuscripts,  a  precious 
miter  and  other  souvenirs  of  the  great  apostle  of  the  Michigan  Indians.  It  is 
the  great  desire  of  the  originator  of  the  Bishops'  Memorial  Hall  to  make  it  as 
complete  and  as  national  as  possible;  to  make  it, in  fact,  the  Catholic  museum 
of  America.  Any  one  who  may  have  in  his  possession  souvenirs  of  our 
deceased  prelates,  in  the  form  of  articles  illustrating  their  pontifical  dignity, 
locks  of  their  hair,  works  published  by  them,  and  documents  or  old  letters  in 
their  handwriting,  can  render  a  valuable  service  to  the  history  of  the  Church 
by  depositing  them  in  the  Bishops'  Memorial  Hall,  where  they  will  be  relig- 
iously guarded  for  posterity,  and  preserved  from  danger — such  as  fire  or  rob- 
bery. A  sight  of  the  article  will  cause  many  a  prayer  to  be  said,  not  only  for 
the  person  whose  memory  it  perpetuates,  but  also  for  all  who  assist  in  com- 
pleting this  monument  already  so  well  commenced  and  so  solidly  established. 
Connected  with  the  Bishops'  Memorial  Hall  is  a  large  ecclesiastical  museum 
containing  souvenirs  of  missionary  priests,  Catholic  laymen,  and  articles  illus- 
trating the  different  religious  orders. 

We  may  now  ascend  to  the  roof,  if  you  have  any  desire  to  obtain  an 
extensive  view.  If  your  nerves  are  steady,  we  may  even  scale  the  dome 
itself,  and  the  prospect  is  worth  the  climb.  Northward  lie  the  green  hills  of 
Michigan,  with  the  St.  Joseph  River  winding  in  a  deep  valley  among  them. 
The  position  of  the  city  of  Niles  may  be  made  out  by  the  white  houses  of  its 
suburbs  gleaming  through  the  surrounding  shade  trees.  The  greater  part  of 
the  town  lies  hid  in  the  valley  of  the  river.  Eastward  stretch  extensive 
woods,  above  which  the  smoke  of  the  foundries  of  Elkhart  may  be  seen 
rising.  Southward,  the  view  is  more  limited,  a  high  range  of  bluffs  beyond 
the  river  cutting  it  off,  and  causing  the  river  itself  to  make  that  remarkable 
deflection  from  which  South  Bend  takes  its  name.  The  tips  of  the  spires  of 
Mishawaka  may  be  discovered,  by  one  who  knows  just  where  to  look  for 
them,  rising  above  the  woods  a  little  east  of  south.  On  the  bluffs  above  is  a 
station  erected  by  the  Lake  Coast  Survey.  West  of  south  lies  South  Bend, 
mapped  out  beneath  the  eye  of  the  spectator,  and  still  farther  west  stretch 
the  Kankakee  marshes,  for  so  many  years  the  paradise  of  the   fowler.     But 


^4  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

the  prairie  chickens  and  ducks,  that  used  to  abound  there,  have  been  thinned 
out  by  the  ruthlessness  of  hunters,  and  the  process  of  drainage  and  fencing  has 
robbed  the  region  of  its  original  charm.  Northeast,  the  eye  roves  over  the 
rolls  of  Portage  Prairie — the  old  "portage"  of  the  Pottawatomie  Indians, 
over  which,  by  conveying  their  canoes  from  the  waters  of  the  St.  Joseph  to 
those  of  the  Kankakee,  they  connected  the  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes 
with  that  of  the  Mississippi. 

From  these  views  of  the  distant  horizon,  let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  what  is 
going  on  more  immediately  beneath  us.  On  the  lake  to  the  north,  called  St. 
Joseph's  Lake,  we  may  witness  the  boat  crews  training  for  the  coming  regatta. 
The  lake  itself  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of  blue  water,  surrounded  by  groves,  and 
forms  a  most  attractive  feature  in  the  college  grounds.  There  is  another  lake 
to  the  westward  called  St.  Mary's  Lake,  the  area  of  which  is  a  little  larger. 
The  southern  and  western  shores  contain  beds  of  marl,  which  make  it,  per- 
haps, more  interesting  to  the  geologist,  though  less  attractive  to  the  lover  of 
scenery.  These  two  lakes,  each  with  its  peculiar  interest,  form  the  finest 
feature  in  the  landscape  of  Notre  Dame.  They  are  supplied  entirely  from 
springs,  and  their  transparent  waters  wash  shores  of  clean  white  sand  and 
pebbles,  and  hide  in  the  recesses  multitudes  of  the  finny  tribe  of  every  variety. 
They  afford  rare  sport  to  the  pleasure-loving  students  both  in  winter  and 
summer:  bathing,  boating,  skating,  and  fishing.  Southeast,  on  the  broad 
campus,  a  game  of  base-ball,  if  it  is  a  "  rec."  day,  may  be  in  progress,  and 
from  your  elevated  position  you  may  command  a  view  of  all  the  details  of 
that  attractive  pastime. 

But  it  is  the  intellectual  aspect,  rather  than  the  material — the  mental 
landscape,  so  to  speak — which  will  interest  the  visitor  to  the  college  as  a 
college.  And  here  he  will  find  classic  taste  and  scientific  research — not  the 
mere  memorizing  of  the  contents  of  learned  tomes,  but  an  active  participation 
in  the  pursuits  and  aims  of  true  study.  The  productions  of  the  plays  of 
Sophocles,  with  all  their  appropriate  accessories  on  the  stage,  by  the  Greek 
students  of  this  university,  and  still  more,  the  intelligent  interest  which  large 
audiences  have  unmistakably  manifested  in  the  representation,  sufficiently  attest 
the  proficiency  attained  here  in  a  living  language,  which,  however  its  claims 
to  notice  may  have  been  lately  questioned  by  the  superficial  and  soulless  utili- 
tarian, is  not  only  among  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  that  the  world  has 
ever  known,  but  is  especially  dear  to  Christians,  as  being  the  language  of  the 
Gospel.     Moreover,  the  fact  of  Greek  being  a  living  language  is  vividly  pre- 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


465 


sented  to  the  mind  of  the  student  by  the  exchange  of  the  productions  of  the 
Ave  Maria  press  with  those  of  modern  Greece,  which  arrive  by  every  mail 
from  the  Orient.  It  is  needless  to  speak  of  the  perfection  attained  in  the  Latin 
language  in  an  institution  conducted  by  fathers  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
among  whom  that  classic  tongue  has  never  been  allowed  to  die.  The  poetry 
in  hexameter  and  the  difficult  Horatian  measures,  which  from  time  to  time 
appear  in  the  periodicals  here,  bear  witness  that  Notre  Dame  forms  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  in  this  respect. 

Nor  is  science  neglected.  The  flora  and  fauna  of  the  fertile  St.  Joseph 
Valley  give  increasing  occupation  to  the  naturalist,  the  fruits  of  whose  labors 
are  preserved  in  the  herbarium  and  museum.  The  geology  of  the  Great 
Lake  Basin,  and  the  multifarious  mineral  specimens  to  be  found  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, open  other  interesting  fields  of  science,  which  have  been  duly  tilled 
and  the  philosophical  apparatus  appears  to  have  gathered  no  rust  or  dust  from 
neglect.  The  courses  of  Law  and  Civil  Engineering  are  in  active  operation, 
and  there  is  a  preparatory  course  of  medicine  which  has  long  been  conducted 
under  the  care  of  an  eminent  and  experienced  practitioner.  A  commercial 
school  here  has  always  borne  a  good  reputation  among  business  men,  so  that 
its  graduates  find  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  employment,  which  is  probably 
the  best  test  of  worth. 

The  Catholic  religion  is  professed  by  the  teachers  and  officers  of  the 
establishment,  but  non-Catholics  have  always  availed  themselves,  in  large 
numbers,  of  the  educational  advantages  here  offered.  Our  Blessed  Mother, 
who  gives  her  name  to  the  university,  smiles  a  welcome  to  all  from  her 
exalted  position  on  the  dome,  and  although  no  undue  efforts  are  made  to 
proselytize,  yet  the  truths  of  the  most  ancient  form  of  Christianity  sink  deep 
into  many  an  ingenuous  heart.  The  sense  of  honor  is  sedulously  cultivated 
by  the  officers  of  the  institution,  as  a  ground  of  moral  restraint  and  self-com- 
mand on  which  all  may  meet  on  a  common  footing.  The  venerable  founder 
of  the  house,  himself  a  model  of  the  punctilious  courtesy  which  characterized 
the  ancien  regime,  has  always  deemed  it  his  duty  to  cultivate  the  manners, 
no  less  than  the  morals,  of  those  to  whom  he  stands  in  loco  parentis;  and 
although  he  has  long  ago  resigned  the  presidency  into  younger  hands,  his 
gentle  influence  is  still  felt,  refining  and  elevating  wherever  it  extends;  his 
presence  inspires  an  affectionate  reverence,  and  the  memory  of  his  teachings 
will  long  survive   his   earthly  career.     Hence   the   absence   of  rudeness  has 

alwavs  been  a  marked  feature  at  Notre  Dame.     The  disgraceful  practice  of 
7     31  ^ 


66  A  TYPICAL  FOUNDATION. 

"hazino-"  is  absolutely  unknown.  The  new-comer  finds  himself  surrounded 
at  once  by  kindly  faces  and  hearts,  disposed  to  believe  everything  good  of 
him  unless  his  own  deeds  force  them  reluctantly  into  the  opposite  conviction. 
The  students  are  divided  into  departments,  not  according  to  the  course  of 
study  each  pursues,  but  according  to  the  more  natural  distinction  of  age ;  each 
department  having  its  own  campus  and  gymnasium,  its  own  study-halls, 
recreation  rooms  and  dormitories.  In  the  recitation-rooms,  however,  distinc- 
tions of  age  are  leveled,  and  merit  alone  gives  the  pupil  his  standing.  The 
practice  of  going  to  and  from  recitations  and  other  college  exercises  in  silence 
and  ranks  has  always  prevailed,  and  contributes  much  to  the  reign  of  order. 
In  the  classical  and  scientific  courses  the  highest  proficiency  is  required  to 
obtain  the  academic  degrees ;  the  mere  fact  of  a  student  having  attended  class 
regularly  does  not  entitle  him  to  a  diploma;  the  examination  to  be  passed  is 
something  more  than  a  mere  formality,  and  the  unpleasant  process,  known  to 
college  men  as  "plucking,"  takes  place  quite  often  enough  to  inspire  a  salu- 
tary awe.  The  removal  of  distracting  influences  has  also  been  found  to  have 
most  beneficial  results  in  promoting  attention  to  solid  work. 

Space  will  not  permit  us  to  describe,  as  they  merit,  all  the  educational 
buildings,  which  are  admirable  alike  in  structure  and  equipment.  As  more 
closely  akin  to  our  theme,  however,  we  make  exception  on  behalf  of  the 
Novitiate,  a  stately  structure,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length  by 
eighty  feet  in  width  and  three  full  stories  in  height.  Here  the  candidates  for 
the  Congregation  of  Holy  Cross  are  carefully  trained  and  formed  for  the 
religious  life  and  the  duties  which,  in  accordance  with  the  end  of  their  estab- 
lishment, the  members  of  the  order  have  to  fulfill. 

Almost  directly  opposite  is  the  Professed  House,  for  the  religious  of  Holy 
Cross.  This  building,  or  rather  series  of  buildings,  connected  together,  stands 
midway  between  the  two  lakes  upon  an  eminence  which  was  formerly  an 
island  in  the  midst  of  a  large  sheet  of  water — when  some  thirty  or  more 
years  ago  there  was  but  one  lake.  For  a  long  time,  even  after  the  improve- 
ments made  by  skillful  drainage,  it  was  known  as  "the  Island;"  but  a  few 
years  ago  a  name  was  given  to  it,  to  immortalize  the  career  and  active  service 
of  good  old  Brother  Vincent — the  oldest  living  member  of  the  Congregation 
of  Holy  Cross,  and  the  best  part  of  whose  life  has  been  given  to  the  service 
of.  Notre  Dame — and  it  is  now  known  as  "Mt.  St.  Vincent."  Here  reside 
the  members  of  the  order  whose  duties  do  not  require  their  constant  presence 
at  the  university. 


REV.  JOHN    P.   CHIDWICK,   U.  S.  N. 

CHAPLAIN  OF  THE   BATTLESHIP  MAINE, 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE.  467 

A  little  to  the  southwest  lies  a  charming  grove,  in  the  midst  of  which 
stands  the  Seminary  for  the  complete  training  of  those  destined  to  the  eccle- 
siastical state  in  the  community.  The  building  is  spacious  and  can  accom- 
modate a  large  number;  but  the  chief  beauty  is  the  chapel,  painted  by  Prof. 
J.  Ackerman — an  artist  of  no  ordinary  merit.  The  grounds  are  extensive  and 
very  tastefully  laid  out  and  decorated. 

As  we  leave  the  Seminary  grounds  and  turn  eastward  toward  the  univer- 
sity, our  path  lies  along  the  shore  of  St.  Mary's  Lake,  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  which  we  see  the  barns,  stables,  and  numerous  small  buildings  that  consti- 
tute the  "home  center"  of  the  great  farm. 

Our  path  has  now  led  us  to  the  foot  of  a  little  hill,  and  we  are  agreeably 
surprised,  as  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  a  facsimile  representation  of  the 
Grotto  of  Lourdes,  beautifully  sculptured  out  of  the  side  of  the  declivity.  The 
rocks  are  there  portrayed,  while  underneath  is  the  gurgling  fountain.  To  one 
side,  lifted  on  high, is  a  beautiful  statue  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, encased  in  an  octagonal  frame,  the  sides  of  which  are  of  glass,  supported 
by  stone  pillars.  At  a  little  distance  is  the  kneeling  figure  of  Bernadette,  in 
her  quaint,  pleasing  Breton  dress,  praying  to  the  Virgin  of  the  Apparitions. 

To  the  right  of  this  lovely  spot  is  a  square,  three-story  building — the  resi- 
dence of  Very  Rev.  Father  General  Sorin  and  his  assistants.  A  peculiar  interest, 
as  well  as  importance,  attaches  to  this  structure  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  mother- 
house  of  the  entire  Congregation  of  Holy  Cross — the  great  center  whence  issue 
those  directions  that  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  order  extended  over  the  world. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  features  of  Notre  Dame — the  Pride  of  the 
West — with  its  attractive  natural  scenery,  its  cultivated  acres,  its  pleasant  grounds, 
its  commodious  buildings — with  all  the  advantages  that  can  be  desired  to  train 
and  direct  the  powers  of  heart,  body  and  mind — with  all  the  requisites  to  pre- 
sent the  realization  of  the  true  home  of  religion  and  science.  May  the  band 
of  devoted  religious,  to  whose  care  and  direction  all  the  workings  of  this  home 
have  been  intrusted,  continue  to  grow  and  flourish,  and  in  the  future,  as  in  the 
past,  be  a  power  in  the  Church  and  a  benefactor  to  society!  And  may  the 
venerable  Superior,  who  laid  the  first  foundation  of  this  vast  structure,  and  who, 
during  the  whole  of  its  career,  has  presided  over  and  directed  its  destinies  with 
the  perfecting  wisdom  of  advancing  years — may  he  live  long  in  health  and 
strength,  and  blessed  of  Heaven  to  continue  for  many  years  yet  to  come  the 
grand  and  noble  work  which  he  inaugurated,  carried  on  so  successfully,  and 
which  he  has  lived  to  see  wonderfully  develop  into  such  vast  proportions/ 


(B^pjter  XXIV. 


CATHOLIC  CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  MAINE. 


His  Birthplace  and  Early  Training. — Loved  and  Trusted  by  His  Shipmates- 
Proved  Himself  Worthy  of  Their  Confidence. — Stood  Nobly  by  Them  in 
Their  Hour  of  Need.— Forty  Per  Cent  of  the  Men  Are  Catholics.— The 
Chaplain  Is  One  of  the  Ship's  Company.— The  Chaplain  Ranks  as  Lieuten- 
ant.—His  Appointment  to  the  Navy  March  25TH,  1895.— An  Eloquent  and 
Fluent  Speaker. 


I 


\  HE  soldier  priest  to  whom   all  the  newspapers  of  the  nation 
[    give  all  praise  for  gallant  conduct  in  connection  with  the  wreck 
y$F       of  the  Maine  warship  is  of  Irish  blood.     His  parents  lived  in 
"^  Clonakilty,  a  town  on  the  southern  coast  of  Ireland,  but  he 

belongs  to   the   north  of  Ireland  as  much  as  to  the  south — 
belongs,  in  fact,  to  all  Ireland,  as  his  mother  (still  living  is 
Margaret  O'Reilly,  daughter  to  Patrick  O'Reilly — a  man  who  was  trust- 
worthy and  respected  in  the  estimation  of  all  who  knew  him. 

O'Reilly,  O'Neill  and  Maguire  are  three  names  that  are  borne  by 
many  families  on  the  southern  coast  of  Ireland.  Those  names  belong 
to  the  north  to  Cavan,  Tyrone  and  Fermanagh.  But  in  the  wars  of  the 
O'Neills  with  England,  Hugh  O'Neill  brought  down  the  men  of  the 
north  and  fought  against  the  English  at  Kinsale  in  the  year  1601.  He 
was  defeated,  his  forces  were  scattered,  some  of  them  were  sheltered 
and  protected  by  the  southern  people;  the  southern  girls  married  them, 
and  that  is  how  it  comes  that  those  northern  names  are  numerously 
found  throughout  Cork  County  to-day.  And,  wherever  they  are  found 
their  bearers  are  found  to  be  good  and  true  and  brave. 

It  will  please  our  readers  to  let  them  read  the  following  about  the 
good  priest  "Father  John,"  hero  of  the  Maine.  The  story  of  a  gallant 
and  big-hearted  chaplain.  Loved  and  trusted  by  his  shipmates,  the 
Rev.  John  P.  Chidwick  proved  himself  worthy  of  their  confidence  and 
stood  nobly  by  them  in  their  hour  of  need. 

After  Capt.  Sigsbee,  the  one  man  who  seems  to  have  attained  a 
heroic  figure  in  the  incidents  of  the  tragedy  of  the  destruction  of  .the 

468 


CATHOLIC  CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  MAINE.  469 

Maine  is  the  chaplain,  Father  John  P.  Chidwick.  All  accounts  agree 
that  he  showed  himself  fully  equal  to  the  most  exacting  demands  of 
the  emergency.  He  was  one  of  the  last  to  leave  the  vicinity  of  the 
wreck,  and  only  sought  the  shore  when  there  was  apparently  no  further 
possibility  of  rescuing  another  of  his  well-loved  "boys."  In  the  hospi- 
tals he  was  tireless  in  comforting  and  helping  the  wounded  and  in 
consoling  and  making  ready  for  their  last  voyage  the  gallant  men 
whose  lives  were  sacrificed  in  the  awful  calamity.  His  was  the  central 
figure  of  the  imposing  obsequies  of  the  honored  dead.  He  saw  to  it 
that  each  body  received  the  proper  marks  of  identification  and  that 
each  grave  could  be  hereafter  specially  located. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  remainder  of  Father  Chidwick's  time  was 
chiefly  spent  at  the  Machina  dock,  where  the  mangled  and  battered 
bodies  of  the  dead  were  drawn  ashore,  seeking  amid  the  most  repulsive 
and  forbidding  environment,  the  smallest  sign  for  identification,  and 
the  last  sad  mementos  for  the  loved  ones  far  away.  He  has  indeed 
proved  himself  an  ideal  "  sky-pilot,"  to  give  him  the  familiar  sea  title 
of  his  calling. 

But  in  this  there  is  no  surprise  for  the  legion  of  the  clergyman's 
friends  and  admirers  in  his  native  city.  The  record  only  realizes  the 
estimate  they  long  since  formed  of  him  and  predicted  of  his  career 
when  he  accepted  his  commission  in  the  navy  at  President  Cleveland's 
appointment  in  March,  1895. 

Although  more  than  40  per  cent  of  the  men  in  the  service  are 
Catholics,  of  the  twenty-nine  chaplains  in  the  navy  only  three  are  min- 
isters of  that  church.  The  majority  of  the  chaplains  are  Baptists.  The 
Navy  Department  takes  no  cognizance  of  religious  belief.  According 
to  an  absurd  and  anomalous  custom,  it  assigns  the  chaplain  to  his 
station  without  any  regard  for  the  doctrinal  bias  of  the  men.  The 
chaplain  is  merely  one  of  the  ship's  company,  just  as  there  must  be 
engineers,  lieutenants,  et  al.,  in  it.  Hence  the  place  was  generally  used 
to  give  fat  berths  to  ministers  of  the  denomination  most  in  favor  during 
the  current  administration. 

A  chaplain  ranks  as  a  lieutenant.  For  the  first  rive  years  he  draws 
$1,500  a  year  for  shore  duty,  Si, 800  a  year  for  sea  pay  and  $1,200  while 
waiting  orders.     His  rank  and  pay  increase  with  his  years  of  service. 


470  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

After  five  years  he  gets  $2,800  a  year,  and  he  can  retire  with  the  allow- 
ance of  his  rank  at  the  legal  age  limit.  A  glance  at  the  naval  register 
would  seem  to  show  that  many  of  the  chaplains  had  long  terms  but 
very  little  sea  service.  Those  who  have  families  are  naturally  averse 
to  the  separation  it  would  involve  and  the  monotony  of  the  very  trivial 
duties  life  on  board  ship  would  mean  for  them. 

One  chaplain's  name,  for  instance,  was  on  the  pay  roll  for  twenty- 
five  years,  with  only  three  years'  sea  service;  another,  ranking  as  cap- 
tain, with  $4,500  a  year  pay,  had  six  years  at  sea  during  twenty-seven. 
A  third,  retired  as  commodore  at  $3,700  a  year,  had  only  seven  years 
seagoing  in  the  total  of  his  fifty  of  service,  while  a  luckier  fifth  had  no 
sea  record  at  all  during  a  thirty-four  years'  term. 

The  injustice  of  denying  to  Catholic  sailors,  who  form  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  navy,  the  ministrations  of  priests  of  their  own  faith  was 
seen  in  1887  by  President  Cleveland,  who  appointed  the  Rev.  Charles 
Parks  as  the  first  Catholic  priest  to  receive  a  chaplain's  commission  in 
the  navy.  He  was  the  chaplain  of  the  Vermont  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy 
Yard,  for  three  years;  then  was  detailed  to  the  Philadelphia  and  is  now 
abroad  on  the  San  Francisco.  The  second  priest  appointed  was  the  Rev. 
W.  H.  I.  Rainey,  whose  father  had  also  served  in  the  navy.  He  went  to 
sea  at  once,  and  was  for  several  years  on  the  Asiatic  station.  He  is 
now  attached  to  the  Vermont  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  The  third 
and  last  Catholic  chaplain  is  the  hero  of  the  Maine  episode,  Father 
Chidwick.  He  was  broken  into  his  duties  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard 
by  Father  Parks  and  joined  the  Maine  when  she  was  put  in  commission 
and  served  with  her  since. 

His  father,  the  late  John  B.  Chidwick,  who  died  a  short  time 
after  his  son's  appointment  as  chaplain,  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  serv- 
ing the  Union  in  both  the  army  and  navy  during  the  civil  war.  His 
mother  is  still  a  resident  of  the  upper  section  of  New  York  City.  He 
has  one  brother,  William  B.  Chidwick,  who  is  in  business  there,  and  a 
sister,  who  is  a  nun  in  the  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Peter- 
boro,  Canada. 

He  was  an  apt  and  diligent  pupil,  and,  though  loving  his  books, 
was  equally  eager  to  participate  in  all  the  boyish  sports  and  ventures 
of  his   comrades.     When  he   had   finished   his   term   in  the   parochial 


CATHOLIC  CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  MAINE.  47 1 

school  he  was  sent  to  Manhattan  College,  whence,  after  the  usual  clas- 
sical course,  he  received  his  bachelor's  degree,  and  was  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1883.  He  then  elected  to  give  himself  to  the  service  of  the 
church,  and  being  received  as  a  diocesan  student  went  to  make  his 
theological  studies  at  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  Troy.  These  were  com- 
pleted in  the  subsequent  four  years,  and  he  was  ordained  a  priest  by 
Bishop  McNeirney  on  Dec.  17,  1887.  Archbishop  Corrigan  then 
assigned  him  for  duty  as  an  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Charles  H.  Colton, 
rector  of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  East  Twenty-eighth  Street,  New  York 
City,  where  he  remained  until  his  appointment  to  the  navy,  March  25, 
1895. 

The  Rev.  Father  Colton,  when  asked  to  say  something  about  the 
famous  chaplain's  personality,  answered  : 

'Well,  there  is  nothing  too  good  that  you  could  say  of  him.  During 
the  eight  years  he  was  with  me  here  I  found  him  an  ideal  priest.  I 
know  many  young  priests  who  have  special  characteristics,  but  few  who 
unite  so  many  attractive  and  brilliant  personal  traits  as  can  be  found  in 
Father  Chidwick.  He  has  a  cheerful,  winsome  temper  and  a  most 
simple  and  trustful  nature.  His  wit  is  keen  and  ready,  but  it  is  never 
used  to  inflict  the  slightest  pain  on  any  one. 

"  He  is  an  eloquent  and  fluent  speaker,  and  his  clever,  handsome 
face  reflects  a  well-balanced,  bright  and  talented  mind.  The  zealous- 
ness  and  faithfulness  of  his  attention  to  the  sick  and  poor  of  the  parish 
here  were  really  remarkable.  We  who  know  the  man,  and  what  a 
trying  position  that  of  a  Catholic  chaplain  in  the  navy  is,  were  well 
satisfied  when  Archbishop  Corrigan  named  him  for  the  commission, 
that  no  mistake  had  been  made.  The  scenes  in  Havana,  as  well  as  his 
whole  record  in  the  navy,  have  amply  justified  this  appreciation  of  his 
sterling  character." 

Father  Chidwick  has  a  strong,  athletic  frame,  standing  five  feet  six 
inches  in  height,  and  weighs  160  pounds.  In  the  messroom  his  com- 
panionable and  lovable  disposition  makes  him  a  general  favorite  with 
his  brother  officers.  Among  the  men  his  influence  is  unbounded,  and 
is  continually  felt  in  the  improved  moral  and  discipline  of  good  natured 
Jack,  whose  faults  and  laches  are  usually  only  the  result  of  his  tradi- 
tional convivial  disposition. 


VOL.  II. 


Worid'g  Columbian  Gafcholic 


CONGRESSES. 


HELD  AT  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR, 

Chicago,  September,  1893. 


WORbD'S  COIaU^eiAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


A  Landmark  in  Catholic  Progress. — Motive  of  the  Columbian  Congress. — Ser- 
mon of  Welcome. — Greeting  of  the  Chicago  Archbishop. — Cardinal 
Gibbons'  Address. — The  Official  Welcome. — Judge  Morgan  J.  O'Brien's 
Address. — Voices  from  Foreign  Lands. — Mission  and  Character  of 
Columbus.--"  Isabella  the  Catholic." — The  Angel  of  Philadelphia. — 
Bishop  Watterson  Sounds  a  Keynote. — Rousing  Words  from  Mgr. 
Satolli. — The  Rights  of  Labor. — The  Duties  of  Capital. — Address  of 
a  Gifted  Convert. — Religious  Orders  of  Women. — Charities  of  the 
Church. — Missionary  Work  in  the  United  States. — The  Curse  of 
Intemperance. — Women  in  Art,  Literature,  and  Society. — The  Work  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul. — Catholic  Higher  Education. — Welcome  to  the 
Archbishop  of  New  York. — The  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit. — Other 
Addresses  from  the  Bishops. — Piercing  into  the  Future. — Ringing 
Resolutions  of  the   Congress. — The   Cardinal's  Touching  Valedictory. 


HE  second  Catholic  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  held  in 
the  great  and  prosperous  city  of  Chicago,  Ills.,  September  4-9, 
1893,  and  offers  a  noble  landmark  in  these  outlines  of  the  career  of 
Holy  Church  on  American  soil. 

The  busy  Western  metropolis  had  been  the  theater,  during  the 
summer  months,  of  a  stupendous  "  World's  Fair  "  of  arts  and  indus- 
tries, held  under  Government  auspices  in  honor  of  the  quarto-centenary 
of  the  discovery  by  Christopher  Columbus.  Visitors  from  all  nations  thronged 
to  this  Columbian  Jubilee — an  appropriate  title  for  such  a  grand  Catholic 
assembly — and  advantage  was  taken  of  the  occasion  to  hold  a  series  of 
congresses  of  more  than  national  interest,  the  beautiful  Art  Palace  provided 
by  the  Exposition  authorities  being  devoted  to  their  sessions.  Here,  accord- 
ingly, was  held  the  Catholic  Congress,  which  was  the  Mecca,  from  day  to 
day,  of  vast  crowds  of  the  faithful,  and  was  honored  by  such  an  attendance  of 
our  prelates  and  clergy  as  were  never  before  present  at  an  assembly  of  the 
kind.  In  many  respects,  indeed,  the  gathering  was  unique  even  in  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  God,  and  in  the  addresses  and  papers  delivered  on  the  occa- 
sion, the  more  relevant  of  which  are  here  presented,  may  best  be  learned  the 

9 


IO 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


inspiration,    the    aims,    and    the    glorious    work  of  the  Columbian  Catholic 
Congress,  as  it  was  officially  styled. 

On  the  morning  of  September  4th,  the  first  day  of  the  assembly,  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  was  offered  in  its  behalf  at  St.  Mary's  church — the  oldest  and 
formerly  the  cathedral  parish  of  Chicago — in  the  presence  of  H.  E.  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  the  diocese,  and  many  illustrious 
prelates  and  priests,  besides  the  body  of  the  delegates  who  were  to  participate 
in  the  Congress.  The  Solemn  High  Mass  was  celebrated  by  Rev.  E.J. 
Dunne  of  Chicago,  with  Rev.  J.  Ballman  of  Sag  Bridge  as  deacon,  and  Rev. 
J.  F.  Dore  as  sub-deacon.  The  discourse  of  the  occasion  was  made  by  Rev. 
P.  J.  Muldoon,  Chancellor  of  the  Chicago  archdiocese,  as  follows: 

SERMON    OF    WELCOME. 

Your  Eminence,  Most  Reverend  Archbishops,  Right  Reverend  Bishops,  Very 
Reverend  and  Reverend  Brethren  of  the  Clergy,  Brethren  of  the  Laity :  Through  the 
graciousness  of  my  superior,  the  greatest  pleasure  of  my  life,  and  an  honor  never  to  be 
forgotten,  has  been  placed  within  my 
keeping.  It  surpasses  me  to  rise  to 
the  full  dignity  of  this  occasion,  and 
to  welcome,  in  terms  appropriately 
tender  and  sufficiently  strong,  this 
vast  congregation  of  the  priests  of  the 
Most  High  and  brethren  of  the  laity 
assembled  together,  not  for  self-glori- 
fication, but  to  seriously  discuss 
weighty  and  pregnant  subjects,  and 
tp  solve,  as  far  as  possible,  vexatious 
questions  crying  aloud  for  a  solution. 
To  your  Eminence,  to  Archbishops, 
Bishops  from  home  and  abroad,  to  the 
very  reverend  and  reverend  brethren 
of  the  elergy,  and  a  host  of  brethren 
of  the  laity,  in  the  name  of  our  most 
worthy  Archbishop,  I  can  declare  no 
more  chan,  brethren  of  the  Faith, 
accept  and  share  our  good  will  and 
our  hospitality;  accept  and  share  the 
hospitality  of  Chicago,  justly  termed, 
by  her  progress  and  generosity,  the 
"  Queen  -  f  the  North  and  the  West." 

Genuine  and  broad  as  this  expres- 
sion is,  permit  me  to  briefly  place 
before  you  other  reasons  why  you 
should  recognize  that  you  are  at  home 
here  and  with  your  own  in  numbers, 
in  thought,  and  in  works. 

Chicago,  my  friends,  stands  unique 
in  city  building  and  challenges  the 
w  rid  in  the  progress  with  which  God 
has  blessed  her.  Sixty  years  ago  Chi- 
cago meant  a  lonely  fort  upon  the 
banks  of  a  muddy  stream;  to-day  she 
L  the  admiration  of  two  hemispheres.  And  forget  not  that  Catholic  hearts  and 
Catholic  hands  have  not  been  inactive  during  these  three-score  years,  and  as  proof 
over  one  hundred  churches  within  the  boundaries  of  our  city  open  wide  their  portals 
and  beg  you,  during  your  stay,  to  make  them  your  own,  and  one-third  of  the  population 
of  this  mammoth  city  joins  in  one  profound  chord  of  proud  welcome  and  extends  to 
you  the  hand  of  fellowship,  saying  "  we  are  one  in  faith,  in  motives,  and  in  interests." 

Yet  more:  not  alone  does  Catholic  Chicago  greet  you,  but  the  entire  commonwealth 
speaks  in  no  uncertain  terms  to  this  as  to  every  other  Congress  to  the  World's  Pair  city,  for 
this  is  our  year  of  jubilee,  this  our  day  of  joy,  this  our  time  of  reception.     But  to  whom 


REV.    P.    J.    MULDOON,    CHANCELLOR    OF   CHICAGO 


ARCHDIOCESE. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  11 

more  appropriately  than  to  Catholics  could  the  word  of  good  cheer,  "  Hasten  and  par- 
take," be  extended,  for  Catholics,  and  Catholics  alone,  are  the  only  representatives  of  that 
Church  which  had  being,  when  he  who  to-day  is  revered  with  unheard-of  praise  set  forth 
to  discover  the  Western  world.  Catholics  listened  to  his  projects,  strengthened  his 
hands,  and  made  possible  by  their  aid  and  encouragement  our  meeting  in  Chicago 
to-day. 

Besides,  it  seems  you  enter  upon  a  soil  permanently  your  own,  for  hear  you  not  the 
feeble  voice  of  the  bumble  Jesuit  missionary  lying  upon  a  rude  couch  in  a  ruder  dark 
hut?  He  appears  to  say  in  dulcet  tones,  "  Thank  God  you  follow  where  I  have  led. 
Chicago  should  be  the  home  of  Catholicity  before  aught  else,  for  I  was  the  first  white 
man  who  looked  upon  its  foundations,  first  blessed  its  soil,  and  from  my  heavenly  home 
I  to-day  bless  and  welcome  you  and  pray  God  that  your  deliberations  may  be  fruitful 
in  the  extension  of  that  Faith  which  two  hundred  years  ago  I  preached  on  this  very 
spot  to  the  red  men  who  were  sitting  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death."  Again, 
sixty  years  ago,  through  the  exertions  of  our  Father  St.  Cyr,  the  first  church  whose 
spire  received  the  kiss  of  the  sun,  rising  out  of  the  bosom  of  Lake  Michigan,  was  Catho- 
lic and  dedicated  as  St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake. 

Yet  more,  the  spirit  of  kinship  entices  you  nearer  and  forbids  a  halt  in  any 
exterior  sanctuary,  for  the  White  City  waves  its  flags  in  joy,  and  Columbus,  the  saintly 
Catholic  mariner,  in  triumphal  chariot  comes  to  greet  you,  and  the  mighty  Exposition 
proclaims  in  power  beyond  ten  thousand  tongues  the  glorious  works  of  Catholic  peoples 
and  individuals.  The  aroma  of  Catholic  life  is  so  clearly  discernible  in  this  greatest 
undertaking  of  the  19th  century  that  every  nook  and  corner  voices  the  sentiment, 
"Rejoice  and  be  glad,  all  Catholics  who  enter  here;  rejoice  and  be  glad,  for  the  same 
genius  that  made  the  Church  the  mother  of  art,  the  fosterer  of  education,  the  protector 
of  the  poor  and  defenseless,  reigns  triumphant  here."  From  the  Catholic  chapel  on  the 
south,  a  picture  of  Catholic  times,  redolent  of  Catholic  life  and  art,  and  surrounded  by 
the  famous  caravels  with  the  Immaculate  Virgin  upon  the  prow  of  the  Santa  Maria,  as 
if  now  keeping  vigil  over  the  destinies  of  the  New  World  as  when  guiding  Columbus  on 
his  first  voyage,  away  to  the  villages  on  the  north,  and  from  the  Liberal  Arts  Building 
on  the  east  to  the  Woman's  Building  on  the  west,  all  manifest  in  grand  unison  by  the 
works  they  contain  the  broadness,  the  liberality,  and  the  genuineness  of  Catholic  teach- 
ing, and  proclaim  anew  the  Church  to  be  the  salvation  of  all  that  is  best  for  man. 

This  unsurpassed  Columbian  Exposition  places  a  new  gem  in  the  crown  of  Mother 
Church,  for  no  object  lesson  of  the  greatness  and  universality  of  the  Church  has  within 
modern  times  been  placed  so  impartially  and  publicly  before  just  and  inquiring  minds. 

Above  all  this,  my  friends,  another  sturdier  reception  awaits  you  from  the  truth- 
seekers  throughout  the  world.  Assembling  for  the  amicable  discussion  of  important 
and  pertinent  subjects,  and  especially  at  this  time,  when  all  avenues  lead  to  Chicago, 
and  when  the  wires  radiate  every  item  of  interest  to  the  extremes  of  the  earth,  you  hold 
the  attention  of  the  entire  truth-seeking  world.  And  no  matter  how  bitterly  at  times 
the  Church  may  be  or  may  have  been  assailed,  she  has  at  all  times  commanded,  and  does 
at  present  command,  the  respect  of  the  majority  of  intelligent  mankind.  This  vast 
audience,  seeking  something  higher  and  more  permanent  than  is  at  present  within  its 
grasp,  wishes  you  Godspeed,  for  it  comprehends  that  your  aim  is  to  better  and  assist 
humanity.  The  poor,  the  rich,  the  educators,  the  American  citizens  all  appear  with 
upturned  faces,  hoping  from  you  for  some  new  inspiration,  appealing  to  you  for 
some  potent  consolation,  awaiting  patiently  the  portrayal  by  you  of  the  richest  ideas 
for  the  man  and  the  citizen.  They  greet  you  with  the  heartiness  of  those  who  have  long 
gazed  wistfully  for  the  white  sails  upon  the  ocean's  bosom,  and  they  pray  with  the  fervor 
of  the  interested  that  God  may  direct  your  thoughts  and  keep  your  words  strong 
for  righteousness,  clean  from  personalities,  healthful  to  the  wounded  and  inspiring  to 
the  negligent. 

What  a  pulpit  to  preach  from,  and  what  an  intelligent,  numerous  audience  to 
listen.  This  is  surely  an  opportunity  of  a  century!  Beg,  then,  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
enlighten  your  minds  and  strengthen  your  hearts  during  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  that  the 
pure  and  undefiled  teaching  of  the  Church,  in  statement  and  in  application,  may 
worthily  proceed  from  your  lips.  None  save  God  can  possibly  count  the  vast  influence 
this  representative  body  must  necessarily  and  naturally  exert,  not  upon  Catholics  alone 
but  especially  upon  our  non-Catholic  brethren.  Leaders  of  one-sixth  of  the  entire 
population  of  America,  spokesmen  of  ten  millions  of  free  people,  assisted  by  worthy 
representatives  from  other  nations,  surely  the  outcome  of  your  deliberations  will  be 
something  extraordinary  in  the  religious  world. 

Purblind  indeed  would  we  be  did  we  not  interpret  the  signs  of  the  age  aright. 


1 3  WORLD  S  COL  UMBIA N  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

A  magnificent,  a  wonder-working  century.  Old  ideas  have  been  torn  asunder,  theories 
made 'principles  or  cast  to  the  winds.  Every  fiber  of  American  life  speaks  of  energy 
and  perseverance,  and  if  not  at  all  times  progress,  at  least  mutation,  generally  indicative 
of  at  least  the  desire  of  progress.  So  much  for  the  material  side,  but  can  we  prodicate 
the  same  general  onward  movement  in  the  social  and  moral  life?  We  fear  not.  The 
same  unrest  prevails — the  same  mutation  is  under  way,  but  alas,  how  frequently  does  it 
remain  a  pure  mutation  without  progress.  The  materialism  and  humanitarianism 
have  impregnated  the  spiritual,  and  the  cry  for  light  which  we  hear  on  all  sides  is  all 
the  more  poignant  and  its  echo  resounds  more  sadly  mournful,  because  we  detect  in  it  so 
much  of  materialism  and  pure  humanity,  unregenerated  by  the  grace  which  makes  the 
human  at  least  in  part  divine. 

We  hear  this  mournful  cry  in  various  forms.  One  blinded  to  higher  things  boldly 
announces  that  no  provident  eye  watches  over  the  poor  and  that  the  poor  man  must  be 
a  providence  to  himself.  Another  asks  what  is  religion, or  is  there  any  religion?  Again 
we  hear  an  unfortunate  shipwrecked  mariner  proclaim  that  we  should  wipe  out  entirely 
the  idea  that  man  can  be  saved  by  dogma,  and  in  its  place  preach  the  eternal  truth  that 
man  is  saved  by  his  character  and  that  creed  and  dogma  dwindle  into  insignificance  in 
comparison  with  character.  Who  shall  pour  oil  upon  these  troubled  waters?  Quis 
medicabit?  Who  except  the  sons  of  that  Church  founded  by  Christ  to  heal  the  wan- 
dering, wounded  nations  until  the  consummation  of  the  ages?  New  dogmas  are  not 
necessary.  Within  the  dispensary  of  the  Church  are  medicines  potent  enough  to  heal 
the  ills  of  those  unfortunates,  but  oh,  how  tender,  how  delicate,  must  be  the  hand  that 
will  apply  them. 

The  Church  of  saints  and  martyrs  is  more  than  equal  to  the  delicate  task,  but  only 
through  her  devoted  children  in  the  practical,  everyday  exercise  of  two  virtues,  always 
a  part  of  sanctity  —  namely,  self-sacrifice  and  activity.  Yes,  my  friends,  self-sacrifice, 
which  signifies  more  than  leading  Christian  lives  and  strict  adherence  to  the  dogmas  of 
the  Church.  This  is  stationary  Christianity.  The  monks  of  old  and  the  confessors  of 
the  Faith  went  forth  and  brilliantly  illustrated  the  beauty  of  Christianity  by  their 
teachings,  and  the  people  converted  their  neighbors  by  their  heroic  acts  of  charity.  Our 
heart  rejoices  at  the  outlook,  for  self-sacrifice  opens  up  an  expansive  field  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  the  United  States,  but  oh,  how  narrow  and  how  galling  to  human  pride  and 
sloth  is  the  path  that  leads  thereto  and  the  paths  that  intersect  this  field  of  gold  in  an 
infinity  of  directions!  To  curb  our  own  passions  is  only  elementary;  we  must  cut 
deeper,  bring  purer  blood ;  aye,  we  must  penetrate  to  the  very  center  of  our  life  and 
give  a  portion  of  this  life  to  the  stricken  and  needy,  and  then,  and  then  only,  will  the 
hungering,  inquiring  multitude  turn  to  us  as  guides  and  leaders  in  a  noble  cause,  and 
petition  us  to  know  the  Spirit  that  moves  us  into  such  arduous  fields,  and,  knowing, 
they  will  kneel  and  adore. 

Such  abnegation  implies  activity.  No  sluggard  can  be  found  within  the  ranks. 
The  watchwords  of  the  age  are  "to  do  and  dare,"  and  since  ours  is  the  merchandise  of 
Heaven,  shall  we  falter  in  the  competition?  The  words  of  the  Spanish  philosopher  may 
be  justly  here  applied r 

"The  little  minds  which  do  not  carry  their  views  beyond  a  limited  horizon;  bad 
hearts  which  nourish  only  hatred  and  delight  only  in  exciting  rancor  and  in  calling  forth 
the  evil  passions;  the  fanatics  of  a  mechanical  civilization,  who  see  no  other  agent  than 
steam,  no  other  power  than  gold  and  silver,  no  other  object  than  production,  no  other 
end  than  pleasure;  all  these  men,  assuredly,  will  attach  but  little  importance  to  the  ob- 
servations which  I  have  made;  for  them  the  moral  development  of  individuals  and 
society  is  of  little  importance;  they  do  not  even  perceive  what  passes  under  their  eyes; 
for  them  history  is  mute,  experience  barren,  and  the  future  a  mere  nothing.  Happily, 
there  is  a  great  number  of  men  who  believe  that  their  minds  are  nobler  than  metal, 
more  powerful  than  steam,  and  too  grand  and  too  sublime  to  be  satisfied  with  moment- 
ary pleasure.  ' 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  criticise  the  noble  efforts  of  contemporaries  in  spreading  Faith 
or  co  reflect  upon  the  past.  Their  works  are  their  monuments.  The  past  century  of 
Church  work  is  a  wonderful  foundation;  but  the  future,  what  possibilities!  The  su- 
perb magnificence  of  the  opportunity  turns  the  head,  and  must  set  ablaze  the  heart  of 
every  Catholic.  We  can  not  live  on  the  glory  of  the  past;  ours  it  is  to  raise  the  walls 
upon  the  foundations  and  leave  to  another  generation  the  ornamentation  of  the  edifice. 
When  souls  are  to  be  saved  and  when  generous,  honest  souls  are  hurrying  hither  and 
thither  in  the  shadow  of  death,  following  foolishly  phantom  lights,  who  will  rest,  who 
will  spare  the  sacrifice  and  sit  with  hands  piously  folded  pronouncing  the  idle  word, 
"enough"?    None;  for  we  expect  the  reward  of   the  Master  who  acted  so  generously 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  13 

toward  the  one  who  had  not  folded  the  talent  in  the  napkin.  We  must  labor  valiantly, 
that  those  following  the  deceptive  glare  of  false  teaching  may  be  brought  within  the 
vivifying  influence  of  the  Light  of  the  World,  and  their  gain  will  be  our  reward. 

For  these  various  reasons,  my  dear  brethren,  we  welcome  you;  the  needv  in  moral 
and  intellectual  life  we  welcome,  and  Christ,  who  promised  reward  for  the  smallest  act 
in  His  name,  draws  you  nearer  to  His  Sacred  Heart  and  blesses  and  welcomes  you. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  sacred  services  the  delegates  marched  in  pro- 
cession to  the  Art  Palace,  the  Cardinal  and  other  dignitaries  accompanying 
in  carriages.  These  were  welcomed  at  the  door  of  the  beautiful  edifice  by 
President  Bonney  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary,  and  other  officials,  and 
in  a  very  few  moments  the  Hall  of  Columbus,  designated  for  the  larger 
assemblies,  was  filled  in  every  part.  The  decorations  were  rich  and  appro- 
priate,  the  colors  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  being  conspicuous. 

THE    FIRST    DAY'S    PROCEEDINGS 

Were  promptly  inaugurated  by  Hon.  W.  J.  Onahan  of  Chicago,  Secretary 
of  the  Committee  on  Organization,  who  said: 

Gentlemen,  and  I  am  happy  to  add,  Ladies— for  there  are  ladies  among  the 
appointed  delegates  to  the  Catholic  Congress:  It  is  my  pleasant  and  honorable  duty, 
representing  the  committee  on  organization,  to  call  to  order  the  Columbian  Catholic 
Congress,  wThich  I  now  cordially  do.  The  first  wTords  to  be  addressed  to  you  are  natur- 
ally words  of  hearty  welcome.  By  no  one  may  those  words  be  more  graciously  or  more 
appropriately  spoken  than  by  the  venerable  and  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of 
Chicago. 

ARCHBISHOP    FEEHAN's    WELCOME. 

Members  of  the  Catholic  Congress — both  the  ladies  and  the  gentlemen  composing  it: 
It  is  for  me  a  most  happy  occasion  that  it  becomes  my  duty,  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic 
body  of  this  city,  and  also  in  my  own,  to  welcome  you  to  Chicago.  You  are  assembled 
here  from  various  portions  of  our  country,  not  only  from  the  parts  that  are  near  but 
also  from  the  most  remote.  You  must  have  been  brought  together  by  a  strong,  high 
motive,  as  you  are  bound  together  when  you  come  here  by  the  strongest  of  all  bonds, 
that  of  a  common  Faith.  You  come  in  the  spirit  of  our  Faith,  actuated,  directed  by 
our  Faith.  You  come  not  to  question  or  to  affect,  in  any  way  whatever,  the  ancient 
Faith  and  discipline  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  you  come  to  discuss  some  of  the  great 
questions  and  problems  of  life  and  of  our  time  that  are  intimately  connected  with,  and 
that  spring  from,  the  teachings  of  our  Catholic  Faith.  There  are  no  questions  of  our 
time  more  interesting  or  more  important  than  those  that  are  on  the  programme  of  the 
Catholic  Congress. 

We  have  that  great  question  of  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See;  you  have  that 
great  question — one  of  the  greatest  of  all — that  of  Catholic  education.  Then  you  have 
the  great  social  questions  of  the  day,  the  ideas  of  which  have  been  taken,  in  a  great 
measure,  at  least,  from  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father,  Pope  Leo  XIII.  You  come 
here  then  with  very  grave  responsibilities.  You  come,  as  it  were,  as  the  center  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  You  come  representing  its  thought,  its  life,  its  interests.  You  do 
not  represent  yourselves  individually,  nor  do  you  represent  any  special  theories  or 
fancies  of  individuals  of  our  times;  but  you  represent  parishes,  congregations,  bishops, 
whole  dioceses,  great  States — you  represent  all  these  vast  and  mighty  interests,  and  as 
a  vast  body  you  represent  at  least  the  ten  million  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  if 
not  more.  You  come  then  as  if  to  a  great  center.  You  come  as  brave,  wise  men  to  dis- 
cuss great  questions  for  the  interests  of  those  millions. 

You  don't  come  to  please  yourselves;  you  don't  come  for  the  mere  pleasure  of 
coming,  nor  for  recreation,  as  so  many  multitudes  are  coming  just  now  to  our  city, 
though  these  need  not  be  excluded;  but  you  come  principally  for  that  grand,  high  work 
that  has  been  placed  in  your  hands  of  looking  after  the  interests  that  are  involved  in 
some  of  the  great  questions  that  will  be  discussed  and  spoken  of  in  this  assembly.  You 
assemble  here  to-day  in  a  high  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  Catholic  Church,  of  loyalty  to  its 
supreme  pastor.  Pope  Leo  XIII.  You  come  together  as  sons  of  the  great  head  of  the  Faith. 
You  come  mindful  that  God's  Church  is  your  great  mother,  and,  as  the  loyal  sons  in  a 
family  will  always  uphold  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  family,  so  will  this  vast  assembly 


*4 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


uphold  before  the  whole  world  the  honor,  the  nobility,  and  the  dignity  of  the  Cathol> 
Church.  Not  less  are  you  concerned  for  the  interests  of  our  common  country.  Th* 
men  of  other  lands  are  to-day,  and  to-morrow  will  be,  looking  to  the  results  of  this 
Catholic  Congress  in  Chicago.  The  world  is  full  of  agitation.  Men's  minds  are  every- 
where active,  and  men  in  every  civilized  land  to-day  and  to-morrow  will  be  looking  for- 
ward to  know  and  to  see  what  free  men  in  a  free  land  can  feel  and  think  about  the 
great  questions  that  are  agitating  our  times,  and  that  are  everywhere  pressing  for  a  solu- 
tion. You  have  then  at  heart  the  honor  and  the  dignity  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
whole  Catholic  Faith.  You  will  watch  over  them  carefully  in  your  addresses  and  in 
your  deliberations.  We  know  and  believe,  all  of  us,  earnestly  and  firmly,  that  no  word 
will  go  out  to  the  world  from  this  Catholic  Congress  that  will  wound  or  offend  in  the 
slightest  degree  the  Catholic  conscience  or  Catholic  feeling  of  our  people  throughout 
the  United  States. 

We  know  that  all  your  deliberations  will  be  guided  by  that  Spirit  under  which  you 
have  sat  to-day.  Within  an  hour  or  so  you  have  been  in  God's  presence  and  in  his 
temple,  and  you  have  asked  the  Spirit  of  God  to  come  down  to  your  souls  and  guide 
your  deliberations.  We  all  hope  that  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  Spirit  of  light  will  bo 
with  you,  and  that  everything  you  say  or  do  will  be  guided  by  that  high,  strong  fidelity 
of  Catholic  eons  to  our  Catholic  Faith,  and  that  everything  you  say  or  do  will  be  distin- 
guished by  the  dignity  and  the  harmony  that  wo  have  the  right,  as  we  have  every  reason, 
to  expect  from  this  great  representative  body  of  the  Catholic  Faith  and  the  Catholic 
people.  You  will  have  the  pleasure  now  of  hearing  from  Mr.  Bonney,  the  gentleman 
who  has  been  the  life  and  soul  of  all  these  organizations  and  congresses,  except  the 
Catholic  Congress,  connected  with  the  great  Exposition. 

Hon.  Chas.  C.  Bonney,  who  is  a  non-Catholic  lawyer,  then  delivered 
what  may  be  termed  the  "official"  welcome: 

PRESIDENT    BONNET'S    ADDRESS. 

Officers  and  Members  of  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress :  In  the  name  of  the 
World's  Congress  Auxiliary,  organized  to  conduct  the  moral  and  intellectual  part  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893;  and  in  the  name  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  which  invited  all  nations  to  participate  in  the  congresses  to  be  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Auxiliary;  and  in  the  name  of  fifty  millions  of  non-Catholics 
who  love  justice  and  believe  in  equal  religious  liberty  for  all  men,  I  salute  you  and 
bid  you  welcome.  This  memorial  building,  and  every  facility  which  the  World's 
Congress  Auxiliary  can  command,  is  most  cordially  offered  for  the  purpose  of  your  Con- 
gress. 

That  a  great  change  has  come  in  the  relations  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Prot- 
estant churches  with  each  other  is  known  throughout  the  world.  That  this  change 
has  largely  increased  human  happiness  and  has  in  many  ways  promoted  the  cause  of 
peace  and  progress  is  also  widely  acknowledged.  A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  lead- 
ing causes  of  this  change  seems,  however,  especially  appropriate  to  this  occasion,  and 
may  serve  to  strengthen  the  gracious  bonds  of  charity  and  affection  which  are  now 
gently  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other  all  the  various  branches  of  the  great 
family  of  mankind.  Of  those  causes  the  benign  spirit  of  the  new  age  should  first  be 
named. 

Descending  from  the  sun  of  righteousness  this  spirit  of  progress  is  filling  the  whole 
earth  with  its  splendor  and  beauty,  its  warmth  and  vivifying  power,  and  making  the  old 
things  of  truth  and  justice  new  in  meaning,  strength,  and  energy  to  execute  God's  will 
for  the  welfare  of  man. 

Among  the  secondary  causes  of  the  change  to  which  reference  has  been  made  there 
are  several  which  it  seems  a  duty  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  recall  on  this  occasion.  The 
noble  and  successful  work  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  the  field  of  practical  temperance 
reform,  first  attracted  the  attention  and  won  the  sympathy  of  the  Protestant  people  of 
America. 

The  new  Catholic  movement  for  the  relief  and  elevation  of  the  toiling  masses,  which 
culminated  in  the  great  Papal  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  labor,  deepened  the  interest 
of  the  Protestant  world  in  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  excited  the  love  and 
admiration  of  many  non-Catholics^  The  new  Catholic  activity  in  the  extension  of 
higher  education  is  another  cause  of  the  better  relations  which  have  recently  been 
established.  For  science  and  art  and  literature  are  of  no  sect  or  creed.  They  belong  to 
m;m,  whatever  may  be  his  political  or  religious  views,  and  are  bonds  of  fraternity  every- 
where.    Over  the  grave  in  which  was  buried  the  dead  strife  of  former  generations  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  15 

apostles  of  the  new  age  have  clasped  hands  in  a  new  pledge  of  fidelity  in  the  pursuit  ot 
learning  and  virtue,  and  the  life  that  is  called  charity. 

There  is  one  important  particular  in  which  the  ideas  of  Catholic  educational  lead- 
ers are  in  peculiar  accord  with  the  original  American  doctrine  of  popular  education. 
The  tliird  article  of  the  great  ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of 
which  Chicago  is  the  metropolis,  declared  that  "religion,  morality,  and  Knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of 
education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

Not  knowledge  only;  not  knowledge  and  morality  merely,  but  religion,  morality,  and 
Knowledge,  sacred  trinity  of  the  powers  of  human  progress,  are  essential  to  the  proper 
education  of  the  people. 

The  new  apostles  of  Catholic  progress  have  become  especially  endeared  to  enlight- 
ened Protestants.  Henry  Edward  Manning,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  can 
hardly  be  more  beloved  nor  his  loss  more  sincerely  mourned  within  the  Catholic  Church 
than  without  its  fold.  His  gracious  and  earnest  words  on  "Protestant  Dissenters,'' 
"  Disinherited  Christians,"  "  Blameless  Ignorance,"  and  "Unconscious  Catholics  "  won 
for  him  and  the  Catholic  Church  hosts  of  friends  outside  of  his  own  communion. 

In  America  the  work  of  his  brother  cardinal,  His  Eminence  James,  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  honorary  President  of  this  Congress,  has  been  equally  auspicious.  His  book 
on  "  Our  Christian  Heritage,"  in  which  he  gladly  holds  out  to  Protestants  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  for  union  against  the  common  foe,  commends  him  eloquently  to 
them  as  well  as  to  his  own  brethren. 

The  burning  words  of  His  Grace  Archbishop  Ireland  in  the  advocacy  of  temper- 
ance, education,  social  purity,  and  every  moral  virtue  have  made  his  name  and  Church 
household  words  in  many  Protestant  homes. 

When  a  Catholic  bishop  like  Bishop  Spalding  of  Peoria,  speaking  for  Catholics, 
says,  "We  love  liberty,  we  love  knowledge,  we  love  truth,  we  love  opportunity;  and  for- 
getting nationality,  forgetting  sects,  forgetting  all  save  God's  image  in  every  human 
being,  we  would  uplift  men  by  uplifting  humanity,"  millions  of  Protestant  hearts 
respond,  Amen!     Amen! 

But  a  greater  agency  of  union  and  progress  still  remains  to  be  named— the  illus- 
trious head  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  than  whom  no  more  able,  enlight- 
ened, and  benign  pontiff  has  borne  the  name  of  Holy  Father  in  a  thousand  years.  Like 
the  morning  bell  of  a  new  age,  his  earnest  words,  in  speaking  of  the  American  people, 
are:  "  I  love  them  and  I  love  their  country.  I  have  a  great  tenderness  for  those  who 
live  in  that  land,  Protestants  and  all.  Under  the  constitution,  religion  has  perfect 
liberty,  and  is  a  growing  power.  Where  the  Church  is  free,  it  will  increase;  and  I  bless, 
I  love  Americans  for  their  frank,  open,  unaffected  character,  and  for  the  respect  which 
they  pay  to  Christianity  and  Christian  morals.  My  only  desire  is  to  use  my  power  for 
the  good  of  the  whole  people — Protestants  and  Catholics  alike.  I  want  the  Protestants 
as  well  as  the  Catholics  to  esteem  me."  Is  it  any  wonder  that  Pope  Leo  XIII.  is 
respected  and  beloved  by  the  Protestants  to  whom  these  words  were  addressed? 

On  the  Protestant  side  similar  causes  have  been  at  work,  producing  similar  results. 
The  time  now  at  command  will  not  permit  a  presentation  of  these  results,  but  it  may 
suffice  to  say  that  it  has  culminated  in  the  arrangements  for  the  World's  Religious 
Congresses  of  1893. 

Blind,  indeed,  must  be  the  eyes  that  can  not  see,  in  these  events,  the  quickened 
march  of  the  ages  of  human  progress  toward  the  fulfillment  of  the  divine  prophecy  of 
"  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,"  when  all  forms  of  government  shall  be  one  in  liberty  and 
justice,  and  all  forms  of  faith  and  worship  one  in  charity  and  human  service. 

With  these  sentiments  I  greet  and  welcome  the  Catholic  Congress  of  1893. 

The  most  generous  applause,  which  only  needs  mention  here,  had  accented 
the  various  addresses  so  far,  being  raised  to  the  point  of  enthusiasm  by  the 
following  beautiful 

ADDRESS  OF  H.  E.  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 

What  an  inspiring  and  consoling  spectacle  is  this  !  Whether  I  consider  the  magni- 
tude of  your  numbers  or  your  representative  character — for  you  represent  almost  every 
State  and  diocese  and  city  of  the  Union— or  whether  I  contemplate  the  intelligence  that 
beams  on  your  faces,  I  can  not  but  exclaim:  This  is  a  sight  well  calculated  to  bring  joy 
and  gladness  to  the  heart  of  American  Catholics. 

During  the  past  four  months  millions  of  visitors  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  nay,  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  to  contemplate  on  the  Exposition 
32 


1 6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

grounds  the  wonderful  works  of  man.  They  knew  not  which  to  admire  more— the 
colossal  dimensions  of  the  buildings,  or  their  architectural  beauty,  or  the  treasures  of 
art  which  they  contained.  The  caskets  and  the  gems  were  well  worthy  of  the  19th 
centurv,  worthy  of  the  nations  that  brought  them,  worthy  of  the  indomitable  spirit  of 
Chicago.  Let  us  no  longer  call  Chicago  the  windy  city,  but  the  city  of  lofty  aspirations. 
Let  me  christen  her  with  another  name— let  me  call  her  Thaumatopolis,  the  city  of 
wonders,  the  city  of  miracles.  And  the  director-general,  with  his  associates,  deserves  to 
be  called  the  Thaumaturgus  of  the  enterprise. 

But  while  other  visitors  have  come  to  contemplate  with  admiration  the  wonderful 
works  of  man,  with  the  image  of  man  stamped  upon  them,  you  have  come  here  to  con- 
template man  himself — the  most  wonderful  work  of  God,  with  the  image  of  God  stamped 
upon  him.  Others  are  studying  what  man  has  accomplished  in  the  material  world. 
You  are  to  consider  what  man  can  accomplish  in  the  almost  boundless  possibilities  of 
his  spiritual  and  intellectual  nature.  You  will  take  counsel  together  to  consider  the 
best  means  for  promoting  the  religious  and  moral,  the  social  and  economic  well-being  of 
your  fellow-citizens. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  your  deliberations  will  not  be  stamped  with  the  authority 
of  legislative  enactments,  like  the  proceedings  of  Congress  and  the  decrees  of  a  national 
council.  Nevertheless  they  will  go  far  toward  enlightening  public  opinion  and  mold- 
ing and  shaping  public  thought  on  the  great  religious,  moral,  and  social  questions  of  the 
day. 

When  I  look  into  your  earnest  and  intelligent  faces  I  am  almost  deterred  from 
imparting  to  you  my  words  of  admonition.  But  you  know  well  that  we  clergymen  are 
in  the  habit  of  drifting  unconsciously  into  the  region  of  exhortation,  just  as  financiers 
drift  into  the  region  of  dollars  and  cents  and  figures.  I  may  be  pardoned,  therefore,  for 
giving  you  a  word  of  advice.  In  all  your  discussions  be  ever  mindful  of  the  golden 
saying  of  St.  Vincent  Lerins:  "In  necessariis  unitas, in  dubiis  libertas,  in  omnibus 
caritas:  Inessentials, unity;  in  doubtful  things,  liberty;  in  all  things,  charity."  Happily 
for  you,  children  of  the  Church,  you  have  nothing  to  discuss  in  matters  of  faith,  for 
your  faith  is  fixed  and  determined  by  the  divine  Legislator,  and  we  can  not  improve  on 
the  creed  of  Him  who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

But  between  the  calm  and  luminous  region  of  faith  and  the  dark  and  chaotic  region 
of  error  there  lies  a  vast  field  for  free  discussion.  I  should  be  very  sorry  that  any  mem- 
ber of  this  Congress  should  attempt  to  circumscribe  this  free  space  by  erecting  his 
little  fence  of  ipse  dixits,  and  saying  to  all  others :  "  I  am  Sir  Oracle;  thus  far  you 
shall  come  and  no  farther."  Let  all  your  proceedings  be  marked  by  courtesy  and  char- 
ity, and  by  a  spirit  of  Christian  forbearance  toward  each  other.  Never  descend  to  per- 
sonalities. Many  a  delicious  speech  has  lost  its  savor  and  been  turned  into  gall,  because 
a  few  drops  of  vituperation  had  been  injected  into  it.  The  edifice  of  moral  and  social 
improvement  which  you  aim  to  build,  can  never  be  erected  on  the  ruins  of  charity. 

Perhaps  the  best  model  of  courtly  dignity  and  courtesy  that  I  could  set  before  you 
is  W.  E.  Gladstone,  the  Grand  Old  Man.  I  happened  to  be  in  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1880,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  was  Prime  Minister,  as  he  is  to-day.  A  very  long  debate 
was  going  on  regarding  taxation,  The  ministry  were  in  favor  of  transferring  a  tax  from 
the  grain  to  the  malt  and  of  relieving  the  farmer  at  the  expense  of  the  brewer.  It  was 
a  measure  that  would  bring  joy  to  the  heart  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Paul.  A  young 
lord  on  the  op^isition  side  was  making  a  dreary  speech  to  the  effect  that  it  was  better 
to  let  well  enough  alone,  and  that  the  relations  between  the  tax  collector  and  the  tax 
payer  were  of  an  amicable  character  and  should  not  be  disturbed.  As  soon  as  it  was 
announced  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  going  to  speak,  the  house  was  suddenly  aroused 
from  its  lethargy  and  was  inflamed  with  enthusiasm.  He  was  greeted  with  cheers.  He 
had  spoken  but  a  few  words  when  he  was  rudely  interrupted  by  the  young  lord.  Mr. 
Gladstone  gracefully  bowed  to  his  opponent,  receded  a  step,  and  sat  down.  When  his 
lordship  had  finished  he  resumed  his  speech ;  he  dissected  his  opponent  with  his  Damas- 
cus blade;  his  lordship  cheerfully  submitted,  to  the  operation  because  the  blade  was 
pointed  not  with  poison,  but  with  honey. 

"  I  have  studied  the  subject  of  finance,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone,  "under  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  I  have  sat  at  his  feet  like  Saul  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  I  am  an  old  man  and 
have  not  the  sanguine  temperament  of  my  honorable  young  friend.  And  as  for  me,  I 
never  expect  to  see  the  day  when  the  tax  collector  and  the  tax  payer  will  rush  into  one 
another's  arms  and  embrace  one  another." 

God  grant  that  our  fondest  anticipations  of  your  labors  may  be  realized,  and  that 
the  invocation  to-day  of  the  divine  blessing,  which  is  so  full  of  hope,  may  be  crowned  at 
the  end  of  your  sessions  by  a  Te  Deum  full  of  joy  and  gratitude  for  the  success  of  this 


„        WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  lj 

convention.  As  an  earnest  of  this  result  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter  which  I  had  the 
honor  to  receive  the  other  day  from  him  who  has  been  so  beautifully  and  justly  extolled 
by  the  preceding  speakers.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter  from  His  Holiness  Leo  XIII., 
and  in  this  letter  he  pours  out  upon  you  all  his  apostolic  paternal  benediction/  Mat 
the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Father,  may  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God— his  God  and  our 
God,  his  Father  and  our  Father— descend  upon  you  all  and  upon  your  deliberations. 
May  his  blessing  enlighten  your  minds  and  inflame  your  hearts  and  be  a  happy  earnest 
of  the  harmony  and  union  that  will  dominate  all  your  proceedings. 

Following  is  the  translation  of  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Father  referred  to  in 
His  Eminence's  address,  and  which  was  then  read  to  the  Congress  by  Hon 
W.  J.  Onahan: 

POPE    LEO'S    GREETING    AND    BLESSING. 

Leo  XIII.,  Pope :  To  our  Beloved  Son  James  Gibbons  by  the  Title  of  Santa  Maria 
in  Trastevere  Cardinal  Priest  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, Beloved  Son:  Health  and  apostolic  benediction.  It  has  afforded  us  much 
satisfaction  to  be  informed  by  you  that  in  the  coming  month  of  September  a  large  as- 
sembly of  Catholic  gentlemen  will  meet  at  Chicago,  there  to  discuss  matters  of  great 
interest  and  importance. 

Furthermore,  we  have  been  specially  gratified  by  your  devotion  and  regard  for  us  in 
desiring,  as  an  auspicious  beginning  for  such  Congress,  our  blessing  and  bur  prayers. 
This  filial  request  we  do  indeed  most  readily  grant,  and  beseech  Almighty  God  that  by 
his  aid  and  the  light  of  his  wisdom  he  may  graciously  be  pleased  to  assist  and  illume  all 
who  are  about  to  assemble  with  you,  and  that  He  may  enrich  with  the  treasures  of  his 
choicest  gifts  your  deliberations  and  conclusions. 

To  you,  therefore,  our  beloved  son,  and  to  all  who  take  part  in  the  Congress  afore- 
said and  to  the  clergy  and  faithful  committed  to  your  care,  we  lovingly  in  the  Lord  im- 
part our  apostolic  benediction. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Peter's,  the  7th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three  and  of  our  pontificate  the  sixteenth. 

Leo  XIII.,  Pope. 

The  temporary  organization  of  the  Congress  was  then  announced  by  Mr. 
Onahan,  as  follows: 

Temporary  chairman,  Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien  of  New  York. 

Secretaries,  James  C.  Lawler,  Prairie  du  Chien;  Professor  James  F.  Edwards,  Uni- 
versity of  Notre  Dame,  Indiana,  and  James  F.  O'Connor  and  John  M.  Duffy  of  Chicago. 
This  was  speedily  followed  by 

JUDGE    O'BRIEN'S    ADDRESS    AS    CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen  :  The  official  call  issued  by  the  committee  on  organization,  which  has 
been  printed  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  all  the  members  present,  relieves  me  from 
the  necessity  of  stating  the  objects  of  this  Congress.  That  call  defines  and  limits  its 
scope  to  the  consideration  of  the  social  question,  to  which  has  been  added  that  of  Cath- 
olic education  and  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See.  As  stated  in  that  call,  "  perma- 
nent and  effective  results  and  enduring  benefits  are  looked  for  at  our  hands  as  a  fitting 
outcome  of  this  memorable  assemblage  of  Catholic  intelligence  and  Catholic  earnest- 
ness." No  more  fitting  time  or  place  could  have  been  selected  than  the  present  to  give 
expression  to  those  sentiments  which,  as  Catholics,  we  hold  in  common,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  upon  those  measures  which  are  of  most  importance  to  our 
Church  and  country.  This  city  has  been  selected  by  the  Nation  as  the  place  to  cele- 
brate by  a  Fair  which,  in  its  proportions  and  beauty,  surpasses  all  that  the  creative 
genius  of  man  has  attempted  or  accomplished,  and  the  event  thus  celebrated  has  been 
fraught  with  such  momentous  results  and  happiness  to  man  as  to  make  it  the  most 
memorable  in  the  history  of  civilization.  Naturally  our  minds  go  back  to  that  event 
through  the  vista  of  years ;  we  see  the  march  of  progress,  the  development  of  material 
and  mechanical  triumphs,  and  above  all  the  struggle  for  emancipation  and  freedom, 
which  has  finally  culminated  in  the  freest  government  the  world  has  ever  seen.  When 
we  remember  how,  over  the  trackless  ocean,  Columbus  and  his  little  band  of  followers 
came,  soon  to  be  succeeded  by  others  who,  penetrating  impenetrable  forests,  removed 
the  physical  obstacles  to  development;  how  they  established,  through  their  religion, 
zeal,  and  courage,  society  and  government  and  laws,  and  how  they  finally  threw  off  a 
foreign  yoke  and  established  an  independent.  Government  upoi  a  foundation  which 


iS  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

guarantees  the  fullest  and  greatest  freedom  to  the  individual,  and  how  to  these  were 
added  commerce  and  art,  poetry,  eloquence,  and  song,  it  becomes  a  just  subject  for 
pride  to  all  those  who  had  any  hand  in  producing  such  magnificent  results. 

If  any  justification  were  needed  for  our  assemblage  here  to-day  it  is  furnished  by 
the  recollection  that  it  was  a  Catholic  monk  who  inspired  Columbus  with  hope;  it  was 
Columbus  and  a  Catholic  crew  that  first  crossed  the  trackless  main;  that  it  was  a 
Catholic  queen  who  rendered  the  expedition  possible,  and  that  it  was  a  Catholic  whose 
name  has  been  given  to  the  entire  continent.  Ay!  more  than  this,  the  early  history  of 
our  country  is  the  history  of  its  Catholicity.  And  the  Catholic  names  given  to  the  early 
discoveries  in  the  four  quarters  of  our  country  attest  the  fact  that  Catholics  were  the 
discoverers.  And  it  is  impossible  to  read  the  history  of  our  country  without  recalling 
the  exploits  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  Cartier,  Balboa,  Marquette,  De  Soto,  Melendez,  La  Salle, 
Champlain,  and  others  whose  names  can  never  be  obliterated,  because  molded  in  endur- 
ing brass  upon  the  massive  gates  of  the  capitol  at  Washington;  nay,  more,  the  very  soil 
on  which  this  city  stands  was  sanctified  by  the  great  missionary,  Marquette,  who  was 
here  in  1674  to  1675,  and  whose  body  even  now  rests  on  the  opposite  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan.  How  fruitful  of  good  results  his  works  were,  may  be  known  by  recalling  a 
single  fact  that  to-day,  in  Chicago,  the  spires  of  more  than  a  hundred  Catholic  churches 
glisten  in  the  morning  sun.  We  can,  moreover,  truthfully  say  that  not  a  land  was 
found,  not  a  mountain  crossed,  not  a  valley  entered,  or  a  stream  forded,  but  Catholic 
missionaries  led  the  way.  And  wherever  from  the  depths  of  primeval  forests  cities, 
towns,  and  States  sprang  up;  where,  instead  of  the  savage,  there  appeared  men  longing 
for  freedom,  there  will  we  find  the  mark  of  the  missionary's  footsteps.  And  from  that 
time  down  to  the  present,  whether  groaning  under  the  iron  heel  of  despotic  rulers, 
whether  amidst  the  trials  of  our  revolutionary  struggle,  whether  amidst  the  wars  that 
succeeded  wherein  the  autonomy  of  our  nation  was  threatened,  there,  sharing  with  their 
fellow-countrymen  in  the  trials  and  tribulations  and  in  the  subsequent  triumphs,  were 
to  be  found  the  Catholics. 

Our  country,  therefore,  is  doubly  dear  to  us.  We  were  here  at  its  first  discovery,  we 
participated  in  its  struggle  for  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  in  turn  have  participated 
in  its  glories  and  enjoyed  peace,  security,  and  happiness.  It  is  more  dear  to  us,  because 
in  this  land  above  all  others  the  old  Faith  has  fair  play.  Its  schools,  its  churches,  and 
its  cathedrals  are  not  the  result  of  the  contributions  of  unstable  governments,  but  are 
the  gratuitous  offerings  of  more  than  ten  million  of  f  reedmen. 

We  fully  realize,  however,  what  has  been  said  by  a  great  writer,  that  a  nation,  like  a 
man,  may  live  to  the  fullness  of  its  time  or  perish  prematurely  by  violence  or  internal 
disorders. 

The  world  knows  of  but  two  principles  of  government.  One,  the  power  of  the 
sword  sustained  by  the  hand  that  wields  it;  the  other,  the  power  of  the  law  sustained 
by  a  virtuous  people.  Or,  differently  expressed,  there  is  the  principle  of  force  and  the 
principle  of  love.  Our  form  of  government  being  a  republic  is  essentially  founded  upon 
the  virtue  of  its  citizens,  and  this  foundation  can  neither  be  weakened  nor  destroyed 
without  threatening  the  entire  social  structure.  The  early  discoverers  of  America,  as 
well  as  our  revolutionary  forefathers,  were  imbued  with  strong  religious  principles 
upon  which  alone  virtue  can  be  grounded,  and  this,  added  to  their  hardy  and  physical 
natures,  laid  the  foundations  and  gave  the  impetus  to  that  splendid  civilization  which 
is  now  the  heritage  of  all. 

While,  therefore,  glorying  in  our  triumphs  and  proud  of  our  wonderful  develop- 
ment, we  could  not,  if  we  would,  fail  to  discover  those  dark  and  ominous  clouds  which 
hover  over  our  national  firmament  and  which  are  the  inevitable  forerunners  of  a  violent 
storm.  The  presence  of  these  clouds  is  not  difficult  to  account  for.  The  hardy  and  rug- 
ged virtue  of  our  forefathers  no  longer  exists;  for  the  history  of  our  country  will  show 
that  the  moral  decadence  of  our  people  has  kept  rapid  pace  with  the  augmentation  of 
our  material  prosperity.  That  we  have  steadily  advanced  materially  is  unquestioned; 
our  towns,  cities,  and  States  have  multiplied,  our  citizens  have  amassed  wealth  running 
into  the  millions  and  hundreds  of  millions;  our  corporations  are  striding  a  continent; 
but  under  the  shadow  of  this  magnificent  prosperity  we  find  incipient  pauperism  and 
discontent;  men,  women,  and  children  without  the  necessaries  of  life,  deprived  of  relig- 
ion and  education,  and  who  are  prevented  from  participating  in  those  blessings  which 
God  seemingly  intended  for  all. 

The  thoughtful  statesman  of  America,  the  hopeful  patriot,  and  the  virtuous  citizen 
knows  and  feels  that  the  evils  that  menace  our  national  prosperity — that  the  apparent 
social  inequalities  and  the  rights  of  capital  and  labor — can  be  reconciled  in  some  way 
consistent  with  the  preservation  of  law  and  order;  in  some  way  consistent  with  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  19 

preservation  of  the  rights  of  all,  so  as  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  a  class  of  men  who  are 
prepared  to  seize  upon  any  occasion,  and  are  seemingly  mad  enough  in  their  fury  to 
tear  down  the  very  constitution  upon  which  our  peace,  our  happinessy  and  our  security 
depend. 

We  think  the  remedy  is  to  be  found  alone  in  a  return  to  those  principles  of  virtue 
and  religion  with  which  our  forefathers  were  imbued,  and  upon  which  our  Government 
was  founded,  and  which  we  think  is  alone  needed  to  restore  the  original  vigor  of  the 
nation.  It  must  be  remembered  that  materialism,  infidelity,  agnosticism,  and  other 
forms  of  irreligion  have  never  been  fruitful  either  in  forming  or  perpetuating  a  state. 
Like  all  negative  principles,  there  is  included  within  them  a  principle  of  destruction; 
tbey  are  powerful  in  the  direction  of  pulling  down,  but  never  of  building  up.  And' 
against  irreligion,  the  implacable  foe  to  our  present  civilization— whatever  form  it  may 
assume— all  those,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic,  who  believe  in  the  vital  force  of 
religion  have  a  common  ground  upon  which  they  can  stand.  Not  onlv  in  this  have  we 
a  bond  of  union  with  our  Protestant  countrymen,  when  in  good  faith  "these  are  engaged 
in  disseminating  virtue  and  religion,  but  also  in  general  charities,  which  look  to  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  aged,  as  well  as  measures 
designed  to  suppress  intemperance  and  gambling,  and  prevent  the  desecration  of  the 
Sunday.  These  are  among  the  subjects  which  will  receive  consideration  by  this  Con- 
gress, and  it  is  in  a  spirit  of  generous  rivalry — according  to  all  the  same  religious  free- 
dom which  we  claim  for  ourselves — that  we  endeavor  to  discharge  that  duty  which  we 
owe  to  our  Church  and  to  our  country.  As  stated  in  our  call:  "  All  men  feel  and  admit 
that  the  present  relations  of  labor  and  capital  are  strained  and  unreasonable;  that  civil 
and  social  order  are  seriously  menaced,  trade  and  business  hampered." 

Under  such  conditions,  if  but  true  to  the  principles  which  have  animated  our  past 
and  secured  our  present,  we  Catholics  can  render  a  signal  service  at  this  time  to  our 
country  by  suggesting  the  remedies  for  these  evils  which  threaten  our  national  exist- 
ence, and  which  can  be  applied  in  a  way  consistent  with  vested  rights  and  prevent  out- 
breaks which  would  menace  those  blessings  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  which  our 
constitution  guarantees;  thus  again  emphasizing  our  loyalty  and  devotion  to  that  coun- 
try whose  interests  are  linked  with  every  fiber  of  our  hearts. 

The  deliberations  of  this  Congress,  therefore,  are  pregnant  with  important  conse- 
quences to  our  Church  and  our  country,  and  our  proceedings  will  be  watched  with 
interest  by  all. 

That  the  solution  of  the  present  social  difficulties  is  to  be  found  in  the  Catholic 
Church  we  know,  for,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  that  Church  is  the  friend  of  the  poor,  the 
champion  of  the  oppressed  and  the  downtrodden,  the  inflexible  enemy  to  injustice  of 
whatever  kind  wherever  found,  and  is  recognized  as  the  synonym  of  authority,  the  foe 
to  lawlessness,  and  the  champion  of  law  and  order."  Over  the  halls  of  this  Congress, 
therefore,  we  will  write  the  poet's  words,  so  that  all  the  ends  we  aim  at  shall  be  "  our 
God's,  our  country's,  and  truth's." 

Opportunity  was  given  at  this  point  to  hear  some  of  the  distinguished  prel- 
ates from  foreign  lands,  the  first  of  these  who  spoke  being  the  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop  Redwood  of  New  Zealand.     He  said  : 

A    VOICE    FROM    NEW    ZEALAND. 

I  shall  ever  consider  this  day  as  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  privileged  of  my  life. 
Some  months  ago  while  I  was  in  my  diocese  in  New  Zealand,  I  learned  through  the 
newspapers  and  through  the  very  modest  advertisements  from  this  great  city  of 
Chicago,  of  the  wonderful  Columbian  Exposition  about  to  be  held.  I  said  to  myself  it 
would  be  a  great  pleasure,  a  great  intellectual  enjoyment,  to  be  present  at  that  great 
event,  to  see  the  marvelous  productions  of  the  human  mind,  to  see  the  variety  that  has 
come  forth  from  the  genius  of  man;  but  I  further  said  to  myself  that  I  have  seen  the 
greatest  expositions  of  Paris  and  of  London,  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  that  while 
no  doubt  this  might  be  on  a  grander  scale,  still  after  all  it  is  chiefly  a  manifestation  of 
man's  progress  in  the  material  world.  Looking  upon  it  in  that  light  I  made  up  my 
mind  not  to  come. 

But  afterward  I  happened  to  hear  that  this  Exposition  was  to  be  suddenly  raised 
far  above  any  other  exposition  ever  known  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  I  learned  of  the 
Auxiliary  Congresses  to  be  attached  to  this  Exposition,  and  that  other  works  of  man  were 
to  be  considered — that  he  was  to  be  viewed  in  his  mind,  in  his  heart,  in  his  soul  ;  that 
man  was  to  be  viewed  as  a  social  being  ;  and  that  in  the  Auxiliary  Congresses  all  the 
most  burning  problems  of  the  day  were  to  be  discussed  by  the  most  distinguished 


2o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

members  of  the  laity  of  the  United  States.  They  were  to  be  brought  together  as  one 
grand  focus,  whose  light  was  to  be  turned  upon  the  most  burning  and  actual  questions 
of  the  times.  When  I  heard  this  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  should  come.  I  said  to 
myself  that  it  was  like  going  to  school  again.  1  told  my  people  I  was  coming  to  Chicago 
to  meet,  as  it  were,  the  very  elite  of  the  human  mind,  in  the  very  center  of  the  most 
intellectual  life  of  the  great  Republic,  of  the  great  Union  of  man,  governed  by  a  vast 
democracy  that  is  now  wielding,  you  may  say,  the  scepter  of  progress  and  of  the  world. 
But  I  never  thought  I  would  have  the  honor  and  the  privilege  of  ad  Iressing  this 
attendance.  I  intended  to  come  as  a  listener.  I  wanted  to  hear  what  was  said  upon  all 
the  great  questions  of  the  day.  I  wanted  to  be  abreast  of  the  times,  for  1  think  every 
bishop  and  archbishop  should  be  abreast  of  the  times,  or  rather  that  he  ou^ht  to  be 
before  the  times. 

Perhaps  some  of  you  may  think  New  Zealand  is  still  a  land  of  cannibalism — a  land 
in  which  you  expect  to  rind  in  every  house  good  provision  of  roast  missionary. 
But  we  are  a  progressive  people  in  that  far-off  land;  there  we  venture  on  experiments 
and  try  issues  very  quickly.  We  are,  in  fact,  the  world's  experimental  country  Some 
of  those  things  which  you  are  discussing  here — for  instance  the  eight  hours'  day — has 
been  in  existence  in  New  Zealand  for  some  years.  I  said  to  myself  no  doubt  in  that 
wonderful  American  country,  where  there  is  so  much  freedom  and  such  determination 
for  progress,  where  the  characteristic  of  the  people  is  a  horror  of  routine  I  must 
naturally  hear  suggestions  and  see  new  lines  of  thought  open  before  me— new  solutions 
of  grave  questions,  and  therefore,  if  I  have  to  keep  myself  abreast  of  the  times  and  a 
fortiori,  if  I  have  to  go  before  the  times,  there  is  no  place  I  can  visit  so  appropriate  to 
obtain  correct  information  on  burning  subjects  of  the  hour  as  at  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition of  Chicago  and  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  Then  another  thought  struck 
me — that  such  a  meeting  of  the  elite  of  the  Catholic  intellect,  both  ecclesiastical  and 
lay,  must  prove  a  great  instrument  for  the  progress  of  our  holy  religion  which  every 
missionary  and  every  bishop  has  so  deeply  at  hear'.,.  I  said  what  we  want  in  the  19th 
century  is  to  see  the  Catholic  Church  everywhere,  to  see  her  penetrate  into  all  kinds 
of  assemblies,  to  see  her  make  herself  known;  for  if  she  were  only  known  the  whole 
world  would  be  at  her  feet — that  is,  the  world  worthy  of  our  consideration.  It  is  because 
she  is  not  known  that  she  is  often  maligned  in  good  faith.  Well,  we  have  to  make  her 
known,  and  where  is  it  more  possible  to  make  her  known  better,  to  bring  her  focus  of 
light  into  the  most  progressive  country  in  the  world?  Here  we  meet  to  discuss  the 
different  problems  of  the  day.  We  will  show  her  influence  in  the  great  questions  of 
education  and  labor  and  finance.  I  say  the  Church  should  be  heard  in  every  kind  of 
public  assembly.  When  the  shackles  of  prejudice  are  passed  from  the  human  mind 
she  must  stand  forth  in  her  innate  beauty.  I  have  come  nine  thousand  miles  to  assist 
in  this  assembly,  and  it  is  one  of  the  proudest  privileges  in  my  life  to  take  part  in  it. 

Following  this  Archbishop  from  Britain's  remotest  colony  came  the 
words  of  him  who  is  pastor  in  her  mighty  capital  of  London.  Monsignor 
Nugent  of  Liverpool  was  present  to  act  as  spokesman  for  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Westminster,  and  thus  delivered  the  message  entrusted  to  him: 

FROM    THE    SEE    OF    WESTMINSTER. 

My  Lord  Cardinal  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  stand  here  as  the  messenger  of 
congratulation  and  of  the  deepest  interest  of  Cardinal  Vaughan  in  the  great  Catholic 
work  which  will  take  place  in  this  city  during  this  week;  but  before  I  read  his  letter  I 
wish  to  express  how  much  I  have  felt  those  tender  and  affectionate  references  that  have 
been  made  during  the  last  two  days  to  the  illustrious  and  late  lamented  Cardinal 
Manning.  When  it  was  conceived  of  having  a  Congress  of  English-speaking  people  he 
was  one  of  the  first  who  was  consulted  upon  the  matter.  The  first  proposition  was  that 
it  should  be  held  in  London,  but  he,  with  his  wonderful  grasp  of  character,  knew  that 
with  our  crippled  ideas  and  habits  this  was  the  true  field  for  the  expression  of  the 
Catholic  mind  upon  all  those  great  social  questions  which  are  the  very  root,  not  only  of 
religion  but  of  the  stability  of  society.  It  has  been  my  lot  to  have  worked  with  Cardinal 
Manning,  closely  and  intimately,  and  to  have  shared  his  confidence  since  the  year  1853; 
and  when  I  go  back  I  shall  be  able,  I  trust,  to  place  an  immortelle  upon  his  grave  of  the 
expression,  the  Catholic  expression,  aye,  the  universal  expression,  of  honor  for  the  deep 
interest  which  he  took  in  the  people,  irrespective  of  creed  or  nationality.  Cardinal 
Vaughan  has  been  brought  up,  I  may  say,  under  his  wing,  and  he  has  commissioned  me 
thus  to  convey  his  sympathy. 


ARCHBISHOP   FEEHAN, 

CHICAGO. 

ARCHBISHOP    IRELAND, 

ST.    PAUL. 


CARDINAL   GIBBONS, 

BALTIMORE. 


ARCHBISHOP    CORRIQAN 
NEW    YORK. 

ARCHBISHOP    RYAN, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


WORLDS  C0LU2IBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  2l 

Mgr.  Nugent  then  read  the  following  letter: 

Archbishop's  House,  Westminster,  S.  W.,  Aug.  15,  1893.  My  Dear  Mgr.  Nugent:— 
As  Mgr.  Gadd  is  not  going  to  the  States,  I  shall  be  much  obliged  if  you  will  kindly 
represent  me  at  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress.  Kindly  express  as  publicly  and  as 
heartily  as  ycu  can  the  deep  interest  with  which  I  follow  the  life  and  conduct  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  The  interest  is  quickened  by  the  personal 
relations  of  friendship  which  I  have  long  since  been  happy  enough  to  establish  for 
myself  among  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  in  America.  I  rejoice  to  witness  the 
Catholic  Church  entering  thus  deeply  into  the  foundation  and  structure  of  the  great 
civilization,  which  is  covering  so  vast  an  area  of  the  world's  surface.  The  great  social 
problem,  which  is  the  problem  of  our  day,  can  only  be  solved  by  the  action  of 
Christianity.  The  American  Church  knows  this,  and  the  efforts  which  its  cardinals  and 
archbishops  and  bishops  are  making  in  this  direction  are  most  instructive  to  us  here  in 
England,  who  pursue  our  way,  perhaps,  rather  more  slowly,  though  traversing  the  same 
path,  amid  similar  difficulties.  Pray,  therefore,  express  my  own  admiration  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  noble  Catholic  efforts  which  are  being  made  at  the  present  moment  in 
Chicago.  The  Church  has  only  to  be  known  in  order  to  be  esteemed.  A  great  service 
to  religion  and  to  the  American  people  and  to  the  advance  guard  of  modern  civilization 
is  rendered  by  the  determination  of  the  American  hierarchy  to  present  the  Catholic 
Church  as  distinctively  modern  in  character,  as  she  is  venerable  and  ancient — to  pre- 
sent her  to  the  people  as  "  of  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  Believe  me,  dear  Mgr. 
Nugent,  your  faithful  and  devoted  servant, 

Herbert  Cardinal,  Vaughan, 

Archbishop  of  Westminster. 

Continuing,  Mgr.  Nugent  said: 

My  Lord  Cardinal,  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words,  but  this  is  not  the  time, 
when  that  clock  already  tells  me  it  is  ten  minutes  after  one;  but  if  I  might  express  my 
feelings  briefly  I  would  say:  Gentlemen,  you  have  come  from  the  different  parts  of  this 
country  and  have  before  you  a  high  mission.  All  over  the  world  the  struggle  at 
present  is  how  to  lift  up  our  people  and  to  make  them  take  their  social  position,  and, 
just  as  they  rise  in  the  social  scale,  to  remember  they  have  duties  to  perform.  If  we 
have  to  build  up  our  people  and  to  save  them  from  the  terrible  dangers  that  surround 
them  in  modern  life,  it  must  be  by  successful  laymen  remembering  their  social  duties, 
and  that  after  success  comes  terrible  responsibilities,  and  that  the  more  we  succeed  in 
the  world  the  heavier  and  deeper  are  those  responsibilities. 

This  ended  the  introductory  exercises,  when  the  following  committee 
was  appointed  on  organization: 

D.  B.  Bremner,  111.;  William  P.  Breen,  Ind.;  Francis  T.  Purey,  Pa.;  Jeremiah 
Fennessy,  Mass.;  M.  Smith  Brennan,  Del.;  L.  V.  O'Donoghue,  N.  Y,;  Michael  Brennan, 
Mich. ;  P.  P.  Connor,  Mo.,  and  John  B.  McGorick,  N.  Y. 

From  the  many  able  papers  read  in  the  Congress  during  this  first  day,  the 
place  is  given  to  that  of  Dr.  R.  A.  Clarke  of  New  York,  on 

COLUMBUS;    HIS    MISSION    AND    CHARACTER. 

Because  of  his  exalted  mission  and  character,  America  and  the  world  honor  Colum- 
bus. Not  the  least  of  these  honors  is  this  assembly  of  the  second  Catholic  Congress  of 
the  United  States  at  this  fair  city  of  Chicago. 

That  Columbus  had  a  high  and  mighty  mission  is  proved  by  four  grand  and  salient 
facts  in  his  wonderful  career.  First,  he  foresaw  and  foretold  his  mission;  secondly,  he 
trained  himself  especially  for  it  throughout  his  life;  thirdly,  he  undertook  it — the  most 
startling  of  human  enterprises;  fourthly,  he  achieved  it. 

The  mission  and  character  of  Columbus  are  so  thoroughly  blended  and  interwoven, 
yet  so  admirably  composed  of  varied  and  divergent  forces,  all  united  in  a  grand  entirety, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  view  them  separately— I  shall  treat  them  as  an  unique  and 
majestic  unit.  They  are  one  in  origin,  nature,  kind,  and  caste,  and  mutually  dependent 
in  their  harmonious  action  and  great  results.  They  are  like  a  vast  and  graceful  celestial 
rainbow,  spanning  the  heavens,  resting  upon  hemispheres,  analyzing  yet  blending  the 
beautiful  rays  of  the  sun,  and  sustained  by  the  moisture  from  land  and  ocean.  Such  a 
phenomenon  is  not  so  beautiful  in  its  parts,  as  grand  and  majestic  in  its  whole.  Such 
are  the  mission  and  character  of  Columbus,  containing  like  the  seven  radiant  prismatic 
colors,  seven  transcendent  features:    First,  the  inspiration;  second,  the  preparation; 


23  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

third,  the  faith;  fourth,  the  apostolate  or  mission;  fifth,  religious  zeal;  sixth,  the  under- 
taking;  seventh,  the  accomplishment. 

Systems  of  worlds  and  universes,  moving  and  harmonizing  in  boundless  space,  are 
grand  and  majestic  evidence  of  creative  and  almighty  power  and  glory.  But  what  is 
the  physical  universe,  what  are  countless  centers  and  systems  of  universes,  to  that 
incomparable  creation,  that  moral  and  intellectual  being,  superior  to  all  matter— man? 
What  are  they  to  man,  the  lord  of  planets,  worlds,  am  1  systems,  and  under  whose  domin- 
ion and  for  whose  use  they  have  been  created  by  the  Omnipotent?  Regent  of  the  King 
of  Kings?  Viceroy  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  Minister  of  the  supernatural?  United 
to  the  Godhead  by  a  Savior  becoming  man;  the  price  of  a  Savior's  blood;  himself  both 
patriarch  and  prophet,  priest  and  crusader! 

Human  history  shows  how  man's  genius,  courage,  intellect,  ambition,  powers  of 
conquest,  have  explored,  discovered  the  earth,  and  adorned  with  every  culture  this 
planet-inheritance  he  received  from  his  heavenly  Father.  But  what  would  mankind 
have  been  without  that  heroic  caste  of  character  and  achievement,  which  the  leaders 
and  heroes  of  the  race  have  exerted  to  best  and  greatest  results?  What,  without  those 
venerable  patriarchs  of  old  who,  standing  midway  between  heaven  and  earth,  have  been 
the  law-givers  of  the  soul — a  Noah,  to  rescue  the  race;  a  Moses,  to  lead  it  to  the  prom- 
ised land;  a  Solomon,  to  guide  it  by  his  wisdom;  a  David,  to  teach  tho  royal  road  of 
penance;  a  Peter,  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Papacy,  a  Paul,  to  convert  the  nations; 
a  Thomas  Aquinas,  to  expound  the  mysteries  of  Christian  theology;  a  Patrick,  to  con- 
vert a  nation  of  saints  and  scholars;  a  Thomas-a-Becket,  to  uphold  the  law  and  die  for 
it;  an  Ignatius,  to  create  the  link  between  the  old  monasticism  and  the  modern  relig- 
ious; a  Leo  XIII.,  to  expound  the  higher  and  the  social  law  to  men?  And  what  with- 
out a  Constantino,  to  see  the  cross  and  believe;  an  Alfred  the  Great,  to  found  tho 
Christian  commonwealth  on  the  unwritten  law;  a  St.  Louis,  to  show  how  a  ruler  can  be 
a  saint;  a  Washington,  to  emancipate  his  country? 

The  heroes  of  the  race  ennobled  it  by  their  works  until  a  world  seemed  explored 
and  conquered  in  its  vast  proportions.  Mankind,  in  the  midst  of  such  achievements 
and  conquests  and  in  the  fulness  of  time,  produced  a  type  of  the  race,  a  hero,  a  leader,  a 
true  Christian  gentleman;  a  link  between  the  middle  ages  and  the  new  epoch  which  he 
himself  inaugurated;  the  blended  representative  of  ages  mediaeval  and  modern;  science 
and  faith,  united  in  him,  harmonized;  child  of  the  Church;  antagonist  of  every  popular 
superstition;  crusader,  ambitious  to  redeem  the  holy  sepulcher;  a  sailor  who  voyaged  to 
every  corner  of  the  known  earth  and,  with  true  geAus,  declared  that  there  was  more  to 
know  and  more  to  discover.  So  vast  had  been  his  travels  and  voyages  that  I  might 
apply  to  him  the  verses  of  those  English  poets,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher: 

There  is  a  traveler,  sir;  knows  men, 

Mariners,  and  has  plowed  the  sea  so  far 

Till  both  the  poles  have  knocked:  he  has  seen  the  sun 

Take  coach,  and  can  distinguish  the  color 

Of  his  horses,  and  their  kinds. 

He  was  a  man  almost  without  scholastic  or  scientific  learning,  grasping  the  pro- 
foundest  knowledge  and  revealing  the  most  hidden  truths  to  the  incredulous  learned;  a 
man  who  united  in  himself  the  prophet  and  the  explorer;  a  man  who  bravely  lived  down 
an  ocean  of  reproach,  ridicule,  denial,  and  calumny;  a  man,  from  his  boyhood,  with  a 
marked  mission,  which  he  religiously  embraced,  with  an  inevitable  destiny,  for  which  he 
sedulously  trained  himself;  a  man  who  believed  in  his  destiny,  who  announced  his  mis- 
sion and  rested  not,  amid  appalling  obstacles,  until  he  had  fulfilled  them  both— Christo- 
pher Columbus! 

Had  he  a  mission?  Yes,  a  mission  of  unequaled  grandeur  and  beneficence.  Every 
fact  I  am  about  to  mention  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  mission  and  character  of 
Columbus.  Was  he  not  born  and  reared  in  poverty,  obscurity,  and  labor?  A  sailor  from 
boyhood,  the  child  of  the  seas  for  over  twenty  years,  tempest-tossed,  battle-scarred,  ship- 
wrecked, a  voyager  over  the  earth  and  encompassed  by  every  temptation  to  crime— he 
emerged  from  such  a  life  with  his  faith  undimmed,  his  soul  unsullied,  his  piety  as  ten- 
der as  a  mother's  love,  his  filial  affection  and  sense  of  duty  unbroken,  his  whole  charac- 
ter enriched  with  grace.  Twenty-one  years  of  utmost  exposure  to  prevailing  sin  and 
profanity  failed  to  tarnish  the  purity  of  his  soul,  and  it  was  never  known  during  his 
entire  life  that  a  profane  or  immodest  word  ever  passed  his  lips.  Father  Arthur  George 
Knight,  the  English  Jesuit,  said  of  him:  "  Few  men  indeed,  perhaps  only  saints,  have 
escaped  like  Columbus,  with  unwounded  conscience  from  such  turbulent  scenes." 
When  he  arrived  at  Lisbon  to  commence  his  mission,  a  man  of  thirty  years,  his  hair  was 
gray  with  toil,  hardship,  danger,  contact  with  peril  and  death,  with  sudden  reverses  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  23 

personal  escapes;  but  his  heart  was  young  and  tender;  his  cheeks  bore  the  blush  of 
youth  and  modesty;  his  .voice  and  speech,  eloquent  and  melodious;  his  carriage,  manly 
and  graceful;  his  eye,  vivacious;  his  stature,  robust;  his  manners,  dignilied ;  his  presence, 
engaging;  his  conversation,  grave  yet  attractive;  his  presence  inspired  interest,  inquiry^ 
respect,  sympathy,  veneration,  awe.  Did  he  acquire  these  graces  from  a  sailor's  life  on 
the  Mediterranean  in  the  15th  century,  when  a  sailor's  life  was  spent  in  strife  with 
pirate,  corsair,  Mohammedan?  This  man  of  the  sea,  deprived  of  chapel,  priest,  sacra- 
ment at  Lisbon,  was  early  and  late  before  the  altar  and  the  tabernacle;  his  form  devoutly 
bent  in  prayer  became  familiar  to  the  worshipers  at  the  Lisbon  Cathedral  and  the 
chapel  of  the  Convent  of  All  Saints.  Was  this  the  training  he  received  amid  the  strug- 
gles and  exposures  of  naval  warfare  and  adventure  on  the  seas?  Did  he  arrive  at  Lis- 
bon, after  twenty  years  of  seafaring,  laden  with  the  booty  of  captured  pirates  or  of  the 
merchant  marine?  No,  he  was  poor  and  friendless.  He  met  at  Lisbon  not  a  friend  or 
acquaintance,  except  his  younger  brother  Bartholomew,  who,  poor  and  friendless  as 
himself,  like  him  gained  a  precarious  livelihood  by  the  art  of  drawing  maps  and  charts. 

But  there  was  something  marvelous  in  Columbus,  which  proved  his  mission.  This 
stranger,  sailor,  dreamer,  without  an  introduction  received  a  welcome  into  the  good  old 
social  circles  of  the  capital  ;  in  centers  of  nautical  and  maritime  experience,  science  and 
distinction,  he  was  welcomed  and  listened  to  ;  he  became  allied  by  marriage  with  three 
ancient  and  distinguished  families — the  Perestrellos,  the  Monizes,  and  the  Aranas.  But, 
stranger  than  all,  this  obscure  mariner  associated  with  the  learned  and  the  scientific  men 
of  his  age,  corresponded  with  scholars  and  scientists  in  different  lands  and  harangued 
universities,  prelates,  ministers,  and  cabinets  The  palaces  of  capitals  opened  to  him;  he 
appeared  at  court  and  was  the  equal  of  kings  and  princes.  He  dictated  terms  to  kings, 
and,  with  sybilline  mysticism,  repulses  only  enhanced  the  value  of  his  secrets.  Thece 
was  a  nobility,  a  royalty  in  his  presence,  in  his  associations,  aspiration,  and  purposes  of 
which  history  gives  us  no  parallel  in  the  lives  of  men.  What  is  the  mystery  ?  What 
the  secret  of  this  interesting  and  progressive  stranger  ? 

Everything  about  Columbus,  his  striking  personal  appearance,  which  was  imposing; 
his  poverty,  which  never  detracted  from  his  dignity;  his  acquired  and  practical  learning, 
which  never  affected  him  with  the  pretentions  of  pedantry;  his  affability,  which  never  im- 
paired a  reserve  that  was  ever  remarkable  and  pleasing  in  his  intercourse;  his  social  quali- 
ties, which  harmonized  with  his  characteristic  gravity;  his  thoughtfulness,  which  never 
disappeared  in  the  busy  intercourse  of  the  world;  his  marked  purpose,  which  gave  to  his 
movements  the  energy  of  immediate  undertakings  ;  a  physiognomy,  which  seemed  to 
reveal  and  yet  conceal  the  inner  movements  of  an  ever  active  yet  meditative  mind  ;  a 
profound  and  mediaeval  cast  of  religious  devotion  and  contemplativeness,  which  inspired 
veneration  and  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  pious  laymen,  of  dignified  prelates,  of 
secluded  monks,  and  of  sovereign  pontiffs. 

In  him  also,  according  to  a  tradition  recorded  by  the  Count  de  Lorgues,  the  five 
senses  were  trained  to  acuteness  in  a  fine  degree,  as  witnessed  by  the  most  acute  hearing 
which  enabled  him  to  catch  the  first  sounds  of  danger  on  the  sea  and  of  approaching 
storms.  By  the  keenness  of  his  sight,  which  enabled  him  to  meet  many  a  direful  crisis 
on  sea  and  land  and  to  discern  the  minutest  shades  and  differences  and  to  measure 
distances  in  his  pursuit  of  continents  and  worlds;  by  the  refinement  of  his  taste,  which 
enabled  him  to  study  the  qualities  and  properties  of  nature;  by  the  delicacy  of  his 
sense  of  smell,  which  enabled  him  to  scent  in  advance  the  odors  of  continents  he  was 
seeking,  the  perfume  of  their  flowers,  fruits,  and  forests,  and  the  ozone  of  their  atmos- 
phere; by  the  nicety  of  his  touch,  which  aided  his  studies  in  physics,  and  at  night  in 
sleep  protected  him  from  sudden  personal  danger,  and  enabled  him  to  know  of  perils  at  sea 
from  every  movement  of  his  ship.  Of  him  it  has  been  said:  "Columbus  possessed 
visibly  the  three  theological  virtues;  he  practiced  constantly  the  four  cardinal  virtues: 
the  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  apparent  in  his  life,  and  we  find  God  admirable 
in  him  as  he  is  always  in  his  eaints."  Frugality,  abstemiousness,  neatness,  purity  of 
language,  utter  subjection  of  1  temper  naturally  violent,  charity  in  word  and  deed,  and 
profound  piety  were  among  the  qualities  which  marked  him  as  a  man  with  a  high 
mission  and  which  fitted  him  for  its  accomplishment.  Such  was  his  religious  character 
and  life  that  he  spent  much  time  in  prayer,  studied  the  Scriptures  and  the  fathers  with 
profound  astuteness,  observed  the  fasts  and  vigils  of  the  Church,  attended  mass  on 
shore  every  day,  practiced  vows,  pilgrimages,  and  votive  offerings,  recited  daily  to  the 
entire  canonical  office  of  the  cloister,  and  wore,  sometimes  publicly  and  at  others  under 
the  gaudy  insignia  of  office,  the  coarse  habit  and  girdle  of  St.  Francis,  and  he  was  versed 
in  theological,  patristic,  and  ecclesiastical  lore.  He  was  subject  to  violent  and  excruciating 
attacks  of  illness,  to  a  profound  lethargy,  and  to  visions  occurring  at  periods  and  in 


24  WORLD'SiCOLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

times  of  extraordinary  disaster,  misfortune,  and  illness — caused  by  excessive  vigils, 
labors,  and  exhaustions  of  mind  and  body— occurring,  as  they  did,  in  many  of  the  most 
critical  crises  of  his  eventful  life  and  career,  and  during  these  mental  and  physical 
prostrations,  from  his  couch  of  illness  and  apparent  death,  he  directed  and  navigated 
fleets  in  unknown  seas,  prosecuted  voyages  of  momentous  consequences,  made  and 
recorded  observations  anil  thoughts  on  the  most  new  and  startling  phenomena  of 
nature,  and  conducted  enterprises  of  the  utmost  importance  to  mankind.  He  arose 
from  such  crises  of  health  and  approaches  of  death  with  a  marvelous  recuperation, 
which  he  and  some  of  his  biographers  have  regarded  as  miraculous. 

The  mission  of  Columbus  was  manifold,  as  is  shown  by  his  many  transcendent 
achievements  and  services;  by  the  services  he  rendered  to  religion,  to  science,  and  to 
humanity.  His  mission  is  proved  by  the  absence  of  chance  and  by  the  manifest  assump- 
tion by  him  of  a  great  task;  by  his  preparation  and  fitness  for  it;  by  its  achievement. 
Strike  from  the  history  of  mankind  and  from  the  present  development  of  human  affairs 
what  Columbus  undertook  and  achieved,  the  world  will  go  back  four  hundred  years; 
four  hundred  years  of  unprecedented  progress  in  human  culture,  in  civilization,  in  the 
humanities,  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  the  Christian  missions  and  apostolate,  in  the 
practical  application  of  the  great  principles  of  government  and  liberty,  in  commerce;  in 
the  arts  of  war  and  peace,  in  the  efforts  and  approaches  .to  the  benign  substitution  of 
peaceful  arbitration  for  human  warfare,  of  progress  in  testing  the  inherent  power  of  re- 
ligion and  of  Christianity.  As  types  only  of  all  this,  compare  a  caravan  of  camels  loaded 
with  Oriental  products  crossing  the  deserts  for  twelve  months — compare  it  with  the  voyage 
of  the  modern  steamship  around  the  world,  accomplished  now  in  sixty-five  days.  Com- 
pare the  slowly  pacing  camel  itself  with  our  modern  steamship,  now  called  the  camel  of 
the  seas!  Compare  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus — three  months  and  eight  days  in  crossing 
the  Atlantic — compare  it  with  the  same  voyage  accomplished  now  in  five  days,  nineteen 
hours,  and  twenty -five  minutes!  From  these  pass  to  the  comparison  of  higher  and 
holier  things;  to  the  progress  of  mind,  and  soul,  and  humanity.  It  was  Columbus  who 
brought  together  those  two  great  currents  of  human  life  which  had  run  in  different 
hemispheres,  had  never  known  each  other,  had  never  worshiped  at  the  same  altar. 
To  achieve  all  this  he  had  to  discover  a  new  world.  Such  was  his  mission.  Such  was 
his  fulfillment. 

Not  only  had  Columbus  such  a  mission  in  the  design  of  Providence,  but  he  was  him- 
self a  firm  and  unswerving  believer  in  that  mission;  that  his  mission  came  from  God; 
that  he  was  commissioned  to  do  the  work  of  heaven  on  earth.  He  announced  his  mis- 
sion to  the  world,  and  he  offered  himself  an  ardent  missionary  to  the  apostolate  of  Chris- 
tendom in  bringing  new  and  boundless  realms,  buried  in  ignorance  of  Christ  and  in 
heathenism,  into  the  Christian  fold.  He  announced  a  further,  and  what  he  esteemed  a 
paramount  purpose,  of  devoting  his  expected  immense  revenues  from  the  Indies  to  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  the  Holy  Land  and  restoring  them  to  the  Christian 
world.  These  great  objects  he  never  lost  sight  of  and  he  never  ceased  to  aim  at  their 
accomplishment.  In  that  solemn  and  characteristic  act  of  his  life,  his  last  will,  he  com- 
mences with  these  self -dedicatory  words:  "  In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  who 
inspired  me  with  the  idea  and  afterward  made  it  perfectly  clear  to  me  that  I  should 
navigate  and  go  to  the  Indies  from  Spain,  by  traversing  the  ocean  westwardly." 

This  avowal  of  his  mission  is  repeated  in  many  letters  and  writings  of  the  illustrious 
admiral.  The  most  solemn  and  sublime  self-dedication  to  God  and  his  work  and  to  the 
Christian  apostolate  that  a  Christian  layman  could  possibly  make  was  that  which 
Columbus  prepared  and  addressed  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  before  sailing  on  his  fourth 
voyage,  which  was  based  upon  a  profound  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  whose  remark- 
able title  was  in  itself  a  self-ordination:  "Collection  of  Prophecies  Concerning  the 
Recovery  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Indies."  Therein  he  solemnly 
announced  himself  as  one  chosen  of  God  from  his  earliest  years  for  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World  and  the  redemption  of  the  Savior's  tomb;  that  Providence  had  inspired  him 
with  study  that  educated  himself  for  this  work  by  leading  him  to  embrace  a  sailor's  life 
from  the  age  of  fourteen,  to  observe  and  ponder  over  the  phenomena  and  secrets  of 
nature  and  of  the  earth,  and  to  study  with  eagerness  the  greatest  work  and  chron- 
icles in  geography,  cosmography,  navigation,  astronomy,  and  philosophy.  He  said  that 
by  those  studies  God  had  opened  his  mind  "  as  by  a  hand,"  an  invisible  hand,  and  that 
he  was  thus  inspired  and  consumed  with  the  idea  of  discovering  the  New  World  and  of 
opening  the  way  to  all  Christendom.  He  reminds  Ferdinand  and  Isabella:  "  I  spent  ten 
years  at  your  august  court  in  discussions  with  persons  of  great  merit  and  profound 
learning,  who,  after  much  argument,  ended  by  declaring  my  projects  to  be  chimerical. 
Your  Majesties  alone  had  faith  and  constancy.    Who  can  doubt  that  it  was  the  light 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  25 

derived  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures  that  enlightened  your  minds  with  the  same  rays  as 
mine  ?  "  In  this  remarkable  letter  he  extols  the  wondrous  methods  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
guiding  the  chosen  instruments  of  Providence  and  educating  them  for  their  vocation  and 
its  accomplishment.  He  displays  great  learning  in  setting  forth  definite  canons  for 
scriptural  interpretation,  based  upon  St.  Augustine,  St.  Thomas,  St.  Isidore,  and  Gerson. 

He  claims  that  his  mission  to  discover  a  new  world  and  its  fulfilment  was  predicted 
by  the  inspired  prophets;  quotes  the  prophecies  themselves,  and  then  follows  them  up 
with  cogent  arguments,  interpretations,  and  citations  from  the  Fathers  of  the  Church. 
This  "  ambassador  of  God,"  as  the  Count  de  Lorgues  calls  Columbus,  self-dedicated  by 
the  very  prayer  with  which  he  commenced  every  act  of  his  life,  and  every  writing  of 
bis  pen,  "Jesu  cum  Maria,  sit  nobis  via,"  proves  that  he  was  always  on  the  way,  forever 
journeying  toward  a  goal,  an  end,  an  achievement,  perpetually  laboring  in  his  great  mis- 
sion. He  chose  for  the  companions  of  his  sublime  mission  the  immaculate  Mother  and 
divine  Son  ;  Jesu  cum  Maria  ! 

Columbus,  in  the  benign  economies  of  Providence,  and  of  Christian  policy,  and  in 
the  profound  studies  of  philosophic  history,  has  been  lkened  to  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets  of  old  and  the  founders  of  states  and  nations.  It  is  thus  that  he  has  been 
compared  with  Moses  and  David  and  with  other  patriarchs.  The  extraordinary  and 
symbolical  names  he  received  in  baptism  and  significantly  bore  and  cherished,  were  both 
emblematic  of  his  mission  and  prophetic  of  his  vocation.  Columbo,  which  means  a 
dove,  indicated  his  mission  of  peace,  good-will,  and  salvation  between  the  old  Christian 
world  and  the  new  heathen  world,  which  he  discovered  and  went  to  convert.  And 
Christopher  means  Christ-Bearer — not  the  ordained  eucharistic  priest,  but,  in  another 
and  exceptional  sense,  one  who  carries  the  living  and  teaching  Christ,  the  brother, 
Redeemer,  and  Savior  of  man  in  his  human,  divine,  and  missionary  personality,  across 
continents  and  over  oceans  to  other  continents  and  oceans  to  the  utmost  boundaries  of 
the  earth.  There  was  an  ancient  legend  in  Christian  hagiography  which,  whether  a 
reality  or  an  ideality,  derives  its  chief  significance  and  value  from  its  being  prophetic  of 
Christopher  Columbus  —the  legend  of  St.  Christopher,  the  patronal  saint  of  Columbus, 
whose  pagan  name  was  Opheus. 

Tradition,  including  Dr.  Alban  Butler's  "Lives,"  makes  St.  Christopher  a  Syrian  by 
nationality,  a  giant  in  stature,  strength,  and  in  prayer,  miraculously  converted  from 
pag  tnism  and  choosing  the  name  of  Christopher  or  Christ-Bearer,  and  after  bearing 
Christ,  symbolized  in  the  Christian  Faith,  through  Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  and  crossing 
oceans,  with  Christ  upon  his  shoulders,  he  finally  won  the  crown  of  martyrdom  under 
the  Emperor  Decius.  So  truly  prophetic  was  this  legend  of  Columbus  that  after  the 
latter  had  carried  Christ  across  the  Atlantic  to  unknown  countries  he  had  discovered, 
the  legend  seemed  to  loom  up  in  sacred  literature  on  account  of  the  achievement  of  the 
great  Christopher  and  then  became  merged  in  the  reality.  Even  the  image  of  the  saint 
thenceforth  bore  the  features  of  Christopher  Columbus  instead  of  the  legendary  saint, 
as  was  the  case  in  the  celebrated  vignette  in  the  map  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  in  which  also 
the  literal  name  of  Columbus  was  omitted,  because  it  was  rather  represented  by  the 
image  of  the  saint  crossing  the  ocean  with  the  Christ  upon  his  shoulders,  the  features 
being  those  of  Christopher  Columbus,  for  it  was  he  who  carried  the  Redeemer's  name 
across  the  ocean,  as  divinely  expressed,  "  to  them  that  have  not  heard  of  Me  and  not 
seen  my  glory." 

The  parallel  between  Columbus  and  Moses  is  equally  or  more  striking.  Both  were 
living  patriarchs  of  living  races  of  men  believing  in  the  true  God.  Fifteen  hundred  years 
before  the  coming  of  Christ,  Moses  delivered  the  law  of  God  to  his  people;  fifteen  hundred 
years  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  Columbus  delivered  the  law  of  Christ  to  other  worlds  and 
continents  which  he  discovered.  Moses  and  Columbus  were  each  forty  years  of  age  when 
they  began  the  active  missions  they  received  from  the  same  God.  Both  Moses  and 
Columbus  left  wife  and  family  heroically  to  perform  the  will  of  God.  While  the  sea 
opened  a  passage  for  Moses  to  pass  over,  the  ocean  of  darkness  and  storms,  the  then  dread 
Atlantic,  gave  Columbus  a  first,  a  safe  and  gentle  passage  over  its  bosom.  Moses  gave 
the  law  of  the  covenant;  Columbus  announced  the  law  of  the  New  Testament.  Moses 
appealed  prophetically  to  the  cross  in  the  Greek  Tau  on  the  gateposts  of  the  chosen 
people;  Columbus  carried  the  cross  of  Christ  with  him,  saluted  it,  and  planted  it  in  the 
virgin  soil,  the  cross  made  of  mighty  trees  cut  from  primeval  forests.  Moses  received 
repulses  and  even  violence  from  his  own  people;  Columbus  endured  the  mockery  and 
ingratitude  of  those  he  served.  Both  died  in  poverty — outcasts.  Both  reached  the 
promised  land  and  saw  it.  Moses  was  never  permitted  to  enter  it;  Columbus  never 
reached  and  never  saw  or  entered  the  Indies  which  he  sought,  but,  unlike  Moses,  he 
raised  up  new  kingdoms  and  empires  to  Christ,  planted  the  seeds  of  Faith  over  conti- 


26  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

aents,  and  in  his  tracks  have  followed  knowledge,  Faith,  civilization,  free  republics,  and 
human  liberty.  Unlike  Moses,  he  entered  the  promised  land.  Columbus  felt  an  inward 
resemblance  to  Moses  and  to  David,  for,  after  likening  himself  to  Moses,  he  said:  "Lei 
them  give  me  what  name  they  will,  for,  in  fine,  David,  the  wipe  king,  was  a  sheplnid, 
and  he  became  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  I  serve  the  same  Lord  who  raised  him  to  such 
high  estate." 

He  was  compared  to  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  who  carried  the  Faith  of  Christ  to  the 
same  peoples  of  the  East,  whom  Columbus  sought  to  visit  and  evangelize,  and  whom  he 
believed  he  had  discovered.  According  to  traditions,  St.  Thomas,  under  sacred  Indian 
names,  evangelized  the  Indian  tribes  of  America.  Scholars  point  to  distinct  traditions 
and  fragmentary  creeds  of  Christian  origin,  and  the  Spanish  missionaries  of  the  lGth 
and  17th  centuries  were  amazed  at  finding  among  the  Indians  of  North  and  South 
America  the  prevalence  of  crucicultus  and  the  attribution  of  miraculous  qualities  to 
ancient  crosses,  preserved  and  venerated  from  remote  antiquity  by  the  American 
Indians. 

Christian  scholars  of  four  hundred  years  have  found  nine  different  passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  which  they  recognize  as  prophetic  of  Columbus,  his  mission,  and  his 
discovery.  Some  have  traced  in  sacred  verses  descriptions  of  his  ships,  the  very  caravels 
he  commanded  and  reproductions  of  which  even  here  you  have  seen,  and  allusions  to 
his  armorial  ensigns.  Illustrious  contemporaries  of  Columbus  recognized  his  divine 
mission.  The  great  Cardinal  Ximenes  and  the  learned  Archbishop  Diego  de  Deza  of 
Seville,  openly  favored  or  advocated  the  project  and  mission  of  Columbus  at  the  very 
tim9  he  was  claiming  to  be  the  chosen  missionary  of  heaven.  And  the  great  scientist 
of  Spain,  Jayme  Ferrer,  said  of  Columbus  to  Isabella:  "  I  believe  that  in  its  deep 
mysterious  designs  divine  Providence  selected  him  as  its  agent  in  this  work,  which  I 
look  upon  as  the  introduction  and  preparation  of  things  which  the  same  divine  Provi- 
dence has  determined  to  make  known  to  us  for  its  own  glory  and  the  salvation  and 
happiness  of  the  world."  And  again:  "  I  behold  in  this  a  great  mystery."  And 
addressing  Columbus  himself,  he  says:  "  In  your  mission,  senor,  you  seem  an  apostle,  a 
messenger  of  God,  to  spread  his  name  in  unknown  lands." 

The  Count  de  Lorgues,  in  presenting  the  cause  of  Columbus  to  Rome  for  canoniza- 
tion, exclaims:  "  Evidently  God  chose  Christopher  Columbus  as  a  messenger  of  salva- 
tion." And  while  our  own  Washington  Irving  says  that  he  was  led  to  know  how  much 
of  the  world  remained  unknown  and  was  led  to  meditate  on  the  means  of  exploring  it, 
says  that  "  The  enthusiastic  nature  of  his  conception  gave  an  elevation  to  his  spirit  and 
a  dignity  and  loftiness  to  his  whole  demeanor,"  and  that  "  his  views  were  princely  and 
unbounded,"  I  can  not  pass  over  the  high  tribute  of  the  English  Jesuit,  Father  Arthur 
George  Knight,  to  his  genius,  his  learning,  and  his  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  and  for  bringing  "  the  nations  in  willing  homage  to  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ, 
reigning  once  more  in  the  Jerusalem  of  the  Christians." 

Typified  by  his  symbolical  names,  foretold  in  ancient  prophecy  and  sacred  song,  be- 
lieved in  and  announced  by  himself,  the  mission  of  Columbus  was  providential.  Even 
from  the  standpoints  of  skepticism,  of  the  utter  denial  of  the  supernatural,  and  of  agnos- 
ticism, Columbus,  in  fact,  by  his  aspirations,  his  self-preparation,  and  his  very  enterprise^ 
in  the  natural  order,  as  a  man,  he  made  a  mission  for  himself.  His  contemporaries  also, 
men  of  learning,  intellect,  and  religion,  acknowledged  his  mighty  vocation  to  great  and 
stupendous  achievements.  Such  men  in  every  age,  down  to  our  own  time  and  country, 
have  paid  homage  to  his  recognized  and  acknowledged  mission.  There  was  something 
that  marked  Columbus  out  from  other  men — there  was  in  him  not  only  those  traits  of 
character  which  I  have  mentioned,  that  learning,  that  zeal,  that  courage,  that  faith, 
that  unbounded  zeal— but  there  was  in  his  whole  mental  and  moral  structure,  in  his  pro- 
found studies  and  deep  reflection,  his  familiarity  with  sciences,  and  his  quick  seizure  of 
the  mysteries  and  secrets  of  nature,  and  of  the  physical  world,  in  his  very  visions  and 
dreams,  his  constant  intercourse  with  the  supernatural — such  a  combination  of  qualifi- 
cations as  placed  him  on  a  higher  plane  than  ordinary  men.  There  is  in  revealed  and 
supernatural  religion  a  spirituality,  a  religious  mysticism  in  which  the  saints  alone 
seemed  to  move  and  soar. 

In  this  sense  Columbus  was  a  true  mystic — one  who  saw  in  the  fall  of  the  sparrow, 
in  the  raiment  of  the  lily  and  the  rose,  the  mystic  and  ever-provident  hand  of  God,  anN 
in  every  turn  in  his  own  eventful  and  dramatic  career  he  recognized  his  own  immediate 
touch  with  the  ever-present  Deity.  He  was  a  pilgrim,  staff  in  hand,  of  religion  and 
science,  recognizing  perfect  union  and  accord  between  them.  He  was  a  pilgrim  in  the 
flesh,  staff  in  hand,  wending  his  way  to  shrine  and  altar,  to  fulfill  a  vow  made  at  sea  c- 
to  take  a  votive  offering  in  return  for  many  a  deliverance  from  the  perils  of  the  sey 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


27 


He  was  a  crusader,  and  he  bequeathed  a  crusader's  injunction  upon  his  heirs,  never  to 
rest  until  the  Holy  Sepulcher  was  redeemed  and  restored  to  Christendom.  He  was  a 
rigid  observer  on  land  and  sea  of  the  fasts,  vigils,  and  feasts  of  the  Church.  With  all 
this,  he  was  a  man  among  men.  Conceiving  a  high  estimate  of  his  services,  insisting 
on  providing  title,  offices,  and  estates  for  himself,  and  his  posterity  and  successors; 
worthy  of  his  position  as  the  discoverer  of  the  New  World,  he  was  a  man  in  touch  with 
earth  and  heaven. 

The  part  he  took  in  that  momentous  act,  when  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  1493,  just 
after  the  discovery  of  America,  was  called  upon  to  arbitrate,  for  the  preservation  of 
the  peace  of  the  world,  between  the  two  leading  maritime  powers  of  the  world,  Spain 
and  Portugal,  then  struggling  for  the  supremacy  of  the  unknown  half  of  the  earth,  was 
such  participation  in  the  crucial  events  in  the  history  of  mankind  as  no  man  was  ever 
before  or  since  called  upon  to  perform,  second  only  to  his  own  discovery  of  the  New 
World.  Then  there  was  but  one  known  hemisphere,  and  even  its  hemispherical  form 
was  not  then  known,  Columbus,  Dr.  Toscanelli,  and,  perhaps,  a  few  other  learned  ones 
being  the  sole  expounders  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth.  Portugal  was  claiming  distant 
lands,  discovered  by  a  southern  and  eastern  route,  and  Spain  was  claiming  distant  lands, 
discovered  by  Columbus  by  a  western  route.  No  line  had  been  drawn  to  mark  off  the 
east  or  the  west.  The  character  of  a  crusade  had  been  bestowed  upon  these  explora- 
tions and  discoveries  by  the  bestowal  of  papal  blessings  and  indulgences.  The  nations 
appealed  to  Pope  Alexander  VI.  In  the  then  confused  condition  of  geographical  knowl- 
edge, where  and  how  could  a  line  be  drawn?  It  was  Columbus  that  gave  this  mystic 
line  that  preserved  the  peace  of  nations. 

On  his  first  voyage,  on  September  13th,  just  a  month  before  land  was  discovered, 
Columbus,  who  had  watched  incessantly  the  magnetic  needle  and  its  variations  in  those 
unknown  seas,  and  to  whom  the  mysteries  of  heaven  and  earth  then  centered  in  that 
little  magnet,  observed  that  the  needle  ceased  for  a  moment  to  vibrate,  and  pointed  to 
the  true  north.  This  mysterious  meridian  was  west  of  the  Island  of  Flores.  Immedi- 
ately the  mystery  was  solved.  The  east  and  the  west  were  separated  by  a  mystic  line. 
When  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  came  to  divide  the  unknown  world  between  the  maritime 
nations,  after  the  return  of  Columbus  to  Europe  in  the  following  year,  the  critical 
embarrassment  of  the  situation  was  relieved  through  the  remarkable  discovery  by 
Columbus  of  the  line  of  no  variation  of  the  needle,  and  this  line,  by  a  singular  coinci- 
dence, passed  from  pole  to  pole  without  touching  the  land,  and  without  dividing  an  island. 
From  these  facts  resulted  the  celebrated  bull  of  demarkation,  issued  by  Pope  Alexander 
VI.,  on  May  3,  1493.  Now  for  the  first  time  an  east  and  a  west  were  recognized  and 
demarkated.  The  line  was  accepted.  Afterward  diplomacy  of  jealous  nations  effected  a 
change  of  the  papal  line  farther  to  the  west.  Under  this  change  Portugal  acquired  the 
immense  empire  of  Brazil;  but  for  this  change  Spain  would  have  preserved  her  claim  to 
the  New  World  entire.  The  bull  of  demarkation  served  the  great  purpose  of  preserving 
peace.  Neither  the  Pope  nor  Columbus  would  ever  consent  to  change  it.  Columbus,  on 
his  death-bed,  inserted  a  clause  in  his  will  repudiating  the  new  line,  which  had  cost 
Spain  the  loss  of  more  territory  than  she  now  owns  on  the  earth,  and  she  then  solemnly 
reaffirmed  the  original  line  of  no  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle  as  the  true  fine 
which  God  had  established  to  separate  the  eastern  and  the  western  hemispheres. 

The  mission  and  character  of  a  man  who  achieved  so  much,  relying  solely  on  his 
genius  and  on  heaven,  are  marked  out  and  sustained  by  every  word  1  have  said  of  h  is 
humble  origin,  his  poverty,  his  maritime  education,  his  studies,  his  correspondence  with 
learned  men,  his  personal  bearing,  appearance,  and  magnetism,  his  profound  sense  and 
practice  of  religion,  the  broaching  of  his  new  theory  of  the  earth,  his  appeals  to 
nations,  his  inflexible  maintenance  of  it,  his  prophecy  of  the  result,  the  prophecies  of 
sacred  Scripture,  the  apostolic  character  which  he  infused  in  the  enterprise,  his  dedica- 
tion of  all  to  the  conversion  of  heathens,  and  the  redemption  of  Jerusalem,  his  poverty 
in  the  midst  of  grandeur,  his  wrongs  and  his  sorrows,  the  bestowal  of  another's  name 
upon  the  world  he  had  discovered,  the  ingratitude  of  his  king,  and  now,  the  contrast, 
the  reverse  current  of  honor  and  praise,  which  the  world  unites  in  bestowing  upon  his 
memory. 

Columbus  foresaw  and  predicted  much;  and  much  that  he  predicted  was  fulfilled. 
Errors,  of  detail  in  so  vast  a  field  of  new  ideas,  undertakings,  and  results,  in  which  he 
was  the  pioneer,  enhance  the  grandeur  of  his  real  achievement.  His  promise  to  lead 
Christian  Europe  with  its  missionaries  to  the  boundless  empires  of  Oriental  potentates, 
which  would  embrace  the  Faith,  has  been  more  than  realized  by  the  rise  and  growth  of 
Christian  empires  and  republics  in  the  world  which  he  discovered.  His  offer  to  carry  mis- 
sionaries to  the  mythical  Christian  prince  of  the  Orient,  the  Prester  John,  wio  tradi- 


28  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

tion  said  had  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome  in  the  middle  ages  to  ask  Christian  missionaries, 
has  been  realized  in  the  many  delegations  of  the  red  men  sent  to  ask  that  Catholic 
priests  be  sent  among  them,  and  by  the  acceptance  of  the  Faith  of  the  black  gowns,  by 
the  Indian  tribes  of  North  and  South  America. 

Let  us  recall  the  first  visit  of  the  Catholic  missionary  to  the  Indians  of  this  Slate, 
in  whose  great  and  justly  proud  metropolis  we  are  assembled  this  day  to  honor  Colum- 
bus. It  was  the  famous  Jesuit  black  gown,  Father  Marquette.  When  he  saluted  the 
chief  and  his  tribe  they  called  out  the  word  Illinois.  The  meaning  of  the  Indian  name 
Illinois  is,  "We  are  men."  Well  does  this  name  describe  the  present  men  of  Illinois,  and  of 
Chicago,  our  hosts,  who  have  given  us  such  a  welcome  to  this  Catholic  Congress. 

When  Father  Marquette,  with  the  mute  but  appealing  symbol  of  the  cross, 
announced  his  mission  to  the  Illinois  Indians,  Hiawatha,  in  the  language  of  our  poet 
Longfellow,  said: 

Beautiful  is  the  sun,  oh  strangers. 

When  you  come  so  far  to  see  us ; 

Never  bloomed  the  earth  so  gayly. 

Never  shone  the  sun  so  brightly 

As  to-day  they  shine  and  blossom 

When  you  came  so  far  to  see  us ! 

Then  Father  Marquette  made  answer  to  the  chief: 

Peace  be  with  you,  Hiawatha, 
Peace  be  with  you  and  your  people. 
Peace  of  prayer,  and  peace  of  pardon, 
Peace  of  Christ  and  joy  of  Mary. 

So,  too,  was  the  prophecy  of  Columbus  answered  and  fulfilled  by  the  touching 
appeal,  which,  after  the  establishment  of  our  independence  as  a  nation,  the  Catholics  of 
this  country  made  to  Rome  for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop  and  for  missionaries  to  be 
sent  to  the  infant  Republic,  and,  by  the  action  of  Rome,  in  appointing  to  the  exalted 
position  of  first  bishop  an  American  priest  in  the  person  of  John  Carroll,  the  patriarch 
of  Catholicism  in  America,  and  by  the  growth  of  that  august  hierarchy  which  he 
founded,  and  which  is  now  composed  of  seventeen  archbishops,  in  one  of  whom  we 
recognize  with  pride  the  worthy  bearer  of  the  princely  honors  of  the  Roman  cardinalate, 
whose  august  body  is  completed  by  an  eighteenth  archbishop  in  the  person  of  the  dis- 
tinguished papal  delegate;  of  seventy-five  bishops,  two  archabbots,  and  ten  abbots,  and 
of  nearly  ten  thousand  priests,  all  carrying  before  them  the  very  cross  which  Columbus 
vas  the  first  to  plant  in  American  soil.  He  promised  popes  and  kings  that  his  dis- 
coveries would  lead  to  the  spread  of  the  Catholic  Faith  among  millions  of  human 
beings;  look  around  you  and  see  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise  in  nearly  one  hundred 
millions  of  Catholics  in  North  and  South  America.  If  the  southward  flight  of  birds  had 
not  induced  Columbus  to  change  his  course  to  the  south,  he  would  have  landed,  first  of 
all,  on  the  soil  of  our  own  Republic,  where  there  now  worship  before  the  cross  which  he 
brought  over  the  Atlantic  fourteen  millions  of  Catholics,  true  and  loyal  6ons  of  the 
Church;  yes,  fourteen  millions  of  Catholics,  represented  here  and  now  in  this  hall  by 
their  appointed  delegates,  assembled  in  the  second  Catholic  Congress  of  America,  in 
honor  of  the  name,  the  virtues,  the  achievements,  in  recognition  of  the  exalted  charac- 
ter and  mission  of  Christopher  Columbus. 

Asa  fitting  pendant  to  Dr.  Clarke's  beautiful  paper,  and  also  as  being  in 
line  with  the  subject  matter  of  "  The  Columbian  Jubilee,"  may  well  appea/ 
here  a  paper  by  Miss  Mary  J.  Onahan  of  Chicago,  on 

"ISABELLA    THE    CATHOLIC." 

Ideals  are  the  great  exemplars  of  the  world.  Inasmuch  as  men  and  women 
have  high  ideals,  inasmuch  as  they  have  lived  up  to  them,  insomuch  have  they  been 
great,  insomuch  have  they  been  good,  insomuch  have  they  been  glorious. 

That  the  ideal  of  womanhood  which  called  to  Isabella  in  the  15th  century  was 
a  great  and  a  high  one,  and  her  life  with  but  few,  if  any,  missteps,  gradually  evolved 
toward  it,  this  many  biographers  have  shown,  but  it  remains  for  the  Catholic  biographer 
■>o  prove  that  this  ideal,  inasmuch  as  it  was  great  and  good  and  glorious,  was  the  logical 
outcome  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  which  was  her  heritage.  If  she  wras  pure  in  an  age  of 
impurity,  if  she  was  brave  in  an  age  of  cowardice  and  oppression,  if  she  was  womanly 
when  the  type  of  womanhood  was  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  she  w-as  all  of  these 
things  because  of  the  Faith  that  was  in  her,  for  by  it  she  patterned  her  life,  by  it  she 
must  be  judged  now. 

The  19th  century  hugs  to  itself  many  delusions,  none  greater  than  the  claim  that  it 
has  discovered  woman — woman  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  Adam  all  the  way! 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  29 

iEsop's  fly,  perched  upon  the  axle  of  the  chariot  wheel,  and  exclaiming  exultingly, 
"  What  a  dust- 1  do  raise!"  is  but  the  symbol  of  a  universal  weakness.  The  present  age 
always  seems  the  most  glorious  age,  its  progress  the  most  wonderful  progress,  and  its 
importance  far  greater  than  the  importance  of  any  that  has  preceded  it.  So  in  the 
glamor  of  this  delusion  we  almost  forget  that  woman  was  a  power,  morally,  socially, 
and  intellectually,  in  the  15th  century  as  in  the  19th;  that  the  doors  of  universi- 
ties were  open  to  her,  that  she  not  only  studied  but  actually  taught  within  their  sacred 
precincts.  In  the  University  of  Salamanca  she  had  a  place,  and  when  Isabella,  on 
ascending  the  throne,  set  about  the  acquisition  of  the  Latin  tongue  it  was  to  a  woman 
that  she  turned  to  be  her  tutor.  Nay,  we  can  go  further  back  than  the  15th  century, 
and  to  other  parts  of  the  world  than  Spain.  In  Italy,  in  the  13th  century,  a  noble  Flor- 
entine lady  contended  for  and  won  the  palm  of  oratory  in  a  public  contest  in  that  city 
with  learned  doctors  from  all  over  the  world.  Further  back  still,  in  the  4th  century,  St. 
Catherine,  of  Alexandria,  standing  in  the  great  hall  of  the  royal  palace,  in  the  presence 
of  the  emperor  and  the  assembled  notables  of  his  kingdom,  converted  by  her  learning 
and  her  wisdom  the  forty  venerable  philosophers  arrayed  against  her.  Plato  and 
Socrates  this  modest  Christian  maiden  could  quote,  and  she  knew  by  heart  the  books  of 
the  Sibyls. 

The  age  of  woman  dates  not  from  the  19th  century,  but  from  the  1st;  is  due  not  to 
modern  civilization,  not  to  modern  progress,  but  to  something  grander  than  either— the 
mainspring  of  both — the  religion  of  Christ  and  of  his  Church. 

The  greatness  of  Isabella  need  not,  therefore,  be  looked  upon  as  something  extraor- 
dinary and  unaccountable.  She  was  merely  the  logical  outcome  of  the  country  in 
which  she  was  born  and  the  religion  in  which  she  was  bred — Catholic  Spain  of  the  15th 
century.  To  understand  the  character  of  Isabella  it  is  necessary  to  at  least  outline  the 
political  condition  of  the  country  in  which  she  lived.  Spain  in  the  15th  century  was 
not,  as  it  afterward  became,  one  of  the  greatest  powers  of  Europe.  It  was  divided  into 
petty  states,  of  which  Navarre,  Aragon,  and  Castile  were  the  most  important.  Overrun 
by  the  Moors  and  tyrannized  by  numerous  factions  of  the  nobility,  no  wonder  that  Spain 
seemed  to  many  a  desolated  country.  And  yet  there  was  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  of  that 
modern  shibboleth — democracy — among  its  people  which  no  other  country  of  Europe 
could  match.  "  We,  who  are  each  of  us  as  good  as  you,"  ran  the  oath  of  allegiance 
taken  by  the  Spanish  Cortes  to  a  new  king,  "  and  who  are  all  together  more  powerful 
than  you,  promise  obedience  to  your  government  if  you  maintain  our  rights  and  liberties, 
but  not  otherwise." 

It  was  over  this  people  that  Isabella  was  to  reign.  The  court  of  her  brother,  King 
Henry  of  Castile,  was  a  debauched  one,  the  king  himself  a  coward  and  worse,  who 
drained  the  already  meager  royal  treasury  by  his  luxury  and  extravagance.  Fortun- 
ately for  Isabella  her  youth  was  not  destined  to  be  spent  amid  the  glitter  and  frivolity 
of  the  court.  Like  the  great  majority  who  in  after  life  have  attained  distinction,  her 
youth  was  almost  a  solitary  one — for  solitude  vivifies  the  powers  of  the  soul.  Until  the 
age  of  sixteen  she  lived  in  retirement  in  the  little  town  of  Arevalo,  under  the  care  of  her 
mother.  Here  this  young  Castilian  girl  came  to  understand  the  great  heritage  of  her 
Faith  and  the  responsibilities  which  were  involved  in  her  future. 

The  Church  in  the  15th  century  was  indeed  in  the  shadow  of  desolation,  though 
here  and  there  were  wondrous  bursts  of  light.  The  See  of  Rome  was  in  continual 
turmoil,  sometimes  usurped  by  men  whose  lives  only  proved  the  gospel  saying  that  the 
"gates  of  hell  could  not  prevail  against  it."  But  however  weak  and  unworthy  her 
rulers,  the  Church  of  Christ  was  still  there  unfolding  the  wisdom  of  her  Founder.  Her 
great  sacraments  were  being  administered,  sacraments  which  change  the  whole  meaning 
of  life.  Isabella,  too,  received  them;  her  young  soul  pondered  over  them;  her  young 
heart  grew  richer  and  sweeter  in  their  graces.  Baptism,  marking  with  its  chrism  the 
child  of  a  king  and  the  child  of  a  peasant  as  equal  before  God,  inheritors  of  the  Most 
High;  penance,  teaching  that,  no  matter  how  great  the  sin,  how  despairing  the  sinner, 
the  mercy  of  God  is  greater;  confirmation,  making  of  him  a  soldier  valiant  and  true;  the 
Holy  Eucharist  outrivaling  in  the  estimate  it  puts  upon  man  all  the  theories  of  the 
most  ultra  of  optimists,  outshining  their  wildest  dreams.  These  and  the  other  great 
sacraments  of  the  Church  were  the  heritage  of  this  young  Spanish  princess  in  the  15th 
oentury,  as  they  are  the  heritage  of  so  many  other  young  souls  here  and  now  in  America, 
and  all  over  the  world  in  the  19th. 

Religion  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  soul.  It  vivifies,  colors,  gives  strength  and  light 
and  beauty.  (The  inner  spirit  of  religion  is  more  than  an  intellectual  question — it  is  a 
question  of  conduct,  of  self-government.)  This  inner  spirit  of  religion,  of  law,  perme- 
ated the  whole  life  and  character  of  Isabella.     The  Faith  that  had  been  handed  down 


30  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

to  her  from  ages,  the  faith  for  which  saints  had  lived,  and  martyrs  had  died — it  was  her 
failh,  too.  It  rilled  her  soul  with  radiance,  it  made  life  great,  full  of  meaning,  sublime. 
When  the  girl  became  a  woman  her  hand  was  sought  in  marriage  by  numerous  suitors. 
She  was  present  with  her  brother  at  an  interview  with  King  Alphonso  of  Portugal, 
who  sought  her  hand,  but  neither  threats  nor  entreaties  could  induce  her  to  accede  to 
a  union  so  unsuitable  from  the  disparity  of  their  years.  The  Marquis  of  Calatrava,  a 
fierce  and  licentious  nobleman,  next  pressed  his  claim,  whereupon  Isabella  shut  herself 
up  in  her  room  and,  abstaining  from  food  and  sleep,  implored  heaven  to  save  her  from 
the  dishonor  of  such  a  union.  Among  her  other  suitors  were  the  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
infamous  forever  under  the  title  of  Richard  III.,  and  the  Duke  of  Guienne,  brother  of 
Louis  XI.,  of  France.  They  were  all  of  them  unsuccessful.  For  once  old  heads  and 
young  hearts  were  in  unison.  Statecraft,  as  well  as  youthful  preference,  pointed  to  Fer- 
dinand of  Aragon.  The  superior  advantages  of  a  connection,  which  should  be  the  means 
of  uniting  the  people  of  Aragon  and  Castile,  were  indeed  manifest.  Yet  Isabella  was 
too  true  a  woman  to  be  moved  to  so  important  a  step  by  purely  political  reasons.  She 
dispatched  her  chaplain  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Aragon,  and  when  he  returned 
with  the  report  that  the  Duke  of  Guienne  was  a  feeble,  effeminate,  watery-eyed  prince 
and  that  Ferdinand  on  the  other  hand  was  possessed  of  a  comely  figure,  a  graceful  de- 
meanor, and  a  spirit  that  was  up  to  everything,  Isabella  was  not  slow  to  decide.  She 
resolved  to  give  her  hand  where  she  felt  that  she  could  give  her  heart.  Owing  to  the 
intrigues  of  King  Henry  and  his  persistent  efforts  to  thwart  the  marriage,  the  lovers 
were  obliged  to  resort  to  subterfuge.  Disguised  as  a  mule  driver,  Ferdinand  set  out  at 
the  dead  of  night  from  the  court  of  Aragon  accompanied  by  a  half-dozen  of  his  follow- 
ers, supposed  to  be  merchants,  while,  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  Castilians,  another 
cavalcade  proceeded  in  a  different  direction  with  all  the  ostentation  of  a  public 
embassy,  from  the  court  of  Aragon  to  King  Henry.  Ferdinand  waited  on  the  table,  took 
care  of  the  mules,  and  in  every  way  acted  as  servant  to  his  companions.  In  this  guise, 
with  no  oiher  disaster  save  that  of  leaving  at  an  inn  the  purse  which  contained  the 
funds  for  the  expedition,  Ferdinand  arrived  late  at  night  at  one  of  Isabella's  strong- 
holds, cold,  faint,  and  exhausted. 

On  knocking  at  the  gates  the  travelers  were  saluted  with  a  large  stone  rolled  down 
from  the  battlements,  which  came  within  a  few  inches  of  Ferdinand's  head,  and  would 
doubtless  have  put  an  end  once  and  for  all  to  his  romantic  enterprise.  Expostulations 
were  followed  by  explanations;  when  the  voice  of  the  prince  was  recognized  by  friends 
within  great  was  the  rejoicing,  and  trumpets  proclaimed  the  arrival  of  the  adventurous 
bridegroom.  Arrangements  were  at  once  made  for  a  meeting  between  the  royal  pair. 
Ferdinand,  accompanied  by  only  four  of  his  attendants,  was  admitted  to  the  neighbor- 
ing city  of  Valladolid,  where  he  was  received  by  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  con- 
ducted to  the  apartment  of  his  mistress.  Courtly  parasites  had  urged  Isabella  to 
require  some  act  of  homage  from  Ferdinand  in  token  of  the  inferiority  of  the  crown  of 
Aragon  to  that  of  Castile,  but  with  true  womanly  dignity  she  refused  to  do  so.  She 
never  forgot  that  she  was  a  woman  even  though  a  queen,  and  would  not  allow  a  sign  of 
inferiority  from  one  who  was  to  be  her  husband.  The  interview  lasted  two  hours.  Fer- 
dinand was  at  this  time  eighteen  years  of  age,  Isabella  a  little  older.  His  complexion 
was  fair  though  bronzed  by  constant  exposure  to  the  sun;  his  eye  quick  and  bright. 
He  was  active  of  frame,  vigorous  of  muscle,  invigorated  by  the  toils  of  war  and  the 
exercises  of  chivalry,  and  one  of  the  best  horsemen  in  the  kingdom.  His  voice  was 
sharp  and  decisive,  save  when  he  wished  to  carry  a  point.  Then  his  manners  were  cour- 
teous, even  insinuating.  Isabella  was  a  little  above  the  middle  size,  her  blue  eyes 
beamed  with  intelligence,  her  hair  was  light,  inclining  to  red,  her  manners  dignified  and 
modest. 

When  the  preliminaries  of  the  marriage  were  adjusted,  so  great  was  the  poverty  of 
the  parties  that  they  had  to  borrow  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  ceremony.  But 
in  spite  of  all  opposition,  in  spite  of  such  humiliating  obstacles,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
were  married  on  October  19,  1469,  in  the  presence  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  the 
Admiral  of  Castile,  and  all  of  the  nobility  that  espoused  the  cause  of  the  youthful  pair. 

The  first  few  years  of  married  life  were  uneventful,  but  on  the  death  of  the  king,  in 
1474,  and  the  accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  country  was  plunged  into  the 
war  of  the  succession.  The  royal  pair  had  refused  from  the  beginning  to  be  put  in  lead- 
ing-strings by  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  the  haughty  prelate,  disgusted  with  treat- 
ment to  which  he  had  not  been  accustumed,  withdrew  from  their  court  and  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  unfortunate  Joanna,  boasting  that  "  he  had  raised  Isabella  from  the 
distaff  and  he  would  send  her  back  to  it  again."  The  death  of  the  King  of  Aragon 
at  this  time  called  Ferdinand  to  the  throne,  thus  uniting  the  two  crowns.     It  would  be 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  31 

useless  to  dwell  upon  this  long  and  stormy  period.  At  one  time,  indeed,  all  parties  were 
so  worn  out  by  the  war  that  the  King  of  Portugal,  who  had  been  affianced  to  Joanna, 
offered  to  resign  all  claims  to  the  throne  of  Castile  upon  the  cession  of  certain  provinces. 
Ferdinand  and  his  ministers  were  willing  to  accede  to  his  proposal,  but  Isabella  proudly 
replied  that  "  she  would  not  consent  to  the  dismemberment  of  a  single  inch  of  Castile." 
After  a  struggle  of  nearly  five  years,  a  treaty  was  at  last  arranged,  the  King  of  Portugal 
resigned  his  pretentions  to  the  throne,  Joanna  entered  a  convent,  and  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  relieved  from  the  pretentions  of  ambitious  rivals,  were  allowed  to  turn  their 
attention  to  the  internal  welfare  of  their  kingdom. 

One  of  their  first  acts  was  to  reform  the  laws,  to  prohibit  the  adulteration  of  money, 
and  to  gradually  lessen  the  overbearing  power  of  the  nobility  by  the  elevation  of  the 
Cortes.  On  certain  days  of  the  week  the  king  and  queen  presided  personally  at  the 
court  of  justice,  and  so  prompt  and  so  just  were  their  decisions,  that  it  came  to  be 
said  that  it  was  more  difficult  and  more  costly  to  transact  business  with  a  stripling  of  a 
secretary  than  with  the  queen  and  all  her  ministers. 

There  are  many  stories  told  of  Isabella's  promptness  and  heroism  in  the  presence  of 
danger.  When  news  was  brought  to  her  of  the  revolt  of  the  city  of  Segovia,  she  at  once 
mounted  her  horse  and,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  her  followers,  effected  an  entrance 
through  one  of  the  gates.  Riding  direct  to  the  citadel,  where  the  tumult  was  at  its 
height,  she  demanded  of  the  enraged  populace  the  cause  of  the  insurrection. 

"  Tell  me  what  are  your  grievances,"  said  she,  "  and  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to 
redress  them,  for  I  am  sure  what  is  for  your  interest  must  also  be  for  mine  and  for  that 
of  the  whole  city." 

Such  conduct  won  the  respect,  admiration,  and  love  of  her  subjects.  The  insurrec- 
tion was  put  down  and  the  mob  dispersed,  shouting  "  Long  live  the  queen." 

One  of  the  stumbling-blocks  of  the  biographer  in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  is  the  inquisition.  Volumes  have  been  written  about  it — they  need  scarcely  be 
added  to.  Primarily  a  political  rather  than  a  religious  institution,  as  Prescott,  a  Prot- 
estant authority,  says,  it  had  origin  partly,  it  is  true,  in  a  misguided  zeal,  but  far  more 
largely  in  avarice  and  greed.  It  was  aimed  at  the  Jews,  whose  position  in  Spain  had 
long  been  a  humiliating  one,  the  outcasts  of  society,  but  whose  wealth  excited  the 
cupidity  of  the  nobles. ,  To  hold  Isabella  responsible  for  the  injustices  of  the  inquisition 
would  be  as  absurd  as  to  blame  Washington  for  the  evil  of  slavery,  as  absurd  as  to 
expect  in  the  15th  century  the  enlightenment  of  the  19th.  All  history  is  a  record  of 
progress  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  from  weakness  to  strength,  from  bondage  to 
freedom.  The  history  of  the  Moors  in  Spain,  the  recital  of  the  splendors  of  their  stately 
capital  of  Grenada  and  of  its  gradual  overthrow,  and  of  the  subversion  of  the  Arabian 
empire  in  Europe  is  a  more  alluring  subject.  Irving  has  dwelt  upon  it  in  his  own 
picturesque  and  fascinating  style.  The  Moors  were  as  fierce  and  terrible  in  battle  as 
they  were  luxurious  and  effeminate  in  peace.  Cordova,  with  its  narrow  streets  that 
seemed  to  whisper  nightly  of  strange  adventures,  its  lofty  houses  with  turrets  of 
curiously  wrought  larch  or  stone,  its  marble  fountains  and  white  columned  mosques, 
its  airy  halls  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  the  orange,  the  olive,  and  the  pomegranate — 
all  this  has  a  peculiar  fascination  for  the  student  and  the  traveler. 

In  these  wars  with  the  Moors,  as  in  all  other  wars,  Ferdinand  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  while  Isabella  directed  the  internal  arrangements  of  the  kingdom, 
and  supplied  the  sinews  of  battle.  She  held  herself,  indeed,  ever  in  readiness  to  go  to 
the  front,  and  in  some  cases  was  called  by  her  husband  to  do  so  when  the  spirits  of  the 
soldiers  were  flagging,  and  he  wished  to  infuse  new  ardor  into  the  struggle.  She  always 
responded  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  and  it  was  due  to  her  wisdom  that  many  reforms 
in  camp  life  were  instituted.  She  was  the  first  to  establish  what  were  then  known  as 
"  queen's  hospitals"— tents  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  She  was,  in  the  words  of  Pres- 
cott, "  the  soul  of  this  war,"  and  her  ever-present  motive  was  zeal  for  religion.  When 
the  army  lay  encamped  before  Grenada,  she  appeared  on  the  field  superbly  mounted 
and  dressed  in  complete  armor;  she  visited  the  different  quarters  and  reviewed  the 
troops.  Everywhere  she  aided  the  king  by  her  wise  counsel,  her  consummate  manage- 
ment, and  her  inalienable  purpose.  In  1492  Grenada  fell,  and  with  it  the  Moslem  em- 
pire of  Spain. 

The  traveler  can  still  see  the  rocky  eminence  in  the  Alpuxarras  from  which  the  Moor- 
ish king  took  his  last  farewell  of  the  scenes  of  his  departed  greatness,  as  the  gleaming 
turrets  of  Grenada,  crowned  with  the  victorious  ensigns  of  Spain,  faded  in  the  distance. 
The  spot  is  called  to  this  day  the  "  Last  Sign  of  the  Moor." 

1492  brings  us  the  most  important  event  in  the  reign  of  Isabella,  the  discovery  of 
America.  HowT  Columbus  had  vainly  importuned  his  native  city  of  Genoa,  had  sought 
33 


3?  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  aid  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  all  the  weary,  fruitless  years  that  passed  waiting  at 
the  court  of  Spain,  and  how  finally,  in  direst  poverty  and  despair,  he  sought  at  the  con- 
vent of  La  Rabida  for  food  and  drink  for  himself  and  his  little  son— all  this  there  is  no 
need  to  tell.  The  first  astronomer  who  advanced  the  theory  that  the  stars  were  worlds 
like  our  own  was  probably  met  with  no  more  incredulity  than  the  Genoese  visionary, 
who,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  Spanish  court,  pleaded  for  this  land  of  the  Western 

His  learning,  we  are  told,  took  all  by  surprise,  but  it  convinced  few.  Isabella  alone, 
who  from  the  first  seems  to  have  been  favorable  to  him,  was  won  by  his  enthusiasm,  and 
when  there  was  some  question  of  the  means  necessary  to  equip  the  ships,  royalty 
declared  that  she  assumed  the  undertaking  for  her  own  crown  of  Castile,  and  was  ready  to 
pawn  her  jewels  if  the  funds  in  the  treasury  were  found  inadequate.  Thus  did  the 
belief  of  a  Franciscan  monk  and  the  unfaltering  enthusiasm  of  a  woman  prevail  over 
the  arguments  of  men  of  science  and  the  incredulity  of  statesmen.  No  need  to  tell  of 
that  voyage,  the  three  small  ships  setting  out  so  dauntlessly,  guided  by  one  who  had  a 

dauntless  heart — 

Over  the  wide  unknown 

Far  to  the  shores  of  Ind, 
On  through  the  dark  alone. 

Like  a  feather  blown  by  the  wind; 
Into  the  West  away. 

Sped  by  the  breath  of  God, 
Seeking  the  clearer  day 

Where  only  his  feet  have  trod. 

Beautiful  as  are  those  lines  they  scarce  equal  in  grandeur  and  simplicity  that  sen- 
tence of  Columbus,  written  in  his  log-book:  "  To-day  we  sailed  westward,  which  was 
our  course." 

Woman's  faith,  called,  until  proved,  woman's  credulity,  once  more  rose  triumphant, 
and  Isabella  has  no  fairer  crown  than  that  woven  by  her  trusted  and  valiant  admiral. 
"  In  the  midst  of  the  general  incredulity,"  wrote  Columbus,  "  the  Almighty  infused 
into  the  queen,  my  lady,  the  spirit  of  intelligence  and  energy,  and  whilst  everyone  else 
was  expatiating  only  on  the  inconvenience  and  cost,  her  highness,  on  the  contrary, 
'approved  it,  and  gave  it  all  the  support  in  her  power." 

Religious  zeal  had  dictated  the  war  against  the  Moors;  religious  zeal  urged  Isabella 
to  sanction  the  seemingly  hopeless  voyage  of  Columbus,  and  when  these  voyages  were 
crowned  with  success  her  first  solicitude  was  the  welfare  of  the  benighted  and  helpless 
natives.  In  view  of  Isabella's  known  principles  and  her  many  stringent  measures,  it  is 
a  little  singular  that  her  attitude  on  the  subject  of  slavery  of  the  Indians  should  ever 
be  questioned.  When  the  most  pious  churchmen  and  enlightened  statesmen  of  her 
time  could  not  determine  whether  it  was  or  was  not  lawful  and  according  to  the 
Christian  religion  to  enslave  the  Indians;  when  Columbus  himself  pressed  the  measure 
as  apolitical  necessity,  and  condemned  to  slavery  those  who  offered  the  slightest  opposi- 
tion to  the  Spanish  Invaders,  Isabella  settled  the  matter  according  to  the  dictates  of 
her  own  merciful  and  upright  mind.  She  ordered  that  all  the  Indians  should  be  con- 
veyed back  to  their  respective  homes,  and  forbade,  absolutely,  all  harsh  measures 
toward  them  on  any  pretense.  Her  treatment  of  Columbus  was  equally  generous. 
When,  owing  to  various  mistakes  and  misunderstandings,  the  reaction  set  in  against 
him,  and  he  was  sent  to  Spain  in  irons,  Isabella  indignantly  ordered  that  he  be  set  free  at 
once,  and  herself  sent  him  the  money  to  come  in  state  and  honor  to  her  court.  He  came 
accordingly,  "  not  as  one  in  disgrace,  but  richly  dressed,  and  with  all  the  marks  of  rank 
and  distinction.  Isabella  received  him  in  the  Alhambra,  and  when  he  entered  her 
apartment  she  was  so  overpowered  that  she  burst  into  tears  and  could  only  extend  her 
hand  to  him.  Columbus  himself,  who  had  borne  up  firmly  against  the  stern  conflicts  of 
the  world  and  had  endured  the  injuries  and  insults  of  ignoble  men,  when  he  beheld  the 
queen's  emotion  could  no  longer  suppress  his  own ;  he  threw  himself  at  her  feet  and  for 
some  time  was  unable  to  utter  a  word  for  the  violence  of  his  tears  and  sobbings." 

It  was  under  her  special  protection  that  he  set  sail  on  his  fourth  voyage,  from  which 
Isabella  did  not  live  to  see  him  return. 

The  uses  of  suffering!  They  have  often  been  dwelt  upon;  possibly  they  can  never 
be  learned  by  hearsay.  As  a  queen,  Isabella  attained  the  greatest  glory;  as  a  mother 
she  was  called  upon  to  endure  the  deepest  sorrow.  The  anguish  of  a  father's  or  mother's 
heart  at  the  loss,  the  ruin  of  a  loved  child — that,  indeed,  must  be  something  that  only 
they  who  have  felt  in  all  its  anguish  and  all  its  bitterness  can  ever  fathom.  While  her 
husband  was  engaged  in  his  brilliant  wars  in  Italy,  and  the  great  captian,  Gonsalvo  de 
Cordova,  was  daily  adding  new  glories  to  the  crown  of  Spaia;  while  the  fame  of  that 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  33 

great  prince  of  the  church,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  was  spreading  throughout  Europe,  Isa- 
bella's life,  clouded  by  domestic  misfortune,  began  gradually  to  decline.  One  after 
another  her  children  had  been  taken  from  her  by  death  and  by  misfortune  worse  than 
death.  Her  only  son,  Don  John,  died  three  months  after  his  marriage.  Her  favorite 
daughter  and  namesake  lived  but  a  year  after  her  nuptials  with  the  King  of  Portugal, 
and  their  infant  son,  on  whom  were  founded  all  the  hopes  of  the  succession,  survived 
her  but  a  few  months.  Isabella's  second  daughter,  Joanna,  married  to  Philip,  Prince  of 
the  Netherlands,  became  insane,  and  there  can  be  no  sadder  history  than  that  of  her 
youngest  child,  Donna  Catalina,  memorable  in  history  as  Catherine  of  Aragon. 

These  and  other  misfortunes  clouded  Isabella's  years.  When  she  felt  the  end  to  be 
not  far  distant  she  made  deliberate  and  careful  disposition  of  her  affairs.  Even  on  a 
bed  of  sickness  she  followed  with  interest  the  affairs  of  her  kingdom,  received  dis- 
tinguished foreigners,  and  took  part  in  the  direction  of  affairs. 

"  I  have  come  to  Castile,"  said  Prosper  Colonna  on  being  presented  to  King  Ferdi- 
nand. "  to  behold  the  woman  who  from  her  sick-bed  rules  the  world." 

There  was  no  interest  in  her  kingdom,  her  colonies,  or  her  household  that  she 
neglected.  In  her  celebrated  testament  she  provided  munificently  for  charities,  for 
marriage  portions  to  poor  girls,  for  the  redemption  of  Christian  captives  in  Barbary. 
Patriotism  and  humanity  breathed  in  its  very  line— she  warned  her  successor  to  treat 
with  gentleness  and  consideration  the  natives  of  the  New  World  added  to  Spain;  warned 
them  also  never  to  surrender  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar. 

"  By  her  dying  words,"  says  Prescott,  "  she  displayed  the  same  respect  for  the  rights 
tind  liberties  of  the  nation  that  she  had  shown  through  life,  striving  to  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  her  benign  administration  to  the  most  distant  and  barbarous  regions  under  her 
sway." 

The  woman  whom  life  had  not  daunted,  death  could  not  dismay.  On  the  26th  of 
November,  1504,  Isabella  ihe  Catholic  breathed  her  last,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  her 
age,  and  thirteenth  of  her  reign.  She  had  ordered  that  her  funeral  be  of  the  simplest, 
and  the  sum  saved  by  this  economy  be  distributed  in  alms  among  the  poor;  that  her 
remains  be  buried  in  the  Franciscan  Monastery  in  the  Alhambra  of  Grenada,  in  a  grave 
level  with  the  ground  and  trodden  down,  and  that  her  name  be  engraved  on  a  flat 
tombstone.  "But,"  she  added,  "should  the  king,  my  lord,  prefer  a  sepulcher  in  some 
other  place,  then  my  will  is  that  my  body  be  transported  and  laid  by  his  side,  that  the 
union  we  have  enjoyed  in  this  world,  and  through  the  mercy  of  God  may  hope  again 
for  our  souls  in  heaven,  may  be  represented  by  our  bodies  in  the  earth." 

True  queen  and  true  woman  she  had  proved  herself  through  life,  true  queen  and 
true  woman  she  proved  herself  in  death.  The  Catholic  Church  is  not  ashamed  of  the 
ideal  in  womanhood  that  it  presents — an  ideal  that  it  has  upheld  for  centuries,  an  ideal 
that  is  still  shining  as  a  new-risen  star  serene  and  beautiful  in  the  summer  sky.  The 
queenly  scepter  of  Isabella  was  laid  aside,  the  womanly  frame  had  long  since  crumbled 
into  dust,  but  the  Church  of  which  she  was  so  valiant  a  daughter,  the  Church  that  crowns 
her  with  that  fairest  of 'her  titles,  is  not  dead.  It  lives.  The  light  of  the  eternal  is  in  its 
eyes,  life-blood  courses  in  its  veins,  its  strong  arm  reaches  out  now  as  it  did  in  old  Castile 
to  the  peasant  in  his  hut,  to  the  queen  upon  her  throne.  It  stands  to-day  as  it  stood 
nineteen  hundred  years  ago — logical,  strong,  consistent,  serene.  It  is  all  of  these  things 
and  more.     It  is  dowered  with  immortality. 

Therefore  we  hail  not  merely  one  of  the  many  myrrad  of  its  daughters,  but  we  hail 
the  religion  that  made  Isabella  possible — the  religion  of  the  future,  the  religion  that 
was  taught  by  Christ  himself  in  the  purple- crowned  hills  of  Galilee. 

One  more  paper  from  the  first  day's  proceedings  is  so  important  to  the 
American  Catholic  as  to  demand  admission  to  these  pages.  Its  full  title  is: 
"  The  Relations  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  the  Social,  Civil,  and  Political  life 
of  the  United  States."  It  was  furnished  and  read  by  a  distinguished  Mary- 
land lawyer  and  soldier,  Mr.  E.  H.  Gans  of  Baltimore.  Let  us  condense  the 
title  into 

CATHOLICITY     AND     THE     STARS     AND     STRIPES. 

In  this  Columbian  year  all  Americans  are  meeting  together  to  celebrate  the  glories 
of  the  Republic.  Within  a  domain,  continental  in  its  vast  expanse,  has  been  worked  out 
on  a  stupendous  scale  the  experiment  of  popular  government,  and  now,  after  a  ee"tury 
of  trial,  we  assemble  together  to  show  the  world  how  successful  that  experiment  has 
been. 


34  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  palpable  evidences  of  our  material  prosperity  lie  all  about  us.  Would  you  have 
a  portrayal  of  our  boundless  wealth,  our  diversified  and  inexhaustible  resources,  the 
marvelous  results  of  our  inventive  skill,  our  triumphs  over  matter,  go  to  yonder  White 
City.  Within  its  walls  will  be  received  impressions  more  vivid  than  those  which  any 
tongue,  however  eloquent,  can  create.  m 

Material  prosperity,  however,  does  not  make  a  nation  truly  great,  nor  is  it  the  true 
measure  of  its  success.  There  are  many  things  in  a  nation's  life  more  important  than 
its  wealth  and  power.  It  is,  therefore,  meet  and  proper  that  the  spiritual  and  moral 
forces  which  move  and  control  this  great  confederation  of  States,  should  receive  atten- 
tion, and  of  these  forces  none  is  more  deserving  of  examination  than  the  gentle,  benign, 
all-prevailing  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

We  Catholics,  sons  of  the  republic,  come  to  her  in  her  hour  of  triumph  to  say,  All 
hail!  to  recall  with  pride  the  share  which  our  forefathers  had  in  establishing  her  insti- 
tutions, and  the  equally  important  share  we  have  in  maintaining  them  in  their  integrity, 
and  making  them  permanent.  Yet  'tis  passing  strange  that  though  we  yield  to  no  set, 
or  class  of  men  in  our  loyalty  to  free  government,  there  are  those,  and  the  number  is 
not  inconsiderable,  who  would  fain  make  it  appear  that  we  are  not  true  and  loyal  citi- 
zens; that  there  is  something  in  our  belief  inimical  to  the  spirit  of  American  institu- 
tions; that  we  are  a  transplanted  foreign  growth  not  indigenous  to  the  American  soil. 
The  Catholic  Church,  they  say,  is  a  powerful,  compact  organization,  the  most  wonderful 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  through  which  its  absolute  ruler,  sitting  upon  his  throne  by 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  exerts  an  influence,  which,  if  unchecked,  will  change  the  ordin- 
ary channels  of  our  national  life  and  subvert  our  liberties.  These  false  notions,  often 
boldly  proclaimed,  but  more  frequently  insidiously  disseminated  through  the  commun- 
ity, are  gradually  melting  away  under  the  sunlight  of  the  truth.  They  broke  out  into 
overt  acts  of  violence  during  the  feverish  malignity  of  knownothingism,  and  even  at  this 
time  hold  potent  sway  over  a  large  number  of  our  fellow-citizens.  There  is  an  abund- 
ance of  arrogance  in  these  pretensions.  They  are  born  and  nourished  by  an  ignorance 
of  the  nature  of  the  Church,  and  by  false  conceptions  of  the  true  spirit  of  our  American 
institutions.  Their  pet  theories  are,  forsooth,  the  only  American  theories,  and  their 
methods  the  exclusive  American  methods.  All  who  oppose  them  are  un-American. 
America,  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name!  It  is  time  to  strip  the  mask 
from  these  pretenders,  and  here  in  the  full  brightness  of  this  centennial  celebration  to 
show  the  true  relations  between  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  political,  civil,  and  social 
institutions  of  the  United  States. 

We  come  in  no  apologetic  attitude.  It  was  to  the  genius  and  bold  intrepidity  of  a 
Catholic  navigator  that  we  owe  the  discovery  of  this  continent.  The  bones  of  Catholic 
Americans  whitened  every  battlefield  of  the  Revolutionary  War;  Catholic  Americans 
bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  establishment  of  our  institutions,  and  the  names  of  noble 
Catholics  have  from  that  time  to  the  present  been  woven  in  our  national  traditions. 
We  stand  not  upon  the  defensive.  We  claim  that  a  man  may  not  only  be  a  Catholic 
and  a  true  American  citizen,  but  that  if  he  is  a  good  Catholic  he  is  the  best  and  most 
loyal  of  citizens. 

The  Church  has  no  direct  relations  with  any  special  form  of  civil  government. 
Forms  of  government  are  the  creations  of  man.  The  organization  of  the  Church  comes 
from  God  himself.  Her  empire  is  over  the  soul  and  the  conscience;  her  power  a  moral 
not  a  physical  power.  Her  kingdom  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  and  not  of  this  world.  Her 
mission  of  saving  souls  is  a  mission  to  the  whole  of  humanity,  and  wonderfully  is  her 
organization  adapted  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  her  Divine  Pounder.  Being  for  the 
whole  race,  she  is  Catholic  in  space.  She  takes  to  her  bosom  the  duskiest  inhabitants  of 
wildest  Africa,  the  dwellers  on  Asiatic  plains,  the  Siberian  exile,  the  people  of  cultivated 
Europe,  as  well  as  the  free  American  citizen.  Under  no  form  of  government  is  she 
a  stranger.  The  Church  is  the  direct  representative  of  God  himself,  and  she  is  at  home 
wherever  she  finds  a  beating  human  heart. 

Being  for  the  whole  race,  she  is  Catholic  in  point  of  time.  She  has  seen  the  begin- 
nings of  all  the  modern  civilized  governments  of  the  world,  has  witnessed  their  rise, 
their  various  mutations,  and  their  development  to  the  present  time.  She  alone  stands 
immutable,  unchangeable.  The  empire  of  to-day  may  be  the  republic  of  to-morrow. 
The  Church  lives  among  them  all,  always  the  same  and  the  same  to  all  men.  She  speaks 
to  prince,  emperor,  and  king,  as  well  as  to  the  people,  and  with  the  same  voice.  Before 
her  altars  there  is  no  recognition  of  nationalities.  A  man  becomes  subject  to  her  min- 
istrations not  as  an  Englishman,  Russian,  or  American,  but  as  a  man,  a  member  of  the 
whole  human  race.  Of  other  church  organizations,  some  ally  themselves  to  the  State 
and  become  part  and  parcel  of  the  civil  power,  as  in  England  and  Russia;  others  finding 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  35 

their  home  among  the  people  of  certain  countries.  All,  however,  receive  their  special 
tendencies  from  their  environment,  are  of  necessity  local  and  national,  and  change  in 
character  from  time  to  time  with  the  changes  in  their  surroundings.  The  Catholic 
Church  alone  embraces  the  entire  world  and  works  out  her  mission  irrespective  of  the 
special  forms  of  civil  government  under  which  her  members  may  live. 

Such  being  the  nature  and  such  being  the  mission  of  the  Church,  it  is  idle  to  talk 
of  her  being  foreign,  or  un-American.  These  terms  can  be  properly  applied  to  those 
organizations  which  have  for  their  subject  a  participation  in  the  civil  government  of 
the  world. 

What,  then,  are  the  relations  of  the  Church  to  our  free  institutions?  How 
does  she  exert  her  influence?  In  what  way  and  by  what  means  does  she  affect  our 
national  life? 

The  fundamental  idea  of  the  American  system  of  government  is  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people.  It  is  a  government  by  the  people  and  for  the  people.  The  halls  of  Congress 
and  of  the  State  legislatures  are  rilled,  not  with  rulers,  but  with  representatives  of  the 
people,  elected  to  carry  out  their  ideas.  Many  political  problems  are  of  necessity  solved 
by  the  independent  judgment  of  our  legislators,  but  the  voice  of  public  opinion  is  very 
potent,  and  the  decisions  of  all  great  questions  are  ultimately  referred,  by  means  of  fre- 
quent elections,  to  the  people  themselves.  They  make  and  unmake  administrations. 
Their  policy  ultimately  becomes  the  policy  of  the  Government.  They  are  in  reality  the 
rulers;  the  true  sovereigns.     They  govern  themselves. 

This,  however,  is  true  of  every  democracy.  There  are  found  in  the  American  sys- 
tem other  principles  almost  as  fundamental  as  the  one  we  have  been  considering.  We 
have  a  number  of  independent  sovereign  States  and  one  sovereign  nation.  The  powers 
which  may  be  exercised  by  the  States  and  those  vested  in  the  general  Government  of  the 
United  States  are  carefully  defined  by  written  constitutions.  To  each  government  the 
people  have  surrendered  only  so  much  of  their  sovereign  power  as  in  their  judgment  is 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  law  and  order,  and  the  promotion  of  the  general  wel- 
fare; and  against  the  abuse  of  power  they  have  protected  themselves  by  constitutional 
restrictions.  No  one  can  be  deprived  of  life  or  liberty  except  by  the  judgment  of  his 
peers,  nor  can  his  property  be  taken  from  him  except  by  due  process  of  law.  Freedom 
of  speech  and  of  the  press,  the  right  of  peaceable  assemblage  to  petition  government  for 
a  redress  of  grievances  are  all  fully  secured. 

Above  all,  the  Government  can  not  pass  any  law  respecting  the  establishment  of 
religion,  nor  interfere,  in  any  way,  with  the  liberty  of  every  man  to  worship  God  in 
such  manner  as  his  conscience  may  dictate.  The  powers  of  Government  are  divided. 
The  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  departments  are  made,  as  far  as  possible,  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  and  a  number  of  other  checks  and  balances  are  provided,  to 
the  end  that  power  shall  not  be  abused.  Not  only  is  provision  made  against  the  abuse 
of  power  on  the  part  of  the  Government  but  the  people  are  protected  aginst  them- 
selves. No  sudden  gusts  of  folly  or  passion,  even  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign  people 
can,  except  by  revolution,  make  an  absolute  change  in  the  Government.  Under  con- 
stitutional methods,  such  a  change  can  only  be  worked  out  in  such  a  length  of  time  as 
will  necessarily  bring  with  it  reflection,  and  the  sober  second-thought. 

The  American  people  secure  to  themselves  their  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  by  creating  their  own  governments,  managing  them  by  their  own 
representatives,  and  limiting  their  powers  by  fundamental  constitutions.  Their  liber- 
ties are  secured  by  law,  the  law  is  framed  and  executed  by  the  Government,  and  the 
Government  is  controlled  by  the  people.  Each  man  is  the  equal  of  his  fellows,  and  has 
an  equal  voice  in  the  conduct  of  affairs. 

This  is  the  American  system.  The  relations  of  the  Church  are  therefore  discerned 
in  her  relations  to  the  sovereign  people;  the  influence  she  exerts  is  over  their  minds 
and  hearts,  and  she  affects  our  national  life  by  fashioning  and  directing  their  lives  and 
conduct. 

Instead  of  finding  in  the  potent  moral  influence  which  the  Church  exerts  over  the 
people,  anything  hostile  to  American  institutions,  the  candid  inquirer  will  discover  in 
her  teaching  and  tendencies,  the  strongest  safeguards  for  their  permanence  and 
stability. 

Government,  according  to  the  Catholic  Church,  is  ordained  by  God.  Man  is  by 
nature  social  and  must  live  with  his  fellows.  This  is  impossible  without  government, 
and,  therefore,  Government  is  a  necessity  found  in  the  nature  of  man  as  created  by  God 
himself.  We  further  believe  that  no  man  has  any  inherent  right  to  rule  over  other  men, 
but  every  nation,  taken  as  a  collective  moral  unit,  is,  by  the  very  fact  that  it  is  a  nation, 
sovereign.  This  sovereign  nation  has  the  right  to  establish  any  form  of  civil  government 


36  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

which  in  its  judgment  is  best  suited  to  its  character,  and  the  form  of  government  it 
adopts  is  sacred  by  the  ordinance  of  God.  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher 
powers,  for  there  is  no  power  but  from  God,  and  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God. 
Therefore  he  that  resisteth  the  power  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  they  that 
resist  purchase  damnation  to  themselves." 

The  Catholic  is  loyal  to  the  American  Government  as  the  legitimately  established 
Government  of  this  country,  not  because  it  is  stronger  than  he.  His  principle  of  sub- 
mission is  not  founded  upon  the  idea  of  physical  force,  nor  yet  entirely  upon  his  strong 
affection  and  patriotic  predilection  for  its  great  principles.  He  is  of  necessity  loyal 
because  it  is  his  conscientious  duty.  Patriotism  is  sublimated  and  becomes  a  religious 
obligation.  Is  there  anything  un-American  in  this?  Does  this  teaching  not  tend  to 
make  good  citizens? 

If.  now,  instead  of  viewing  the  citizen  distributively  as  a  subject  of  the  Government, 
bound  by  the  virtue  of  obedience,  we  examine  his  relations  to  the  Government  as 
one  of  the  sovereign  people,  we  will  perceive  the  influence  of  the  Church  to  be  equally 
salutary. 

Among  the  many  evils  that  afflict  the  body  politic,  none  is  more  deplorable  than 
the  frequency  with  which  the  will  of  the  people  is  frustrated  by  frauds  in  elections. 
This  has  been  the  theme  of  statesmen  and  political  moralists  for  years.  All  recognize 
it  as  the  cancer  which  has  been  insidiously  attacking  the  very  life  of  the  nation,  which 
must  be  eradicated  and  destroyed  if  we  are  to  preserve  our  institutions  in  their  integ- 
rity. Not  only  in  the  less  important  elections  held  in  the  various  States  has  this  malign 
influence  been  felt  but  upon  the  larger  field  of  our  national  elections  it  succeeded,  at 
one  time,  in  placing  the  title  of  an  American  President  in  doubt,  and  in  bringing  the 
whole  country  to  the  verge  of  civil  war. 

Here,  again,  the  Church  intervenes.  According  to  the  teachings  of  our  learned  doc- 
tors, the  political  sovereignty  which  is  vested  in  a  nation,  under  the  ordinance  of  God, 
is  vested  so  that  it  may  be  used  for  the  public  good.  When  the  people  exercise  sovereign 
political  power,  they  exercise  a  power  given  to  them  by  the  Great  Sovereign,  in  trust, 
and  they  are  bound,  in  conscience,  to  perform  the  trust  honestly  and  with  fidelity. 

Thus  another  fundamental  political  duty  is  transformed  into  a  conscientious  obli- 
gation. As  no  man  can  be  disloyal  to  his  Government  and  be  a  good  Catholic,  so  no  man 
can  be  a  good  Catholic  and  pollute  the  ballot-box,  or  in  any  other  way  fraudulently 
frustrate  the  electoral  of  the  people.     Is  this  teaching  un-American? 

But  our  American  liberty,  our  freedom,  the  theme  of  our  song  — 

My  country,  'tfs  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty. 
Of  thee  I  sing- 
How  can  an  organization  so  despotic  as  the  Church  of  Rome  be  anything  but  hostile  to 
this,  the  very  essence,  and  spirit  of  our  institutions?    To  what  lengths  do  not  prejudice 
and  ignorance  go  in  binding  the  eyes  of  men! 

All  the  hostile  criticism  of  the  Church  in  this  connection  rests  upon  an  ignorance 
of  the  real  nature  of  liberty.  To  many  unreflecting  persons  the  word  liberty  conveys 
no  meaning  except  the  absence  of  restraint,  the  absence  of  any  external  power  controll- 
ing the  will.  For  them  liberty  means  the  right  to  follow  their  own  wills  and  inclina- 
tions without  let  or  hindrance.  This,  however,  is  the  liberty  of  anarchy;  it  is  not 
American  liberty.  We  are  free  American  citizens,  but  may  we  do  as  we  like?  May  a 
man  make  a  contract  with  me  and  break  it  with  impunity?  May  he  injure  my  prop- 
erty, infringe  my  rights  or  personal  security,  obstruct  the  conduct  of  my  legitimate 
business,  steal  my  goods,  put  a  bullet  through  my  brains,  without  becoming  a  subject 
for  the  coercive  discipline  of  the  law  of  the  land? 

Men  can  not  live  together  without  government,  and  government  implies  the  restrain- 
ing influence  of  law. 

These  ideas  are  not  only  obvious  but  they  are  very  American.  We  find  them 
incorporated  in  the  fundamental  charters  of  our  liberties. 

In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we  read:  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident:  That  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness. That  to  secure  these  rights  governments  are  established  among  men."  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  declares  in  its  preamble:  "  We,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  order  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do 
ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America." 

Therefore,  by  the  highest  American  authority,  for  the  security  of  liberty,  govern, 
ments  are  instituted  and  constitutions  ordained  and  established.  Liberty  can  not  exist 
without  the  authority  of  government  exercised  under  the  forms  of  law. 


/ 
WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  37 

But  in  order  that  the  citizen  may  possess  true  civil  liberty  it  is  not  only  necessary 
that  he  should  be  subject  to  government  but  that  government  itself  be  restrained 
within  proper  limits;  it  must  be  just,  and  its  sole  end  must  be  the  public  good.  Any 
other  governmental  control  would  be  despotic  and  tyrannical.  It  was  to  secure  this 
kind  of  government  that  all  the  efforts  of  our  forefathers  were  directed.  Therefore  it 
was  that  they  insisted  upon  a  government  by  the  people  themselves  through  their  own 
representatives;  for  this  reason  the  government  agencies  which  they  created  were  lim- 
ited in  their  powers  by  written  constitutions  and  fundamental  rights  reserved  to  the 
people;  to  secure  this  end  the  powers  were  divided  into  independent  departments — the 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial.  In  a  word,  all  the  checks,  balances,  and  guaran- 
tees devised  by  the  framers  of  our  Government  were  intended  to  secure  to  the  people 
subjection  to  no  laws  except  those  which  were  necessary  for  the  peace,  good  order,  and 
prosperity  of  society. 

This  is  the  true  spirit  of  our  American  freedom,  and  by  no  one  has  it  been  more 
aptly  and  eloquently  portrayed  than  by  Daniel  Webster,  the  great  expounder  of  the 
constitution.  "All  governments  of  law,"  he  says,  "must  impose  numerous  limitations 
and  qualifications  of  authority,  and  give  many  positive  and  qualified  rights.  In  other 
words,  they  must  be  subject  to  rule  and  regulation.  This  is  the  very  essence  of  free 
political  institutions.  The  spirit  of  liberty  is  indeed  a  bold  and  fearless  spirit,  but  it  is 
also  a  sharp-sighted  spirit;  it  is  a  cautious,  sagacious,  discriminating  intelligence.  It  is 
jealous  of  encroachment,  jealous  of  power,  jealous  of  man.  It  demands  checks;  it  seeks 
for  guards;  it  insists  upon  securities;  it  entrenches  itself  behind  strong  defenses  and 
fortifies  itself  with  all  possible  care  against  the  assaults  of  ambition  and  passion.  It 
does  not  trust  the  amiable  weakness  of  human  nature,  *  *  *  and  therefore  it  will 
not  permit  power  to  overstep  its  prescribed  limits.  Neither  does  it  satisfy  itself  with 
flashy,  illegal  resistance  to  illegal  authority.  Far  otherwise.  It  seeks  for  duration  and 
permanence.  This  is  the  nature  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  this  is  our  liberty  if  we 
will  understand  and  preserve  it.'" 

The  Catholic  Church  welcomes  this  bright  and  beautiful  spirit  and  takes  it  to  her 
bosom,  for  she  is  its  foster-mother.  With  tender  devotion  she  nourished  it  through  the 
ages.  Time  and  again  she  has  rescued  it  from  the  bold  and  impious  hands  of  despots, 
whether  they  be  kings,  emperors,  or  a  popular  majority  enthroned. 

With  the  Church  God  is  the  only  true  sovereign  and  the  source  of  all  power.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  people  comes  from  him  as  a  sacred  trust,  and  they  must  use  this 
trust  for  the  common  weal.  The  Government  called  into  being  by  them,  in  framing  and 
executing  laws,  is  but  echoing  the  voice  of  the  King  of  Kings,  and  obedience  to  it  is 
obedience  to  God  himself.  Here  is  the  ultimate  sanction  for  human  liberty.  Subjec- 
tion to  no  power  except  the  power  of  the  ruler  of  the  universe — this  is  true  liberty. 
Therefore,  a  government  executing  laws  dictated  by  passion,  personal  ambition,  greed  of 
power,  working  injustice,  is  acting  beyond  the  scope  of  its  delegated  power,  and  has  not 
the  sanction  of  God  for  its  acts.  It  is  tyrannical.  And  the  Church  condemns  it  and  its 
authorized  acts.  Power  without  justice  she  will  not  recognize;  and  authority  without 
right  she  deems  usurpation. 

Our  American  institutions  are  justly  deemed  the  masterpiece  of  human  contrivance 
for  securing  government  which  will  rule  only  for  the  general  good.  It  is  in  accomplish- 
ing precisely  this  result  that  the  Church  uplifts  and  sustains  the  weak  hands  of  men  by 
her  potent  spiritual  power. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  been  the  only  consistent  teacher  and  supporter  of  true 
liberty.  In  her  spiritual  empire  over  the  souls  of  men,  she  is  a  government  instituted 
and  established  not  by  the  people,  but  by  God  himself.  She  administers  laws;  but  they 
are  divine,  not  human  laws.  Her  children  are  protected  from  spiritual  despotism,  not 
by  checks  and  balances  of  human  contrivance,  but  by  the  sacred  guarantee  of  the  divini 
promise. 

"Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

The  Catholic  Church  has  been  divinely  commissioned  to  teach  the  truth;  and  in 
the  possession  of  the  truth  her  children  alone  have  true  liberty.  "  You  shall  know  the 
truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  With  the  Church  spiritual  freedom,  as  well 
as  civil  liberty,  is  possible  only  with  law  and  government. 

Is  there  anything  un-AmCrican  in  this?  Is  it  un-American  to  say  that  there  is  a 
sovereignty  higher  than  the  sovereignty  of  the  people?  Is  it  un-American  to  acknowl- 
edge subjection  to  God  and  his  government?  The  American  people  are  not,  we  think, 
prepared  to  admit  that  atheism,  infidelity,  and  irreligion  are  part  and  parcel  of  their 
institutions. 


38  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Would  that  our  countrymen  should  cease  to  view  the  Church  through  the  dark 
mists  of  prejudice.  If  they  observed  her  in  the  bright  sunlight  of  truth  they  would 
see  her  sitting  at  the  very  fountains  of  their  liberties,  as  their  guardian  spirit,  preserv- 
ing those  bright  and  sparkling  waters  from  pollution  as  they  flow  in  copious  and  salu- 
tary streams  over  the  green  fields  of  our  national  life. 

But  from  whatever  point  of  view  we  examine  our  American  institutions,  we  find 
them  supported  and  sustained  by  the  Church.  The  Declaration  of  Independence 
declares  that  "  All  men  are  created  equal,"  and  we  have  endeavored  to  follow  the  spirit 
of  this  truth  in  the  practical  workings  of  our  Government,  by  giving  each  man  an 
equal  voice  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  by  discouraging  ranks  and  classes,  and  by  insist- 
ing upon  perfect  equality  before  the  laws  of  the  land. 

But  this  democratic  equality  pales  into  insignificance  before  that  taught  and  prac- 
ticed by  the  Church.  In  her  eyes  all  men  are  equal  because  they  are  sons  of  the  same 
father  and  joint  heirs  of  the  heavenly  treasure.  Before  her  altars  there  is  no  precedence. 
The  laborer  on  our  streets  has  for  companion  the  financial  magnate;  the  lowly  negro, 
once  a  slave  in  our  Southern  clime,  bows  with  reverential  awe  side  by  side  with  the 
refined  chivalric  scholar,  once  his  master,  and  the  magdalen  mingles  her  penitential 
tears  with  the  chaste  aspirations  of  the  white-souled  nun.  No  such  real  democracy  can 
be  found  outside  the  Catholic  Church. 

And  finally  let  us  consider  another  striking  characteristic  of  our  American  life.  We 
boast  with  proper  pride  of  the  equal  opportunity  which  every  citizen  has  of  rising,  by 
his  own  merit,  to  the  highest  position  of  political  honor.  Any  poor  boy  in  the  land  has 
the  right  to  aspire  to  a  seat  in  Congress,  to  be  vested  with  the  judicial  ermine,  or, 
supreme  honor,  to  occupy  the  chair  once  filled  by  Washington.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  our  institutions  which  will  make  the  fulfillment  of  his  ambitious  hopes 
impracticable.  The  brightest  names  in  our  history  are  the  names  of  men  who  have 
sprung  from  an  origin  as  lowly  as  his  own. 

Do  you  find  this  characteristic  in  Holy  Church?  Listen  to  the  language  of  an 
eloquent  Spaniard,  a  priest,  one  who  lived  in  a  monarchy  and  whose  only  practical 
acquaintance  with  democracy  was  with  the  democracy  of  the  Church. 

"  In  the  Church,  birth  and  riches  are  of  no  importance.  If  you  are  a  man  of  high 
merit,  untarnished  by  misconduct,  and  at  the  same  time  conspicuous  by  your  abilities, 
your  knowledge — that  is  enough — she  will  look  upon  you  as  a  great  man;  will  always 
show  you  extreme  consideration,  and  treat  you  with  respect,  and  listen  to  you  with 
deference.  And  since  your  brow,  though  sprung  from  obscurity,  is  radiant  with  fame, 
it  will  be  held  worthy  to  bear  the  mitre,  the  cardinal's  hat,  or  the  tiara." 

The  history  of  the  Church  justifies  this  beautiful  tribute.  Many  of  our  most 
famous  pontiffs  have  been  taken  from  the  lowly  walks  of  life,  whilst  the  college  of  car- 
dinals have  received  their  honors,  as  a  rule,  solely  as  the  award  of  merit  and  learning. 

Have  we  not  in  this  beautiful  land  of  ours  a  most  notable  illustration  of  this  truth? 
An  humble  American  citizen  is  an  august  prince  of  the  Church.  In  him,  we  have  a  liv- 
ing proof  of  all  the  principles  for  which  we  have  been  contending.  He  is  a  prince  of  the 
Church;  and  yet,  is  he  hostile  to  democracy?  He  is  infused  with  the  very  quintessence 
of  the  Catholic  spirit;  and  yet,  is  he  not  the  very  incarnation  of  true  Americanism?  He 
knows  full  well  the  plenitude  of  his  spiritual  power,  its  high  dignity,  its  wonderful 
authority;  and  yet,  is  he  an  enemy  of  American  liberty?  The  whole  country  knows 
and  acknowledges,  that  within  the  entire  confines  of  the  Republic  there  is  no  more 
ardent  patriot,  no  more  enthusiastic  supporter  of  our  American  institutions  than  the 
gentle,  modest,  illustrious  James  Gibbons,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

As  the  various  special  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  social  institutions  of  the 
United  States  have  been  selected  as  the  themes  of  other  papers  to  be  read  at  this  Con- 
gress, I  have  deemed  it  best  to  make  them  the  subject  of  no  special  comment.  In  her 
*  relations  to  them  the  constant  aim  of  the  Church,  in  addition  to  the  benevolent  work 
of  alleviating  distress,  is  to  constantly  augment  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the 
f  people.  To  this  end  she  sanctifies  the  home,  inculcates  the  principles  of  justice,  and 
educates  not  only  the  intellectual  but  also  the  moral  and  religious  faculties  of  the  soul. 

An  acute  and  profound  critic  of  our  American  institutions  has  recently  said:  "It 
may  be  thought  that  a  nation  which  uses  freedom  well  can  hardly  have  too  much  free- 
dom; yet  even  such  a  nation  may  be  too  much  inclined  to  think  freedom  an  absolute 
and  all-sufficient  good — to  seek  truth  only  in  the  voice  of  the  majority,  to  mistake  pros- 
perity for  greatness.  Such  a  nation,  seeing  nothing  but  its  own  triumphs,  and  hearing 
nothing  but  its  own  praises,  seems  to  need  a  succession  of  men  like  the  prophets  of 
Israel  to  rouse  the  people  out  of  their  self-complacency,  to  refresh  their  moral  ideas,  to 
remind  them  that  the  life  is  much  more  than  meat  and  the  body  more  than  raiment, 
and  that  to  whom  much  is  given,  of  them  shall  much  also  be  required." 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  39 

We  have  among  us  our  prophets  of  Israel,  divinely  commissioned,  as  were  the  holy- 
men  of  old,  to  guide,  instruct,  ennoble,  and  elevate  the  nation;  and  the  American  people 
will  have  achieved  their  highest  glory  when  they  seek  the  words  of  wisdom  and  truth 
from  their  lips— when  they  voluntarily  submit  to  the  gentle  ministrations  of  the  priests 
and  bishops  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

The  evening  session  of  this  opening  day  resolved  itself  into  something  like 
a  grand  jubilation,  so  eager  were  the  faithful  to  honor  and  to  listen  informally 
to  their  illustrious  Pastors.     The  occasion  was  marked  by  the  following: 

ADDRESS     BY     ARCHBISHOP     P.    J.     RYAN    OF     PHILADELPHIA. 

When  -the  secretary  of  the  Columbian  Congress  informed  me  this  morning  that  I 
was  expected  to  speak  to  you  this  evening,  I  should  not  have  dared  to  slight  you  by  com- 
ing before  you  with  a  few  thoughts  jotted  down,  if  he  had  not  assured  me  that  these 
addresses  were  to  be  informal — that  they  were  not  expected  to  be  prepared  like  the 
papers  of  the  morning;  they  were  to  be  addresses  encouraging  you,  doing  all  that 
would  be  in  our  power  to  explain  to  you,  perhaps  more  in  detail,  the  objects  of  this  great 
Congress.  Therefore  I  come  this  evening  to  speak  to  you  in  an  informal  manner,  possi- 
bly in  a  very  desultory  manner,  but  I  hope  the  words  I  have  to  say  to  you  will  not  be 
antirely  without  fruit.  I  feel  that  I  am  in  my  place  when  speaking  at  this  Columbian 
celebration,  because  I  feel,  as  a  Christian  bishop,  that  the  discovery  of  Columbus  was  a 
triumph  of  Christianity,  because  whoever  will  examine  the  philosophy  of  his  life,  his 
motives  for  action,  will  find  that  the  inspiration  to  spread  Christian  truth  and  with  it 
Christian  civilization,  the  civilization  of  our  day,  the  charity,  the  tenderness,  the  advances 
in  every  direction,  on  the  civilization  of  the  past— that  all  these  came  from  the  deep  relig- 
ious principle  within  his  nature;  and  as  a  Catholic  I  feel  a  just  pride  in  thinking  of  the 
origin  of  this  great  country,  which  is  to  be  in  the  future  so  marvelous  in  its  effects  upon 
human  happiness,  upon  human  progress,  upon  the  intellect  and  the  heart  of  man.  And 
I  remember  that,  warmed  by  Catholic  feeling,  illumined  by  Catholic  faith,  and  clothed 
by  Catholic  love  for  our  Lord,  he  came  here  to  plant  this  civilization,  and  that  he,  the 
navigator  of  Genoa,  came  before  the  pilgrims  from  England,  and  the  Santa  Maria 
arrived  long  before  the  Mayflower. 

I  speak  not  this  in  boasting.  It  would  not  be  his  spirit,  and  on  a  great  occasion 
like  this,  when  all  party  lines  should  disappear,  when  in  that  magnificent  and  uni- 
versal Christianity  we  meet  to  commemorate  this  great  event,  it  is  not  a  sectarian 
feeling,  but  it  is  in  a  Catholic  and  universal  feeling  in  which  I  would  find  sympathy 
even  in  the  non-Catholic  descendants  of  these  great  pilgrim  fathers.  If  we  could 
imagine  him  as  the  patriarch  Jacob  when  he  fell  asleep,  and  between  earth 
and  heaven  there  was  the  luminous  avenue  with  angels  ascending  and  descending:  if 
Columbus,  in  his  weary  journeys  looking  for  the  means  to  prosecute  his  great  dis- 
covery, should  sleep  and  an  angel  of  the  Lord  would  point  out  to  him  the  luminous 
pathway  between  the  Old  and  the  New  World — point  out  the  great  future  to  him,  the 
conversion  to  Christianity  and  civilization  of  the  people  of  the  New  World;  the  cities 
that  should  rise  in  the  future,  the  marvelous  progress,  the  home  for  the  exile  and  the 
persecuted — how  his  heart  would  throb  with  gratitude!  Some  of  the  things  of  which 
he  may  have  dreamed  were  realized  in  his  day.  You  remember  that  he  returned  to 
Spain,  and  when,  with  some  of  the  docile  Indians,  he  appeared  at  the  court  of  Isa- 
bella the  Catholic,  and  when  he  stooped — he,  with  the  royalty  of  intellect  before 
earthly  royalty — with  uplifted  heart,  and  trusting  not  in  the  splendor  of  that  intellect, 
but  in  Him,  the  "light  of  light"  that  had  illumined  it;  when  he  spoke  of  the  New 
World  and  its  possibilities,  physical  and  moral  and  his  heart  glowed  and  his  eyes 
glistened  as  in  inspiration,  and  the  heart  of  Isabella  the  Catholic  went  out  to  the 
glorious  navigator,  and  the  assembled  court  heard  the  words  from  the  distant  land, 
they  all  prostrated  themselves,  and  from  the  palace  chapel  came  the  song  of  the  Te 
Deum,  "  We  Give  Thanks."  As  they  praised  God  in  that  Te  Deum,  it  rang  upon  the 
soul  of  the  navigator  with  a  deeper  significance  than  even  upon  the  soul  of  Ambrose 
and  Augustine,  when  they  sang  it  a  thousand  years  before.  Now  they  could 
sing:  "Thee  Father  Everlasting  all  the  earth  doth  worship,  Thee  the  Holy 
Church  throughout  all  the  world  doth  acknowledge."  This  was  the  beginning  of  his 
consolation,  and  as  he  looks  down  from  glory — for  we  believe,  as  Catholics,  that  the 
dead  take  cognizance  of  the  things  that  occur  upon  the  earth— he  sees  this  country 
advancing  year  after  year  in  physical  advancement,  intellectual  advancement,  religious 
advancement.  And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  particularly  you  members  of  the 
Columbian  Catholic  Congress,  the  Congress  called  after  him,  you  have  to  continue  his 
work,  and  continue  it  in  that  high  order  that  should  most  of  all  please  his  spirit. 


4o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Before  his  time  there  were  two  worlds  —  separated.  Between  them  rolled  the  dark 
ocean,  and  storms,  terrible  storms,  agitated  its  ways.  Monsters  of  the  deep  were  be- 
neath these  waters.  Columbus  united  these  worlds.  In  this  land,  and  for  many  years, 
there  have  been  two  moral  worlds,  separated  by  the  ocean  of  prejudice,  on  which  there 
have  been  storms  of  bigotry  and  hatred,  and  down  among  the  coral  rocks,  down  in  the 
depths  of  the  ocean,  there  have  been  deep  animosities,  wild  spirits,  that  would  separate 
these  two  worlds.  There  is  the  Catholic  world  and  the  non-Catholic  world.  Between 
them  has  rolled  the  ocean  of  prejudice  —  a  dark  ocean.  Hearts  that  ought  to  have 
come  nearer  to  each  other,  hearts  that  God  made  like  each  other,  eyes  that  if  they  only 
looked  into  each  other,  He  would  have  brought  them  together.  It  is  the  mission  of  the 
Catholic  Congress  to  bring  these  two  worlds  nearer  —  to  make  men  understand  each 
other  more  fully,  and  this  mission  you  have  to  act  out,  first  of  all  by  appreciating  the 
great  truth  that  the  non-Catholic  world  is  not  opposed  to  the  Catholic  world  at  all,  but 
to  something  which  it  thinks  is  the  Catholic  world.  The  very  doctrines  on  which  this 
animosity  is  formed  are  doctrines  that  we  reject  as  emphatically,  as  constantly,  as 
indignantly  as  the  non-Catholic  world  could  reject  them.  Therefore,  we  only  ask  to 
be  known. 

The  anti-Catholic  people  had  a  cry,  and  they  have  it  yet,  of  "No  Popery."  We  join  - 
in  it  and  say, "  Know  Popery,"  but  we  spell  the  word  "  k-n-o-w  "  popery.  This  morning,  I 
confess,  I  was  charmed  and  won  over  by  the  admirable  address  of  Mr.  Bonney.  I  know 
no  interest  he  could  have  in  flattering  us;  I  know  from  his  position  and  his  evident 
honesty  that  he  felt  what  he  said.  Seeing  the  initials  of  his  Christian  name,  when  I 
asked  him,  I  had  something  like  a  premonition  of  what  it  might  be,  when  he  told  me 
that  his  name  was  Charles  Carroll,  and  that  he  was  called  after  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton. 

For  over  forty  years  I  have  associated  with  non-Catholics.  I  know  them,  and  I 
know  that  many  of  those  that  are  called  bigots  hate  the  Church  simply  because  they 
hate  tyranny,  because  they  hate  hypocrisy,  because  they  hate  a  number  of 
things  which  they  imagine  are  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  if  they  could  love 
such  a  church,  with  such  a  view  of  it,  they  never  would  be  worthy  of 
receiving  the  True  Faith.  About  a  year  ago  I  was  invited  to  attend  the  annual 
dinner  of  the  descendants  of  the  pilgrim  fathers  in  Scranton,  Pa.  All  there, 
except  the  gentleman  who  accompanied  me,  and  myself,  were  non-Catholics.  I 
was  surprised  at  the  invitation.  I  promised,  however,  as  I  had  to  be  in  the  city  for  a 
ceremony  the  next  day,  to  attend  the  banquet.  I  declined  saying  anything  however, 
until  one  proposed  my  health,  and  when  I  rose  to  speak  I  assure  you  that  not  even  the 
Columbian  Congress  received  me  as  enthusiastically  as  these  children  of  the  pilgrim 
fathers.  There  is  a  world  full  of  principle,  full  of  honesty,  full  of  progress,  full  of 
intelligence,  as  we  look  across  the  water,  separated  from  us,  and  we  should  be 
united  with  it.  And  because  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Congress  are  almost  all 
laymen,  it  is  their  place  so  to  speak  and  act,  to  bring  us  into  contact  more  perfectly 
with  that  world.  They  will  hear  a  layman  when  they  will  not  hear  a  priest.  They 
have  to  meet  the  laymen  in  daily  life,  in  business,  on  many  occasions  when  it  is  impos- 
sible they  should  meet  the  clergy,  and  they  will  have  less  suspicion  of  the  layman,  whom 
they  know  to  be  thoroughly  honest,  open,  and  frank,  than  of  the  priest,  of  whom  they  know 
so  very  little.  Therefore,  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  this  Congress,  it  is  your  great  priv- 
ilege to  do  all  that  you  can  to  explain  to  honest,  open-hearted,  fair-play-loving  Prot- 
estant Americans  that  we  do  not  believe  but  we  anathematize  and  condemn  many  of 
the  things  that  are  laid  to  our  charge,  as  articles  of  our  Faith  or  as  practices  within  the 
Church  of  God.  And  to  do  this  effectually,  through  the  action  of  the  Congress,  it  must  be 
clearly  understood  that  the  Catholic  men  of  this  Congress  are  left  free  by  the  clergy. 
There  are  articles  of  faith,  there  are  essential  practices  of  discipline,  which  can  not  be 
changed,  but  in  the  domain  of  free  opinion,  declared  as  such,  no  angel  stands  at  the  con- 
fines and  says  "  thus  far  and  no  farther."  This  domain  is  immense,  and  to  affect  Ameri- 
can people  the  Catholic  layman  must  be  understood  to  speak,  not  as  our  mouthpieces, 
but  as  free,  intelligent  Catholic  American  laymen. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  great  unitive  power  to  bring  Catholics  and  non-Catholics 
together  is  that  personal  love  for  our  Lord  and  charity  toward  his  suffering  children, 
on  which  both  so  perfectly  agree.  It  is  remarkable  that  when  Christ  sought  a  model  of 
charity  he  selected  not  the  orthodox  Jew,  but  an  heretical  Samaritan,  and  made  him  the 
model  for  Jew  and  Christian  for  all  time.  Let  us  all  meet  in  admiration  and  love  for 
the  great  Founder  of  Christianity — the  God  of  Columbus,  and  the  inspirer  and  sustainer 
of  our  common  Christian  civilization.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  our  greatest  enemies 
are  sin,  that  corrupts  the  heart,  and  ignorance  that  obscures  the  intellect;  and  hence, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  41 

that  only  the  church  bell  and  the  school  bell  can  prolong  the  echoes  of  the"  Liberty- 
Bell."  United  in  love  to  Christ  and  to  our  suffering  brethren  for  his  sake,  and  zealous 
for  the  Christian  civilization  and  true  liberty  which  this  zeal  must  produce,  our  perfect 
union  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

SECOND    DAY. 

Tuesday's  proceedings  were  of  absorbing  interest,  and  began  by  calling  the 
roll  of  delegates  to  the  Congress,  their  officers  for  the  various  dioceses  report- 
ing as  follows: 

LIST    OF    DELEGATES. 

Kansas  City— Chairman,  S.  A.  Hegg;  Vice-President,  Judge  Philip  J.  Henn;  Com- 
mitteeman, John  H.  Walsh. 

Cleveland— Chairman,  W.  A.  Lynch;  Vice-President,  F.  J.  Giebel,  Jr.;  Committee- 
man, C.  X.  Schlaudecker.  ■.«■■,,« 

Fort  Wayne— Chairman,  John  T.  Meig;  Vice-President,  James  Murdock;  Com- 
mitteeman, J.  Ewing.  . 

Vincennes— Chairman,  John  Breen;  Vice-President,  Charles  A.  Kolby;  Committee- 
man, H.  Canthorn. 

Alton— Chairman,  J.  J.  Mclnerney;  Vice-President,  Anton  Binkert;  Committee- 
man, Charles  F.  Degenhardt.  . 

Portland,  Maine— Chairman,  M.  R.  Harngan;  Vice-President,  D.  J.  Calahan;  Com- 
mitteeman, T.  F.  Donahoe. 

Philadelphia— Vice-President,  William  F.  Harrity;  Committee  on  Resolutions,  JYLar- 
tinMalony;  Committee  on  Organization,  Charles  St   Claire. 

New  York— Chairman,  John  D.  Crimmins;  Vice-President,  John  B.  Manning;  Com- 
mitteeman, Victor  B.  Dowling.  Wol,, 

Ogdensburg— Chairman,  John   B.  Riley;  Vice-President,  Very  Rev.  T.  E.  Walsh; 

Committeeman,  E.  Villers.  .  . 

Nashville— Chairman,  William  Hogan;  Vice-President,  Martin  Kelly;  Committee- 
man, Louis  Kittman.  ,-,•,!•        /-I  i-J- 

Denver— Chairman,  E.  L.  Johnson;  Vice-President,  A.   G.  Gilhs;  Committeeman, 
T\    ^   TVTorpison 
'    Mobile-Chairman,  Daniel  S.  Troy;  Vice-President,  Felix  McGill;  Committeeman, 

amLa  Crosse— Chairman,  J.  J.  Cavanaugh;   Vice-President,  Joseph  Boshert;    Com- 
mitteeman, Dr.  Edward  Evans.  ttt    tt  ... 

Brooklyn— Chairman,  John  McCarty;  Vice-President,  W.  Hynes;  Committeeman, 

t>    t    VnrV 

'    Lincoln— Chairman,  J.  J.  Butler;  Vice-President,  F.  J.  Redamacher;  Committeeman, 

AUgLittlenRock— Chairman,  Judge  Murphy;  Vice-President,  John   M.  Gracie;  Com- 

^ttS^flS^Ch2Snf  John  Risse;  Vice-President,  Edward  Carroll;  Committee- 

maUU^Zfi-ChSvman,  Peter  A.  Mahon;  Vice-President,  James  Monaghan;  Com- 

mit^oVd^ffiSj.  J-Phelan;   Vice-President,  P.  Harvan;  Committeeman,  C. 

T'  ^afveston-Chairman,  W.  L.  Foley;  Vice-President,  Joseph  Engelke;  Committee- 

^^r^Cnairmln;  Major  J.  B.  Reid;  Vice-President,  James  R.  Burns;  Committee- 

manChic^go-Chairman,  Charles  Mair;    Vice-President,  General  George  Smith;  Com- 

mlt  D^t^Xwa- Chairman,  Fred  B.  Sharon;  Vice-President,  J.  M.  Galvin;  Com- 

^ZqueiSman,  P.  H.  Donlin;  Vice-President,  Thomas  Connolly;  Committee- 

"'VoncorS-Chalrman,  W.  R.  Geis;  Vice-President,  Charles  L.  Schwartz;  Commit- 

te^lu^SB!owJl-Chairman>Luke  G.Byrne;  Vice-President,  John  A.Kuster;  Com- 
mitteeman,  John  C.  Finerman. 


42  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Salt  Lake  City— Dominick  McGuire. 

Idaho— Chairman,  Christopher  Fahy;  Vice-President,  James  F.  Kane. 

Milwaukee— Chairman,  John  Black;  Vice-President,  P.  V.  Druster;  Committeeman, 

Wheeling— Chairman,  Thomas  Killeen;  Vice-President,  Charles  A.  Wingerter;  Com- 
mitteeman, W.  S.  Foose. 

Indian  Territory— Rev.  D.  I.  Lanslots. 

Arizona Chairman,  D.  J.  Brannen;  Committeeman.  M.  J.  Riordan. 

Wilmington— Chairman,  William  Michael  Byrne;  Vice-President,  J.  Smith  Brennan; 
Committeeman,  Peter  A.  Harty. 

St.  Joseph— Chairman,  Francis  Browne;  Vice-President,  Thomas  F.  Ryan;  Com- 
mitteeman, James  Hogan.  . 

Syracuse— Chairman,  Rev.  Father  Mullaney;  Vice-President,  Francis  Baumer. 

San  Antonio,  Texas  — Chairman,  J.  C.  Diemlann;  Vice-President,  H.  P.  Drought; 
Committeeman,  Edward  Braden. 

St.  Louis— Chairman,  John  J.  Ganahl;  Vice-President,  Richard  C.  Kerns. 

Omaha— Chairman,  Thomas  H.  Dailey;  Vice-President,  John  McCreery;  Commit- 
teeman, J.  C.  Kinster. 

Providence— Chairman,  M.  J.  Harsen;  Vice-President,  M.  Kelly,  M.D.;  Committee- 
man, T.  E.  Maloney. 

Cincinnati— Chairman,  John  Rull;  Vice-President,  J.  H.  Kohmescher;  Committee- 
man, Joseph  P.  Kealy. 

Pittsburg— Chairman,  C.  F.  McKenna;  Vice-President,  W.  S.  Head;  Committeeman, 
T.  J.  Connor. 

Ways  and  Means  Committee  — D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago;  John  B.  Manning,  New 
York;  James  Murdock,  Indiana;  James  Black,  Wisconsin;  Anthony  Kelly,  Minnesota; 
Thomas  C.  Lawler,  Wisconsin;  Martin  Maloney,  Philadelphia. 

Resolutions— T.  A.  Moran,  Chicago;  W.  G.  Smith,  Philadelphia;  O'Brien  K- 
Atkinson,  Michigan;  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Boston;  H.  C.  Semple,  Alabama;  Edgar  H. 
Gans,  Baltimore;  C.  A.  Wingerter,  Wheeling,  W.  Va.;  Dr.  J.  A.  Outherlong,  Louisville; 
Victor  J.  Dowling,  New  York;  Bishop  Ryan,  Buffalo,  and  Bishop  Watterson  of  Columbus. 

BISHOP    WATTERSON'S    ADDRESS. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  do  more  this  morning  than  to  sound  the  keynote  for  the 
discussion  of  the  social  questions  involved  in  the  comprehensive  programme  of  this 
Congress.  That  note  is  found  in  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII.,  and  I  am 
glad  that  his  illustrious  representative,  the  most  reverend  apostolic  delegate,  is  here  to 
bless  and  encourage  the  discussion  by  his  distinguished  presence.  He  is  the  precious 
hostage  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff's  love  for  America  and  the  pledge  of  his  fraternal  solici- 
tude for  our  beloved  country  and  its  institutions.  The  Pope  must  teach  the  truth  to 
the  world,  for  the  world  has  need  of  truth  to  live  and  prosper.  The  lives  of  Leo  the 
Great,  Gregory  the  Great,  Gregory  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  Pius  V.,  and  Pius  IX.  illustrate 
the  marvelous  correspondence  between  the  qualities  of  these  men  and  the  needs  of  their 
peculiar  times. 

Our  present  great  and  glorious  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.,  continues  this  wonderful  har- 
mony. He  guards  the  truth,  natural  and  revealed,  in  all  its  integrity,  as  did  his  glorious 
predecessors;  and  with  exquisite  tact  and  -providential  kindness  he  draws  from  the 
treasury  of  truth  the  teachings  suited  to  the  present  hour.  In  these  times,  when  men 
are  calling  into  question  the  very  principles  on  which  not  only  the  Church  but  society 
itself — individuals,  families,  and  states — depends,  the  special  mission  of  Leo  XIII.  seems 
to  be  to  strengthen  the  foundations  of  the  whole  social  fabric.  By  his  personal  dignity 
and  goodness,  the  practical  wisdom  of  his  teachings  and  the  firmness  of  his  acts,  he  is 
giving  the  world  to  understand  that  the  Pope  is  a  great  thing  in  the  world  and  for  the 
world;  and  intellects  heretofore  rebellious  are  accustoming  themselves  to  think  that,  if 
society  is  to  be  saved  from  a  condition  worse  in  some  respects  than  that  of  pagan  times, 
it  is  from  the  Vatican  the  savior  is  to  come.  Truth  is  the  generous  blood  which,  cours- 
ing through  the  social  body,  gives  it  light  and  energy,  health  and  beauty,  unto  all  the 
ends  for  which  it  was  established  by  the  providence  of  God.  Wherever  truth  is  aban- 
doned or  disregarded,  society  must  suffer,  and  society  is  suffering  to-day  because,  to  a 
large  extent,  it  has  practically  rejected  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity, 
and  substituted  mere  material  and  selfish  interests  as  the  moving  force  in  the  life  of 
individuals  and  nations. 

Behold,  then,  why  Leo  XIII.  is  recalling  to  the  minds  of  men  those  great  bed-rock 
truths,  on  which  the  health  and  life  of  nations  and  society  depend  —  those  truths  that 


T I  'ORLD'S  CO  L  UMBIAN  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES.  4  3 

-made  firui  men  of  conviction  and  steadfast  principles,  and  through  principle  and  con- 
viction, men  of  strong  and  sturdy  natural  and  Christian  character.  It  is  such  men  that 
are  always  needed;  it  is  such  men  that  are  specially  needed  to-day.  Vigorous  in  all  the 
fullness  of  harmoniously  developed  powers,  devoted  to  higher  than  mere  natural  ends, 
alive  to  their  duties  as  well  as  their  rights,  and  ennobled  by  the  love  and  faithful  prac- 
tice of  those  great  principles  of  natural  and  Christian  ethics  which  must  underlie  any 
safe  system  of  social  and  political  economy. 

Leo  XIII.,  like  many  of  his  illustrious  predecessors  in  similar  conditions  of  society, 
is  fulfilling  his  special  mission  by  defending  the  cause  of  the  people  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  avarice  and  injustice,  espousing  the  interests  of  the  masses  against  the  ruthless 
Moloch  of  misused  wealth  and  power,  and  showing  the  shallowness  of  the  social  theories 
and  mere  philosophisms  of  the  day,  while  upholding  at  the  same  time  the  rights  of 
legitimate  authority.  The  rationalists,  materialists,  socialists,  and  other  mere  humani- 
tarians have  been  delivering  natural  reason  itself  to  uncertainties  the  most  poignant,  the 
human  heart  to  irregularities,  and  society  to  disorders,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a 
teaching  without  sound  principles,  and,  therefore,  without  true  morality.  By  awakening 
the  love  of  strong  and  wholesome  principles  in  the  hearts  of  men  capable  of  understand- 
ing, and  inviting  attention  to  the  duties  as  well  as  the  rights  of  men,  in  calling  a  return 
to  those  simple  Christian  truths  on  which  society  was  reformed  by  our  blessed  Lord, 
Leo  XIII.  has  been  doing  a  grand  work,  not  only  for  the  present  but  for  every  future 
generation.  There  is  not  a  question  vital  to  modern  society  that  he  has  not  touched  and 
solved  in  Jhis  great  encyclicals  on  human  liberty,  political  power,  the  Christian  constitu- 
tion of  states,  and  the  condition  of  labor. 

The  whole  world  listens  with  respect  to  his  grand  words,  which  excite  our  appre- 
hension by  revealing  the  mysteries  of  society  and  reassure  us  by  pointing  out  their 
remedies.  Brought  into  close  and  intimate  relation  with  all  conditions  of  mankind,  he 
suggests  the  cure  for  the  evils  of  our  times  and  exhorts  bishops,  priests,  and  people, 
legislatures,  and  other  departments  of  civil  government  to  co-operate  with  him  in  the 
application  of  the  remedies.  He  shows  to-day  what  the  history  of  the  past  can  not  but 
show  to  the  sincere  and  candid  student — that,  as  every  single  family,  which  is  society  in 
its  germ,  and  every  organized  aggregate  of  families,  called  a  state  or  nation,  has  its 
visible  head  for  the  preservation  of  union  and  the  attainment  of  the  ends  of  civil  life, 
so,  to  promote  order  in  society  at  large,  the  very  unity  of  the  human  family  supposes, 
under  the  providence  of  God,  some  visible  and  general  authority  superior  to  every  other 
social  power  that  will  raise  its  voice,  from  pure  and  disinterested  love  of  truth  and 
justice,  against  the  attacks  of  force  and  the  encroachments  of  error  and  passion.  He 
shows  that  the  Papacy  is  this  great  necessity,  this  universal  moral  power  in  the  world, 
the  bond  of  union,  and  the  principle  of  order  in  the  human  race,  fixed  by  the  hand  of 
God  in  the  midst  of  all  society  for  the  good  of  all  society,  revindicating,  wherever  its 
authority  is  recognized,  the  natural  as  well  as  the  Christian  dignity  of  man,  and  main- 
taining the  rights  and  duties  of  individuals  and  nations  in  their  integrity  and  just  and 
-even  balance 

Nor  is  the  Catholic  Church  to  be  ignored  in  this  great  work.  On  the  contrary,  she 
is  to  be  the  most  potent  factor  in  reaching  the  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  by 
all  the  lovers  of  their  kind.  And  you,  Catholic  laymen  and  women,  are  to  have  an 
intelligent  and  active  part  in  bringing  about  the  improvement  of  the  social  system. 
You  are  to  do  it  by  your  good  example;  you  are  to  help  it  in  various  other  ways.  You 
are  to  spread  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII.,  not  only  among  those  of  the 
household  of  Faith  but  also  among  your  brethren  outside  the  pale.  You  are  to  scatter 
them  everywhere;  you  are  to  make  them  known  to  the  people  with  whom  you  are 
brought  into  companionship  in  social  and  business  life,  and  the  seeds  thus  sown  will 
bear  speedy  and  happy  fruitage.  You  are  to  organize  Catholic  workmen  into  associ- 
ations; and,  whether  it  is  better  to  band  them  into  Catholic  associations  under  Catholic 
direction,  or  to  try  to  desecularize  already  existing  associations  and  infuse  into  them 
more  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  is  a  question  that  I  leave  to  the  deliberations  of  this 
Congress. 

There  is  another  thing  that  you  all  must  take  an  active  and  interested  part  in. 
Intemperance  is  one  of  the  great  evils  of  society  to-day.  The  annual  drink  bill  of  the 
United  States  is  said  to  be  $900,000,000,  and  it  is  incurred  for  the  most  part  by  the  work- 
ing people.  And  let  me  say  plainly  here  to-day  that  the  very  first  encouragement  of 
this  work  should  be  given  by  our  bishops  and  our  priests.  For  without  their  active 
interest  and  co-operation,  nothing  will  be  accomplished,  even  if  you  hold  Catholic 
Congresses  from  now  until  the  crack  of  doom. 

Modern  philanthropists  have  been  trying  to  work  out  a  social  combination  by  which 


44  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  are  to  league  together  everywhere  and  thus  contribute  to  the  general  good  of  all 
humanity;  but,  well  meaning  as  they  may  be,  they  must  be  blind  not  to  recognize  in  the 
Catholic  Church  a  society,  ever  ancient  and  ever  new,  independent  and  always  devoted 
to  the  general  good,  true  to  the  spirit  of  patriotism  by  which  we  love  and  serve  our 
country,  and  show  ourselves  ready  to  devote  our  fortunes  and  our  very  lives  to  its 
defense,  and  answering  in  every  point  to  the  needs  of  universal  peace  and  harmonious 
prosperity. 

While  conceding  to  material  progress  an  important  share  in  the  happiness  of  nations, 
she  gives  the  world  to  understand  that  temporal  prosperity  is,  after  all,  but  a  secondary 
element.  She  has  developed  the  moral  and  religious  nature  in  man  by  inspiring  him  with 
self-respect,  charity  for  his  brethren,  reverence  for  the  truth,  love  for  the  beautiful  and  the 
good,  and  a  childlike  submission  to  Almighty  God  and  every  authority  that  represents 
him  here  on  earth.  Such  a  doctrine  does  more  for  the  solid  happiness  of  society  than 
all  the  efforts  of  mere  political  economists  and  humanitarian  philosophers.  Any  plan 
that  leaves  out  these  things,  be  it  otherwise  ever  so  plausible  for  the  improvement  of 
society,  will  be  but  a  temporary  makeshift.  Far  from  reaching  the  root  of  the  evil,  it 
will  only  postpone  the  social  catastrophe  that  is  threatening  the  world. 

In  our  own  beloved  country,  one  of  the  richest  on  the  globe,  evils  are  growing  to  an 
alarming  extent.  Class  is  arrayed  against  class,  labor  -gainst  capital,  and  capital 
against  labor.  The  spirit  of  uni-est  and  discontent  is  stirring  the  masses.  There  is  a 
great  and  crying  injustice  somewhere.  The  true  relation  of  rights  and  duties,  extend- 
ing all  through  the  complicated  elements  of  society,  is  disregarded  or  not  understood. 
The  social  machine  has  lost  its  equilibrium.  How  can  it  be  restored?  For  my  part 
knowing  that  whatever  social  improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  whole  human  race 
has  been  wrought  out  by  the  principles  of  true  Christianity  in  its  action  on  the  human 
heart,  I  have  little  confidence  in  any  other  power.  Civil  legislation  has  done  something, 
and  it  may  do  something  yet,  but  only  when  in  harmony  with  the  Gospel  of  Christian 
love. 

Bring,  then,  from  the  religion  of  Christ,  those  saving  lessons  of  divine  wisdom  and 
goodness  with  which  it  abounds.  Infuse  its  spirit  into  the  hearts  of  men  until,  by  its 
sweet  influence,  it  overmasters  the  avarice  and  selfishness  that  have  made  them  obdu- 
rate and  insensible.  Teach  the  rich  to  love  money  less,  and  men  more,  individual  em- 
ployers and  corporations  to  look  upon  their  employes  not  as  soulless  machines  or  mere 
material  instruments  of  production  and  consumption,  but  to  take  reverend  cognizance 
of  their  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  natures;  unite  men  into  great  trusts  of 
mutual  Christian  love. 

Teach  the  poor  that  while  inequalities  of  condition  and  class  must  exist,  they  are 
to  be  filled  with  the  love  of  their  fellowmen;  they  are  to  be  sensible  of  their  responsi- 
bilities, as  well  as  their  rights,  and  are  not  to  regard  wealth  as  a  good  in  itself,  but  bear 
patiently  the  ills  of  life.  And  if  all  will  learn  the  lesson  in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory, 
Christianity  shall  again  have  occasion  to  exult  in  the  triumph  of  her  principles,  and 
the  world  to  exclaim,  as  in  ancient  days,  "  Behold  how  they  love  one  another! "  Evils 
will  be  remedied  to  a  great  extent,  and  society  will  bear  again  moral  and  religious 
fruits,  and  upon  this  triumph  of  the  future,  Leo  XIII.  will  have  his  powerful  influence. 

Just  as  Bishop  Watterson  had  finished  his  noble  address  the  Most  Rev. 
Apostolic  Delegate,  Mgr.  Satolli,  entered  the  hall,  accompanied  by  His  Grace 
the  Archbishop  of  St.  Paul.  He  was  received  with  vociferous  and  prolonged 
cheering,  in  response  to  which  the  eminent  prelate  addressed  the  Congress  in 
the  Italian  tongue,  his  remarks  being  thus  interpreted  immediately  follow- 
ing, by  Archbishop  Ireland  : 

MGR.    SATOLLl's    ADDRESS. 

I  beg  leave  to  repeat,  in  unmusical  tones,  a  few  of  the  thoughts  that  his  excellency, 
the  Most  Reverend  Apostolic  Delegate,  has  presented  to  you  in  his  own  beautiful  and 
musical  Italian  language.  The  Delegate  expresses  his  great  delight  to  be,  this  morning, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress.  He  begs  leave  to  offer  you  the 
salutation  of  the  great  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.  In  the  name  of  Leo  he  salutes  the  spiritual 
children  of  the  Church  on  this  American  Continent;  in  the  name  of  Leo  he  salutes  the 
great  American  Republic  herself. 

It  is,  he  says,  a  magnificent  spectacle  to  see  laymen,  priests,  and  bishops  assem- 
bled here  together  to  discuss  the  vital  social  problems  which  the  modern  conditions  of 
humanity  bring  up  before  us.    The  advocates  of  error  have  their  congresses,  why  should 


ARCHBISHOP    RIORDAN, 

SAN    FRANCISCO. 
ARCHBISHOP    KATZER, 

MILWAUKEE. 


ARCHBISHOP   SATOLLI, 

WASHINGTON. 


ARCHBISHOP    HENNESSY, 

DUBUQUE, 

ARCHBISHOP    JANSSEN, 

NEW    ORLEANS 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  45 

not  the  friends  and  advocates  of  truth  have  their  congresses?  This  Congress  assembled 
here  to-day  will,  no  doubt,  be  productive  of  rich  and  magnificent  results.  You  have  met 
to  show  that  the  Church,  while  opening  to  men  the  treasures  of  heaven,  offers  also 
felicity  on  earth.  As  St.  Paul  has  said:  "She  is  made  for  earth  and  heaven;  she  is  the 
promise  of  the  future  life  and  the  life  that  is."  All  congresses  are,  so  to  speak,  concen- 
trations of  great  forces.  Your  object  is  to  consider  the  social  forces  that  God  has  pro- 
vided, and  to  apply,  as  far  as  you  can,  to  the  special  circumstances  of  your  own  time  and 
country  these  great  principles. 

The  great  social  forces  are  thought,  will,  and  action.  In  a  congress  you  bring 
before  you  these  three  great  forces.  Thought  finds  its  food  in  truth;  so  in  all  that  you 
do,  in  all  the  practical  conclusions  that  you  formulate,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  they 
must  all  rest  upon  the  eternal  principles  of  truth.  Will  is  the  rectitude  of  the  human 
heart,  and  until  the  human  heart  is  voluntarily  subjected  to  truth  and  virtue,  all  social 
reforms  are  impossible.  Then  comes  action,  which  aims  at  the  acquisition  of  the  good 
needed  for  the  satisfaction  of  mankind;  and  this  again  must  be  regulated  by  truth  in 
thought  and  by  virtue  in  the  human  will.  The  well-being  of  society  consists  in  the 
perfect  order  of  the  different  elements  toward  the  great  scope  of  society.  Order  is  the 
system  of  the  different  relations  of  the  different  elements,  one  to  the  other,  and  these 
relations  to  which  men  are  subject  are  summarized  in  three  words — God,  man,  and 
nature. 

Man  has  first  of  all  his  great  duties  to  God,  which  never  must  be  forgotten.  He 
then  has  his  duties  to  himself  and  to  his  fellowmen;  and,  finally,  he  has  relations  with 
the  great  world  of  nature  over  which  his  action  is  exercised.  From  the  several  con- 
siderations of  these  different  relations  spring  up  the  great  problems  which  at  all  times 
have  vexed  man's  mind — the  great  problems  which  to-day  are  before  us  in  view  of  the 
different  evolutions,  social  and  otherwise,  which  mark  our  modern  needs.  Your  Social 
Congress  has  convened  to-day.  Bear  in  mind  that  there  was  a  first  great  Social  Con- 
gress, which  is  to  be  the  model  of  yours,  which  gave  out  the  principles  which  must 
underlie  your  deliberations.  The  great  Social  Congress,  the  ideal  and  -model  of  all 
others,  was  held  when  Christ,  surrounded  by  the  thousands  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
delivered  his  great  discourse  on  the  mountain. 

There  the  solution  was  given  to  human  problems;  there  were  laid  down  the  vital 
principles.  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  its  justice  and  all  other  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you,"  says  the  good  book.  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God."  Look  up  to 
the  divinity  without  which  man  is  absolutely  at  sea.  Fill  out  first  your  duties  to  God, 
without  the  observance  of  which  other  duties  are  a  name.  Seek  God's  justice  in  your 
relations  one  with  another.  Be  guided  by  the  eternal  law  of  the  Most  High,  and  then 
all  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  Know  God's  truth  and  live  by  God's  justice,  and 
the  peace  and  the  felicity  of  earth  shall  be  yours.  The  same  great  voice  said,  "  Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit;  blessed  are  they  who  thirst  after  justice;  blessed  are  the 
merciful." 

Men  should  not  devote  their  whole  being  and  all  their  energies  to  the  seeking  out 
of  mere  matter.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit " — that  is  free  and  independent  of  the 
shackles  of  mere  matter.  "  Blessed  are  they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  justice  "— 
justice  first  before  self-satisfaction,  before  all  attention  to  one's  personal  wants.  And 
"  blessed  are  the  merciful."  Blessed  are  they  who  know  and  feel  that  they  don't  live 
for  themselves,  whose  hearts  go  out  in  sweetest  mercy  to  all  their  fellows.  History  has 
proven  that  human  reason  alone  does  not  solve  the  great  social  problems.  These 
problems  were  spoken  of  in  the  pre-Christian  times,  and  Aristotle  and  Plato  discussed 
them.  But  pre-Christian  times  gave  us  a  world  of  slavery  when  a  multitude  lived  only 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

There  is  authority  throughout  the  story  of  man  of  a  divine  providential  design. 
Blind  is  he  who  sees  it  not,  and  he  who  studies  it  not  courts  disaster.  It  was  when 
Christ  brought  down  upon  earth  the  great  truths  from  the  bosom  of  his  Father,  that 
humanity  Was  lifted  up  and  entered  upon  a  new  road  to  happiness  and  felicity.  Christ 
brought  to  nature  the  additional  gift  of  the  supernatural.  Both  are  needed,  and  he 
who  would  have  one  without  the  other  fails.  The  supernatural  comes  not  to  destroy 
or  eliminate  the  natural,  but  to  purify  it,  to  elevate  it,  to  build  it  up,  and  hence,  since 
the  coming  of  Christ,  science,  art,  philosophy,  social  economy,  all  studies  partake  of 
the  natural  as  well  as  the  supernatural — the  natural  coming  from  man's  own  thoughts 
and  man's  own  actions,  and  the  supernatural  pouring  down  upon  those  thoughts  and 
actions  direction,  richness,  and  grace. 

To-day  it  is  the  duty  of  Catholics  to  bring  into  the  world  the  fullness  of  super- 
natural   truth  and  supernatural  life.      This  is  especially  the    duty    of    a    Catholic 


46  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Congress.  There  are  nations  who  are  never  separated  from  the  Church,  but  which 
have  neglected  often  to  apply  in  full  degree  the  lessons  of  the  gospel.  There  are 
nation's  who  have  gone  out  from  the  Church,  bringing  with  them  many  of  her  treas- 
ures, and  because  of  what  they  have  brought  yet  show  virgin  light;  but,  cut  from  the 
source,  unless  that  source  is  brought  into  close  contact  with  them,  there  is  danger  for 
them.  Bring  them  in  contact  with  these  divine  forces  by  your  action  and  your 
teachings.  Bring  your  fellow-countrymen  back;  bring  your  country  into  immediate 
connection  with  the  great  source  of  truth  and  light,  and  the  blessed  influence  of  Christ 
and  Christ's  Church.  And  in  this  manner  shall  it  come  to  pass  that  the  words  of  the 
psalmist  shall  be  fulfilled:  "  Mercy  and  justice  have  you  one  with  another;  justice 
and  peace  prevail." 

Let  us  restore  among  men  justice  and  charity.  Let  us  teach  men  to  be  prompt 
ever  to  make  sacrifice  of  self  for  the  common  good.  This  is  the  foundation  of  all  social 
elevating  movements;  it  is  the  foundation  of  your  own  Congress.  Now,  all  these  great 
principles  have  been  marked  out  in  the  most  luminous  lines  in  the  encyclicals  of  the 
great  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.  We  then  study  those  encyclicals;  hold  fast  to  them  as  the 
safest  anchorage.  The  social  questions  are  being  studied  the  world  over.  It  is  well 
they  should  be  studied  in  America,  for  here  do  we  have  more  than  elsewhere  the  keys 
to  the  future.  Here  in  America  you  have  a  country  blessed  specially  by  Providence,  in 
the  fertility  of  its  fields  and  the  liberty  of  its  institutions.  Here  you  have  a  country 
which  will  pay  back  all  efforts,  not  merely  tenfold,  but  a  hundredfold;  and  this  no  one 
understands  better  than  the  immortal  Leo,  and  he  charges  his  Delegate  to  speak  out  to 
America  words  of  hope  and  blessing. 

Then,  in  conclusion,  the  Delegate  begs  of  you  American  Catholics  to  be  fully  loyal 
to  your  great  mission  and  the  duties  which  your  circumstances  impose  upon  you.     Here 
are  golden  words  spoken  by  the  Delegate  in  concluding  his  discourse:     "Go  forward!  in 
one  hand  bearing  the  Book  of  Christian  truth  and  in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the. 
United  States." 

Christian  truth  and  American  liberty  will  make  you  free,  happy,  and  prosperous. 
They  will  put  you  on  the  road  to  progress.  May  your  steps  ever  persevere  on  that  road. 
Again  he  salutes  you  with  all  his  heart.  Again  he  expresses  his  delight  to  be  with  you, 
and  again  speaks  forth  to  you  in  strongest  and  sweetest  tones  the  love  of  your  Holy 
Father,  Leo  XIII. 

A  pleasing  incident  of  this  session  was  an  invitation  extended  to  the  col- 
ored Catholics,  who  had  begun  holding  their  meetings  in  one  of  the  lesser 
halls,  to  come  in  and  participate  in  the  general  Congress.  An  original  and 
philosophical  presentation  of  the  current  topic  was  then  made  by  Hon. 
E.  O.  Browne  of  Chicago,  in  the  following  terms: 

LABOR    AND    CAPITAL. 

In  common  speech,  as  in  the  scheme  for  this  Congress,  labor  and  capital  are  used  as 
contra-distinguished  terms  —  things  set  off  against  each  other  —  the  rights  of  the  one 
and  the  duties  of  the  other  being  the  matters  especially  to  be  insisted  on,  and  reconciled, 
if  reconciliation  may  in  any  way  be  between  things  assumed  thus  to  be  so  antagonistic 
and  engaged  in  such  an  irreconcilable  conflict.  That  there  is  such  a  conflict  in  appear- 
ance, is  as  evident  as  it  is  in  appearance  that  the  sun  circles  about  the  earth.  But  I 
hold  it  to  be  no  more  a  real  phenomenon  of  our  social  life  and  organization  than  the 
motion  of  the  sun  is  of  the  natural  world. 

It  is  because  I  utterly  dispute  the  thesis  that  capital  and  labor  are  antagonistic,  that 
they  have  separate  interests,  that  there  are  duties  incumbent  upon  one  which  are  not 
duties  of  the  other,  or  rights  belonging  to  the  one  which  are  not  equally  the  rights  of 
the  other,  that  I  have  accepted  the  compliment  conveyed  to  me  by  the  request  that  I 
should  read  a  paper  at  this  Congress,  provided  that  I  could  take  for  its  text  but  one 
member  of  the  announced  subject  of  discussion.  "The  Rights  of  Labor,"  simply,  is  my 
thesis,  and  I  hold  that  this  includes  both  the  rights  and  duties  of  capital,  for  capital  is 
but  crystallized,  accumulated  labor,  having  no  possible  interests,  economically  speaking, 
diverse  from  those  of  labor.  In  one  view  it  is  but  a  subdivision  of  labor;  in  another,  but 
a  tool  which  labor  has  itself  fashioned  by  its  own  hands,  which  is  used  solely  in  its  own 
hands,  and  which  is  entitled,  therefore,  in  and  by  itself,  to  that  protection  and  considera- 
tion only  which  its  creator,  owner,  and  user  demands  for  it,  as  one  of  its  valuable  adjuncts 
and  belongings. 

Briefly,  my  argument  is  to  be  that  capitalist  and  laborer,  economically  speaking, 
are  the  same,  entitled  to  one  transcendent,  all-important  right,  the  right  to  liberty,  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


47 


subject  to  one  controlling  obligation  or  duty,  so  to  use  that  liberty  as  not  to  violate  the 
freedom  of  any  other.  Carried  to  their  only  possible,  rational,  and  logical  conclusion,  I 
shall  contend  that  these  propositions  load  to  the  demonstration  that  the  present  lamentable 
condition  of  labor,  or  more  properly  and  accurately  speaking,  of  the  laborer,  is  due  not  to 
encroachments,  invasions,  or  injustice  by  capital  or  the  capitalists,  but  by  their  common 
antagonist,  monopoly  and  the  monopolists,  against  whom  it  is  indeed  most  necessary  and 
wholesome  that  the  rights  of  the  laborer  should  be  most  strenuously  asserted  and 
defended.     Not  too  loudly  can  the  note  of  alarm  be  struck,  nor  the  call  to  arms  sounded. 

To  sustain  my  argument  I  need  first  to  state  clearly  the  sense  in  which  I  use,  and 
as  I  submit  accurately,  use,  the  terms  with  which  I  am  dealing.  What  is  labor,  what  is 
capital,  what  is  monopoly?  To  define  labor  in  economics  is  easy.  It  is  the  employment 
of  energy,  physical  or  mental,  toward  the  production  of  wealth  in  the  largest  sense — of 
goods,  of  those  things,  that  is,  which  make  for  the  health,  comfort,  instruction,  and 
pleasure  of  men.  But  the  words  "  production  of  wealth  "  are  to  be  taken  in  no  narrow 
sense.  All  will  admit  doubtless  that  wealth,  for  example,  is  as  much  produced  by  the 
excavation  of  a  tunnel  through  the  Alps,  as  in  the  rolling  of  the  railroad  iron  which  is 
laid  through  it  after  it  is  excavated,  but  the  equally  salient  facts  are  not  so  well  under- 
stood and  plainly  admitted,  perhaps,  that  equally  with  him  who  fashions  it,  that  man 
produces  wealth  who  transports  a  thing  from  a  place  where  it  is  not  desired,  or  desired 
but  slightly,  to  another  where  it  is  strongly  desired,  or  who  as  a  shopkeeper  keeps  it  in 
store  until  the  consumer  at  that  point  needs  it.  And  it  is  even  less  apparent,  perhaps, 
that  the  priest,  the  poet,  or  the  minstrel,  who  by  his  exertion  encourages  and  increases 
the  potential  energy  of  the  manual  laborer,  is  economically,  under  our  description,  a 
laborer,  too.  But  these  propositions  are  after  all  the  commonplaces  of  political  economy, 
and  I  must  assume,  not  argue  them,  and  ask  you  to  think  of  labor  in  this  large  and 
comprehensive  sense  whenever  I  use  the  term  in  this  paper. 

Of  capital  it  is  a  less  simple  task  to  make  a  definition  which  may  be  denominated 
both  accurate  and  economically  orthodox.  But  this  springs  not  from  any  inherent  diffi- 
culty or  vagueness  in  the  conception,  but  solely  from  the  loose,  unprecise  way  in  which 
writers  on  political  economy,  accounted  orthodox,  have  used  the  word.  But  the  general 
idea,  which  has  always,  although  with  more  or  less  vagueness  and  want  of  precision, 
been  attached  to  the  word  in  economic  discussion,  and  which  may  therefore  be  properly 
presumed  to  be  the  meaning  which  belongs  to  it  in  the  scheme  of  subjects  chosen  for 
the  consideration  of  this  Congress,  has  been  expressed  by  late  economic  writers  with 
substantial  accuracy  as  "  Wealth  in  process  of  exchange." 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  excludes  what  some  political  economists  have  inconsiderately 
included  in  the  term  capital — wealth  reserved  by  its  owner  for  consumption  in  his  own 
physical  and  personal  necessities — comforts  and  pleasures,  and  limits  it  to  wealth  used 
in  the  assistance  of  labor  in  the  production  of  other  wealth,  in  the  course  of  which 
assistance  to  labor  this  wealth  is  changing  form  or  use.  For  exchange  in  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  here  used  does  not  mean  the  mere  passing  from  hand  to  hand,  but  also  such 
transmutations  as  occur  when  the  reproductive  forces  of  nature  are  utilized  for  the 
increase  of  wealth. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to  the  vulgar  and  absurd  conception  of  capital  as 
money,  and  of  the  capitalist  as  the  man  who  has  stores  of  currency,  for  there  is  no  one 
here,  I  am  sure,  who  does  not  realize  that  money  itself  is  but  a  labor-saving  tool  of  trade 
to  facilitate  exchange,  useful  in  the  highest  degree,  but  not  even  indispensable  to  life, 
civilization,  and  forming  in  its  aggregate  amount  but  a  very  small  and  insignificant  part 
of  that  stored-up  result  of  labor  properly  called  wealth.  The  capitalist  is  not  the  man 
who  has  money  necessarily.  He  may  have  no  considerable  amount  of  it,  and  yet  in  other 
forms  of  wealth — useful  in  production  —  be  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice.  Of 
course,  under  any  usual  or  ordinary  conditions,  money  being  the  commonest  medium  of 
exchange,  this  possession  of  exchangeable  wealth  will  give  him  great  power  of  obtain- 
ing quantities  of  money  should  he  prefer,  as  he  very  seldom  will  do,  to  have  his  wealth 
in  that  p?-ticular  form.  But  it  may  be  necessary  to  call  particular  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  definition  of  capital  excludes  many  things  which  are  carelessly  and  incorrectly 
called  capital  which  are  not  wealth  at  all,  for  wealth  consists  economically  only  of 
goods,  good  things  adapted  by  the  energy,  mental  or  physical,  of  man  to  the  use  of  man. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  result  of  labor  applied  to  natural  opportunities,  or,  as  we  call  them 
generically,  land.  Labor  and  land,  therefore,  are  the  primary  and  only  essential  factors 
of  the  production  of  wealth,  but  a  portion  of  the  stored  up  wealth  which  labor  applied 
to  land  has  produced  assists  and  increases  the  power  of  labor  under  the  name  of  capital. 

But  it  is  evident  that  there  are  powers  and  privileges  belonging  to  certain  classes 
in  every  existing  social  organization,  which,  although  not  capital  and  not  wealth  in  any 
34 


4S  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

sense  whatever,  give  the  persons  and  classes  enjoying  them  the  advantages  which  belong 
to  capital  and  to  the  possession  of  true  wealth.  I  am  not  here  denying  the  necessity, 
the  iustice  or  the  propriety  of  the  arrangements  which  give  those  powers  and  privileges, 
but  merely  calling  attention  to  their  existence.  The  people  with  these  privileges  and 
nowers  have  the  ability  to  control  the  labor  of  others,  and  to  obtain  the  use  ot  others 
capital  upon  terms  dictated  not  by  free  contract,  but  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  their 
own  choice  If  you  can  for  a  moment  eliminate  from  it  any  opprobrious  signification, 
it  would  be  most  convenient  to  call  this  class  in  economic  organization  monopolists,  as 
distinguished  from  laborers  and  capitalists,  and,  abstractly  to  speak,  of  labor,  capital, 
and  monopoly  as  three  contradistinguished  things.  But  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
monopoly  is  not  like  capital,  the  product  of  labor,  at  all.  Wealth,  of  which  capital  is  a 
part  is  the  natural  product  of  the  combination  of  labor  and  land,  the  natural  result  ot 
the  one  applied  to  the  other.  Monopoly  is  the  result  of  artificial,  man-made  conven- 
tions agreements,  institutions,  and  laws.  To  it  belong  all  such  things  as  franchises  or 
right's  so-called  guaranteed  to  some  people  by  some  social  convention  or  institution 
which  others  are  not  allowed  to  enjoy  or  compete  for,  all  patent  privileges,  by  which  a 
portion  of  the  labor  of  others  goes  to  the  original  inventor  or  designer  of  some  product 
of  labor  and,  infinitely  more  important  than  anything  else  falling  under  this  classifica- 
tion the  o-uaranteed  exclusive  possession  of  purely  natural  opportunities,  or  land,  in  the 
economic  sense,  by  which  must  be  understood  to  be  meant  land  in  the  narrower  sense, 
without  consideration  of  improvements— water  powers,  air,  harbor  facilities,  and  the  use 
of  natural  bodies  of  water  of  whatever  form  or  nature.  For  such  guaranteed  exclusive 
possession  makes  of  the  class  of  land-owners  necessarily  a  class  of  monopolists.  The 
land  is  not  the  result  of  their  labor,  or  of  any  other  human  being's.  It  does  not  fall  under 
the  accurate  definition  of  wealth,  much  less  of  capital.  But  the  right  to  its  exclusive 
possession  gives,  and  gives  with  more  certainty  than  any  other  thing,  the  advantages  of 
the  possession  of  wealth  and  the  means  of  procuring  it  by  the  control  and  utilization  for 
one's  self  of  the  labor  of  others. 

As  the  oriental  aphorism  well  puts  it,  "  To  whomsoever  the  soil  at  any  time  belongs, 
to  him  belong  the  fruits  of  it."  White  parasols  and  elephants  made  with  pride  are  the 
flowers  of  a  grant  of  land,  or,  as  Carlyle  has  it,  "  From  a  widow  gathering  nettles  for  her 
children's  dinner,  the  perfumed  land -holding  seigneur  can  by  a  subtle  alchemy  extract 
every  third  nettle  and  call  it  rent."  I  am  not  intending  by  this  assertion  of  its  charac- 
ter as  monopoly  to  attack  land-ownership,  even  in  its  present  form,  or  under  its  present 
unrestrained  and  unlimited  conditions.  I  have  an  abiding  conviction  that  that  form 
and  those  conditions  ought  to  be  changed,  an  unwavering  faith  that  they  must  and  soon 
will  be  so  changed,  but  even  the  suggestion  of  this  obligation  and  necessity  I  leave  for 
the  conclusion  of  my  paper,  while  that  in  a  changed  and  modified  form  such  ownership 
as  is  involved  in  the  private  individual,  guaranteed  continuous  and  permanent  posses- 
sion of  land,  is  right,  proper,  and  necessary,  I  propose  distinctly  hereafter  to  point  out. 
But  I  wish  to  insist  here  upon  the  essential  nature  of  land-ownership.  If  it  be  a  proper 
and  necessary  monopoly,  it  is  none  the  less  monopoly,  as  we  have  used  that  word  in  con- 
tradistinction from  labor  and  capital.  . 
When  James  I.  granted  to  Buckingham  the  exclusive  privilege  of  making  gold  and 
silver  thread  and  prohibited  under  severe  penalties  all  manufacture  of  it  save  under 
Buckingham's  license  or  control,  the  income  which  flowed  into  the  favorite's  coffers  was 
not  a  return  to  capital,— it  was  the  profit  of  monopoly,  taken  as  a  toll  or  tax  from  the 
labor  and  capital  of  others,  enslaving  the  first  and  confiscating  the  second.  And  when 
the  iron  mine  operator  pays  to  the  holder  of  the  title  of  the  land  on  which  that  mine 
was  found,  but  who  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  development  or  its  working,  a  royalty 
on  each  ton  of  ore  taken  from  it,  that  income  of  the  mine  owner  is  equally  with  Buck- 
ingham's, simply  the  profit  of  monopoly,  a  tax  or  toll  upon  the  production  of  laborers 
therein  employed  and  the  capital  by  which  that  labor  is  assisted.  The  one  may  have 
been  iniquitous  and  unnecessary,  the  other  praiseworthy  and  necessary,  monopoly.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  they  are  both  monopolies. 

And  now  that  I  have  endeavored  to  make  clear  the  distinction  between  labor, 
capital,  and  monopoly,  I  wish  to  postpone  suggestion  of  the  rights  of  labor  as  against 
monopoly  and  to  address  myself  to  the  immediate  question:  What  are  the  rights  of 
labor  as  against  capital? 

Is  not  the  answer  obvious  from  the  statement  of  their  nature  which  has  been  made? 
The  rights  of  a  laborer  against  a  capitalist  (labor  against  capital  is  but  a  vague  way  of 
expressing  this  concrete  idea)  are  his  rights  as  against  another  laborer,  no  more  and  no 
less.  They  do  not  belong  to  contradistinguished  classes  at  all.  At  the  very  utmost, 
assuming  the  natural  opportunity  on  which  labor  can  act  to  be  freely  obtainable,  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  49 

capitalist  can  be  but  the  assistant  of  the  laborer,  who  is  willing  to  use  the  tools  and 
assistance  he  offers  for  a  part  of  the  product  of  the  more  efficient  labor  which  can  thus 
be  performed.  Nothing  has  been  more  successfully  disproved  than  the  proposition  that 
it  is  capital  which  employs  labor.  It  is  labor  which  employs  capital  as  its  tool.  But 
we  must  keep  in  mind  ever  in  considering  this  statement  the  distinction  that  has  been 
made  between  capital  and  monopoly.  Capital  does  not  only  employ  labor,  it  is  labor 
that  employs  capital.  But  monopoly  does  employ  both  labor  and  capital  and  at  its  own 
terms — in  other  words,  in  a  sense  it  enslaves  them. 

To  return.  I  have  said  that  at  the  utmost  the  capitalists  can  be  nothing  but  the 
assistants  of  laborers,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  very  largely  the  laborers  them- 
selves. Not  only  are  they  clearly  distinguished  and  antagonistic  classes,  they  are  not 
even  separate  classes  at  all.  Every  street  laborer  with  his  own  pickax  is  a  capitalist 
as  well  as  a  laborer,  he  can  only  be  a  laborer  without  being  a  capitalist  if  he  is  utterly 
without  tools  and  is  furnished  them  by  others.  And  even  then  he  may  not  be,  for  the 
capital  which  is  used  by  labor  as  an  assistance  in  all  great  works  is  generally,  through 
the  agency  of  a  complex  system  of  credits,  a  part  of  the  wealth  which  the  banks  and 
various  financial  institutions^  a  country  concentrate,  manage,  and  control,  but  are  far 
from  owning.  That  wealth  is  very  largely  the  property  of  laborers  of  all  sorts  and 
kinds.  Every  workman  who  has  a  savings  deposit,  or  a  share  of  building  company 
stock,  is  furnishing  capital  to  assist  labor  and  of  course  is  a  laborer  as  well  as  a  capitalist. 
And  who  should  be  the  capitalist  but  the  laborer?  There  were  in  any  primitive  state  of 
society  but  two  factors  in  production,  the  laborer  and  the  natural  opportunities  he 
worked  on. 

Assuming  the  natural  opportunities  for  work  to  be  free,  the  laborers  must  have  had 
all  the  results  of  production  which  are  their  natural  wages.  Nor  under  such  a  condi- 
tion of  freedom  of  natural  opportunities  could  a  class  of  capitalists  distinct  from  labor- 
ers ever  grow  up  even,  for  while  undoubtedly  in  time  some  more  provident  than  others 
would  store  up  more  of  the  products  of  labor  to  assist  their  own  labor  in  future  produc- 
tion and  to  the  others  it  would  be  worth,  and  they  would  bid  for  it,  a  portion  of  the 
product  of  their  labor,  as  thus  assisted  by  it,  yet  the  opportunity  and  ability  to  labor 
being  always  existent,  capital  would  no  more  than  in  the  beginning  of  the  community 
life  be  indispensable  to  the  life  or  production  of  the  laborer,  and  it  could  and  would 
demand  and  receive  no  more  than  its  value  as  a  tool  increasing  the  efficiency  of  his 
labor.  In  such  a  state  of  freedom  for  labor,  we  may  well  be  sure  that  no  such  idea  as 
that  of  a  wage  fund  would  take  root,  nor  capital  become  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a 
small  class.  But  if,  by  some  man-made  law,  some  institution  or  convention  of  society, 
be  it  praiseworthy  or  blameworthy,  such  a  position  of  advantage  is  granted  or  guaran- 
teed to  either  capitalist  or  laborer,  as  places  the  other  in  a  position  where  his  freedom 
in  the  contract  is  gone — for  example,  if  the  social  organization  is  so  arranged  that  the 
capitalist  can,  with  much  greater  ease  than  the  laborer,  become  the  monopolist,  and 
either  pass  from  the  class  which  loans  to  labor  its  efficient  tools  to  the  one  which  con- 
trols the  only  opportunities  for  the  use  of  either  labor  or  tools,  or,  as  generally  happens, 
conjoin  in  his  own  person  the  two  characters,  there  arises  naturally,  and  at  once,  an 
apparent  contest  between  the  capitalist  and  laborer,  such  as  at  present  exists.  But  it 
is  not  between  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer  as  capitalist  and  laborer.  It  is  between  the 
monopolist  and  the  man  seeking  an  opportunity  to  labor.  On  the  one  side,  theoretically, 
are  the  persons  holding  the  natural  opportunities  on  which  alone  labor  is  of  any  utility 
or  effect,  and  who  demand  for  the  use  of  them  as  rent — toll,  the  profits  of  monopoly — 
as  large  a  portion  of  the  product  of  such  labor  as  they  can  get.  On  the  other  are  ranged 
together  both  capitalists  and  laborers,  demanding  only  the  chance  to  labor  in  and  on 
those  natural  opportunities,  but  willing  to  give  up  for  the  use  of  them  only  the  smallest 
part  of  the  product  of  their  labor  for  which  they  can  obtain  it.  Natural  opportunities, 
immense  in  quantity  and  number  as  they  are,  are  limited  by  definite  and  measurable 
bounds,  unlike  the  amount  of  capital  (for  the  possibilities  of  the  production  of  wealth 
are  practically  illimitable).    Here  the  pinch  begins.    Here  the  contest  must  rage. 

The  laborer  may  make  such  terms,  and  come  to  such  agreement  with  the  capitalist, 
or  the  capitalist  with  the  laborer,  as  they  may  choose.  By  themselves  they  will  be 
futile,  for  labor,  with  or  without  the  tool  called  capital,  can  find  no  employment  except 
by  application  to  monopoly.  On  the  other  hand,  if  monopoly  gives  its  permission,  labor 
can  make  its  own  way  and  sustain  itself  without  the  assistance  of  capital  at  all.  It 
need  never  do  so,  however,  for  whenever  the  ability  and  opportunity  for  profitable  work 
exist  in  the  same  control,  capital  flows  and  asks  investment  as  naturally  as  water  rolls 
down  hill. 

The  correlative  rights  and  duties  of  the  laborer,  then.  I  repeat,  as  against  the  cap- 


5o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

italist,  and  of  the  capitalist  against  the  laborer  are  the  same.  They  are  the  rights  and 
duties,  too,  of  each  laborer  as  against  every  other  laborer,  and  of  each  capitalist  as 
against  every  other  capitalist. 

The  right  is  the  right  to  liberty;  that  is,  the  right  to  one's  own  self,  and  the  product 
of  one's  own  labor,  which  involves  entire  freedom  of  contract.  The  duty  is  the  duty  of 
so  using  and  limiting  that  liberty  as  to  preserve  the  equal  freedom  of  all  others.  Viewed 
from  such  a  standpoint,  of  course  the  wrong  theoretically  involved  in  the  intimidation 
of  men  willing  and  anxious  to  work,  which  frequently  accompanies  labor  agitations  and 
strikes,  and  the  interference  which  then  frequently  takes  place  with  their  freedom  of 
contract,  becomes  clear,  and  so,  it  seems  to  me,  does  the  similar  wrong  which  interferes 
with  the  freedom  of  contract  in  relation  to  the  interest  which  the  capitalist  may  ask  for 
the  use  of  the  tool  which  he  proffers  to  the  laborer. 

It  is  not  due  to  anything  in  the  inherent  relations  of  capital  and  labor  at  all,  that 
these  views  of  rights  and  wrongs  are  not  universally  recognized  under  present  con- 
ditions. It  is  because  these  relations  are  complicated  by  the  antagonism  that  I  have 
indicated  heretofore.  Capital  and  labor  on  the  one  side  must  meet  monopoly  on  the 
other.  And  because  of  the  great  ease  with  which  the  capitalist  can  become  the  mo- 
nopolist, or,  perhaps,  more  properly  speaking,  the  certainty  with  which  the  monopolist 
becomes  also  to  some  extent  the  capitalist,  a  general  looseness  and  vagueness  of  think- 
ing has  placed  on  the  words  "  capitalist "  and  "  capital "  an  economical  and  social 
meaning  which  belongs  not  to  them,  but  to  "  monopolist  "  and  "  monopoly  "  alone. 

In  a  scheme  like  that  of  this  Congress  I  would  have  named  as  the  subject  of  dis- 
cussion not  "  The  Rights  of  Labor  and  the  Duties  of  Capital,"  but  "  The  Rights  of 
Labor  and  Capital  and  the  Duties  of  Monopoly."  Capital,  as  I  have  shown,  is,  after 
all,  but  a  subdivision  of  labor,  and  the  terms  might  well  be  shortened  to  the  contradis- 
tinguished ones,  labor  and  monopoly.  It  is  to  the  maladjustment  between  these  two 
that  I  believe  the  economic  misery  of  the  world  to-day  is  due,  that  misery  for  which 
the  Holy  Father  so  truly  says  some  remedy  must  be  quickly  found.  This  it  is  that  calls 
so  loudly  for  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  labor.  For  what  is  the  result  of  the  pres- 
ent conditions?  Are  not  the  material  wants  and  desires  of  men  everywhere  those 
which  the  physical  resources  of  this  wonderful  earth  on  which  we  have  been  put  are 
able  on  the  expenditure  of  labor  to  supply?  Are  not  those  physical  resources  lying  in 
great  proportion  unworked  and  idle  all  over  the  globe?  We  have  but  scratched  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  the  treasures  of  its  deeps  have  been  but  barely  uncovered.  On 
the  other  hand,  are  the  skill  and  industry  wanting  in  mankind  to  develop  those  resources? 
Look  about  you  at  the  great  exhibition  and  reply.  But  notwithstanding  the  co-exist- 
ence of  the  wants,  the  resources,  and  the  skill  and  industry,  millions  of  willing  men 
stand  unemployed,  while  coal  mines  are  unworked,  and  wheat  fields  unfilled,  and  women 
and  children  in  our  great  cities  die  of  cold  and  starvation. 

It  has  become  fashionable  in  our  day  to  deny  the  existence  of  natural  human 
rights,  to  declare  that  civilization  knows  no  general  law  but  that  of  natural  selection 
and  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  to  hold  that  there  is  no  remedy  for  human  wretchedness 
but  to  limit  population,  that  nature  is  niggardly  and  the  economic  problem  lies  in  produc- 
tion and  not  in  distribution.  This  is  atheism,  not  Christianity.  As  men  and  women  who 
believe  in  our  holy  religion  which  teaches  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man  we  can  have  none  of  it.  For  us  God  is  no  niggard  and  no  bungler.  He  has  not 
brought  into  the  world  more  men  than  the  world  can  abundantly  supply  with  the  means 
of  a  healthy,  natural,  developing  life,  nor  men  without  the  ability  to  turn  these  means 
to  account.  It  is  not  the  problem  of  production  that  confronts  us,  it  is  the  problem  of 
distribution,  and  our  errors  and  mistakes  in  its  solution  must  result  from  ignorance  or 
denial  of  the  law,  in  accordance  with  which  he  would  have  us  act. 

I  say  that  maladjustments  of  the  relations  of  monopoly  and  labor  are  the  cause  of 
the  economic  misery  of  men.  Let  me  give  you,  as  it  W3re,  a  glimpse  of  what  I  mean  by 
a  concrete  example.  Such  an  illustration  sometimes  lights  up  an  argument  better  than 
explanation  can  do.  In  the  coal-mining  region  of  Pennsylvania  the  coal  miners  suffer 
much  discomfort  from  the  heat  in  the  summer  time.  Ice  is  a  comfort  or  luxury  which 
their  wages  do  not  permit  them  to  purchase.  In  the  winter  there  are  frequently  seasons  of 
enforced  idleness  for  them.  During  one  of  these  seasons  some  years  ago,  it  occurred  to 
some  of  them  to  cut  and  store  for  future  use  and  the  increase  of  their  comfort 
during  the  coming  summer,  ice  that  formed  in  the  numerous  sink  holes  on  the  mining 
corporation's  land,  and  which  in  all  previous  years  had  melted  unutilized  in  the 
spring.  The  ice-cutting  commenced,  the  telegraph  bore  from  the  resident  agent  to  the 
company's  offices  in  Philadelphia  the  news  of  it,  and  bore  back  again  the  laconic  mes- 
sage: "  Permit  no  ice  to  be  cut  except  on  payment  of  rent."  Then  the  ice-cutting  ceased, 
and  the  ice  as  usual  melted  in  natural  course. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


5* 


Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  have  not  said — I  am  not  now  saying— that  monopoly  and 
privilege  are  in  themselves  wrong.  I  assert,  indeed,  the  very  reverse.  Some  monopolies 
are  necessary  and  as  natural  in  the  order  of  things  as  is  the  sunshine.  Others,  though  not 
necessary,  are  undoubtedly  expedient.  The  guaranteed  private  possession  of  land  is  of 
the  former  kind;  patent  rights  and  franchises  examples  of  the  second.  But  undeniable 
monopolies  though  they  be,  it  is  no  wrong  in  itself  to  society  that  patentees'  rights 
should  exist.  The  inventors  that  profit  by  them  have  given  a  return  to  society  in  the 
new  and  useful  ideas  they  have  furnished  to  mankind.  Nor  is  a  franchise,  a  law  granting 
to  one  man  or  a  collection  of  men,  privileges  or  rights  withheld  from  others,  necessarily 
a  wrong.  It  and  all  other  monopolies,  however,  become  so  whenever  their  beneficiary 
fails  in  that  return  to  society  which  is  a  full  and  fair  equivalent  for  the  right  of  monop- 
oly which  has  been  conferred  upon  him. 

•  And  it  is  so  with  the  greatest  of  all  monopolies,  the  right  of  individuals  to  the 
exclusive  and  guaranteed  possession  of  the  earth's  surface.  The  monopoly  of  individual 
possession  of  land  is  as  necessary  to  the  civilized  life  of  man  as  the  existence  of  the 
natural  opportunities  themselves;  civilization  of  necessity  evolves  it.  Without  it  no 
people  can  rise  above  the  grade  of  a  pastoral  tribe.  And  as  continuity  and  permanency 
of  tenure  is  necessary,  and  as  land  differs  in  desirability  and  the  difference  is  constantly 
varying  in  amount,  the  law  of  rent  arises.  As  stated  by  all  political  economists  worthy 
the  name,  it  is  that  the  rent  of  land  is  determined  by  the  excess  of  its  produce  over  that 
which  the  same  application  can  secure  from  the  least  productive  land  in  use,  or,  to  put 
it  in  another  form,  less  liable  to  the  misapprehension  that  it  applies  to  agricultural  land 
alone,  "  the  ownership,  i.  e.,  the  exclusive  possession  and  control  of  a  natural  agent  of 
production  will  give  the  power  of  appropriating  so  much  of  the  wealth  produced  by  the 
exertion  of  labor  and  capital  upon  it  as  exceeds  the  return  which  the  same  application 
of  labor  and  capital  would  secure  in  the  least  productive  occupation  in  which  they  freely 
engage." 

This  law  of  rent  is  as  fixed  a  factor  in  economic  science  as  is  the  law  of  gravitation 
in  physics.  The  exclusive  possession  and  control  is  necessary,  the  power  ol  appropria- 
tion goes  with  it.  What  is  the  duty  of  the  holder  of  the  monopoly  to  the  society  which 
invests  him  with  it?  This  is  the  question  which  confronts  us,  and  which  must  be 
answered  if  the  rights  of  labor  and  capital  are  to  be  protected,  and  the  duties  of  mo- 
nopoly enforced,  for  it  is  clear  that  what  goes  to  monopoly  and  is  not  returned  to  society 
in  some  adequate  form  and  amount,  is  so  much  taken  from  labor  and  capital  of  the 
product  of  their  exertions.  * 

Economically,  I  believe  that  liberty,  the  right  of  each  man  in  himself  to  the  whole 
product  of  his  labor,  is  the  ideal  to  be  reached,  and  that  when  the  product  of  labor  con- 
stitutes the  wages  of  labor,  as  Adam  Smith  a  century  ago  declared  was  natural,  and  not 
until  then,  will  the  so-called  labor  problem  be  solved.  Centuries  ago,  before  the  begin- 
ning of  this  marvelous  era,  with  its  prodigious  increase  in  the  effectiveness  of  labor  by 
the  mastery  which  man  has  obtained  over  the  powers  of  nature,  this  question  of  the 
duty  of  the  "  lords  of  the  land  "  was  one  with  which  the  Church  had  often  to  deal. 

Every  element  of  the  feudal  system  not  formed  by  was  influenced  and  modified  by 
the  Church,  and  in  the  feudal  system,  peculiar  obligations,  strenuously  maintained, 
were  imposed  in,  return  for  the  privilege  of  receiving  rent.  Among  them  were  the 
support  of  the  civil  list,  the  public  defense,  the  cost  of  public  worship  and  instruction, 
and  the  care  of  the  sick  and  destitute.  What  other  are  the  purposes  of  taxation  to-day? 
Against  the  protest  of  a  priest  who  told  them  that  they  were  remitting  to  the  proprie- 
tors a  tax  which  was  one  of  the  conditions  on  w'.auh  they  held  their  land,  and  reimpos- 
ing  it  on  the  labor  of  the  nation,  the  French  Constituent  Assembly,  in  1789,  abolished 
tithes  and  turned  over  the  support  of  the  clergy  to  general  taxation. 

The  Long  Parliament  in  the  abolition  ot  military  tenures  took  from  monopoly  the 
burden  of  the  consideration  on  which  it  held  the  common  property  of  the  nation,  and 
saddled  it  on  the  people  at  large  in  the  taxation  of  all  consumers.  Both  actions  were 
hailed,  and  doubtless  intended  by  lovers  of  freedom,  as  steps  in  advance,  but  to  those 
who  think  with  me  they  were  the  most  disastrous  of  mistakes.  We  think  that  if  these 
feudal  dues  of  monopoly  were  now  in  force,  changed  only  in  form  for  adaptation  to  the 
changed  times,  and  if  monopoly  and  privilege  paid  to  the  community  which  guarantees 
them  existence,  the  due  pecuniary  reward  or  compensation  justly  and  properly  charge- 
able to  them,  all  other  taxation  could  be  abolished,  and  that  all  which  makes  law  insti- 
tuted monopoly  and  privilege,  the  enemy  of  labor  and  capital,  would  be  thereby  de- 
stroyed. Of  the  products  of  labor  and  capital  there  would  be  two  parts,  one  going  to 
the  individual  producers  according  to  the  part  each  had  taken  in  the  work  of  produc- 
tion, the  other  to  the  community  as  a  whole,  to  be  distributed  in  public  benefits  to  all 
its  members. 


52  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  attempt  in  this  paper,  at  this  time,  to  sustain  this 
practical  proposition  for  the  improvement  in  present  social  conditions. 

I  have  tried  only  to  point  out  that  the  antagonism  is  not  between  labor  and  capi- 
tal, that  it  is  between  labor  and  monopoly,  that  the  right  of  labor  is  liberty  to  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  its  exertion,  that  the  problem  is  not  to  define  the  duties  of  capital,  but  of 
monopoly  and  privilege.  How  well  I  have  succeeded  it  is  for  you  to  judge,  but  this  I 
know,  that  nowhere  is  a  fitter  place  to  discuss  the  social  problem  and  to  find  its  solu- 
tion than  in  the  societies  of  the  Holy  Church;  nowhere  are  men  more  clearly  called  to 
the  work  than  are  the  clergy  and  laity  of  his  Church,  who  summed  up  his  teachings 
in  social  philosophy  in  the  sublime  utterance,  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should 
do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them." 

A  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  in  a  remarkably  inapt  phrase, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  addressing  students  of  a  law  school  in  one  of  the  great  universities, 
spoke  recently  of  the  age-long  struggle  between  "  private  rights  and  public  greed." 

In  a  more  truthful,  and  I  hope  a  more  truth-loving  spirit,  I  suggest  to  you  that 
"  the  rights  of  labor,  the  duties  of  monopoly  "  are  involved  in  the  age-long  struggle  be- 
tween private  greed  and  public  rights. 

That  in  that  great  struggle  the  Catholic  Church,  which  gave  liberty  to  the  slave, 
which  emancipated  woman,  which  has  ever  been  the  greatest  of  all  bulwarks  and  de- 
fenders of  human  liberty,  will  give  her  countenance  and  aid  to  the  oppressed  and 
struggling  masses,  is  certain.  It  is  proven  by  her  history.  It  is  a  part  of  her  mission, 
To  doubt  it  were  impiety  and  heresy. 

A  paper  on  the  same  theme,  by  another  eminent  member  of  the  Chicago 
bar,  John  Gibbon,  LL.D.,  was  substantially  as  follows: 

THE    LABOR    PROBLEM. 

The  unrest  and  discontent  felt  and  heard  in  every  line  of  social  and  industrial  life 
are  but  the  protests  of  a  struggling  humanity  against  hardships  and  oppressions  which 
are  the  necessary  outgrowth  of  the  strained  and  abnormal  conditions  existing  between 
labor  and  capital, — conditions  which  if  not  speedily  remedied,  may  work  the  debase 
ment  of  the  one,  and  the  destruction  of  the  other.  The  folly  of  labor  is  no  more 
reprehensible  for  these  conditions  than  the  greed  of  capital.  For  years  the  tendency 
of  the  times  has  been  toward  the  enslavement  of  the  individual  through  the  domina- 
tion of  the  masses  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  monopoly  of  capital  through  trusts  and 
combines  on  the  other,  and  whoever  imagines  that  there  is  in  legislation  or  statecraft, 
a  short  cut  by  which  the  conditions  wrought  by  both  these  causes  may  be  reached, 
adjusted,  harmonized,  and  remedied  other  than  by  mutual  concessions  based  upon 
mutual  interests  is  shortsighted,  if  not  visionary.  That  legislation  is  beneficial,  and 
sometimes  necessary  to  compel  the  performance  of  duties  which  ought  to  be  discharged 
voluntarily,  I  admit,  but  in  respect  to  matters  of  a  social  and  industrial  nature,  which 
are  so  largely  dependent  upon  natural  conditions,  legislation  may  aid,  but  can  not 
create  them. 

That  hardships  and  oppressions  have  existed  for  all  time  does  not  prove  that  they 
are  a  heritage  of  the  human  family.  "  And  there  shall  be  no  poor  nor  beggar  among 
you,"  is  a  divine  command,  while  "  the  poor  ye  shall  have  always  with  you,"  is  but  the 
voice  of  prophecy.  The  former  is  the  law  proclaimed,  the  latter  the  result  of  its  non- 
observance.  Every  man  born  into  the  world  owes  certain  duties  to  society,  and 
paramount  to  all  others  is  the  duty  to  support  himself,  and  those  naturally  dependent 
upon  him,  and  of  equal  importance  in  the  scale  of  primary  duties  are  obedience  to  law 
and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others.  The  performance  of  these  primary  obligations  no 
man  should  be  permitted  to  evade  or  ignore. 

In  the  proposals  we  advance,  if  we  hope  thereby  to  accomplish  beneficial  resuks, 
we  must  recognize  the  changes  which  are  constantly  occurring  in  natural  conditions, 
for  these  changes  necessarily  affect  the  industrial  life  of  the  people.  The  conditions 
which  existed  fifty,  or  even  twenty-five,  years  ago  do  not  exist  to-day.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  surplus  labor  of  the  country  found  employment  in  reclaiming  and  cultivating  the 
waste  lands  of  the  fruitful  West;  but  now  nearly  all  the  available  lands  have  been 
appropriated,  so  that  surplus  labor  no  longer  finds  remunerative  employment  there,  and 
the  f^ream  of  immigration  has  ceased  to  flow  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Thirty  years  ago  surplus  labor  found  employment  in  the  army,  in  the  building  of 
railways,  in  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  and  in  many  other  enterprises  which 
existed  as  a  result  of  the  war  then  being  waged  for  national  supremacy.  These  changes 
which  are  wrought  by  what  may  be  termed  natural  causes  only,  serve  to  emphasize  the 


ARCHBISHOP    KAIN, 

ST.    LOUIS. 

ARCHBISHOP   WALSH, 

TORONTO. 
ARCHBISHOP    ELDER, 

CINCINNATI. 


CARDINAL     TASCHEREAU, 
QUEBEC. 


ARCHBISHOP    WILLIAMS, 
BOSTON. 

ARCHBISHOP   GROSS, 

OREGO    . 

ARCHBISHOP    KENDRICK, 

S"       LOU'S. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  53 

fact  that  in  the  field  of  labor,  as  in  the  whole  domain  of  industry,  supply  and  demand 
must  ever  be  controlling  factors,  and  the  economist  who  ignores  this  fundamental  truth 
in  seeking  a  wise  solution  of  the  all-important  problem  now  agitating  the  public  is  a 
dreamer  or  a  demagogue. 

Whatever  speculations  or  theories  we  may  advance  or  proclaim  it  should  be  con- 
ceded that  unless  labor  is  reduced  to  a  condition  of  servitude,  the  amount  of  wages  to 
be  paid  and  the  amount  of  work  to  be  done  at  a  certain  price  must  always  remain  the 
objects  of  free  and  open  bargain.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  connection  between 
employer  and  employed  has  the  advantage  of  a  voluntary  association,  in  which  each 
party  is  conscious  of  benefit,  and  each  feels  that  his  own  welfare  depends,  to  a  great 
extent,  on  the  welfare  of  the  other.  But  the  instant  wages  ceases  to  be  a  bargain,  the 
instant  the  laborer  is  paid— not  according  to  his  value,  but  to  an  established  scale; 
both  employer  and  employed  are  no  longer  free  agents,  and  all  the  incentives  to  mutual 
advantages  are  taken  away,  and  the  kindness  which  naturally  arises  from  a  voluntary 
association,  as  well  as  the  mutual  benefits,  is  wanting.     ' 

It  must  also  be  conceded  that  trades  unions  and  associations  of  that  nature,  when 
properly  conducted,  are  designed  to  do  much  good.  They  will  prove  beneficial  in  edu- 
cating the  workmen,  in  inviting  discussion  respecting  proposals  advanced  looking  to  the 
elevation  of  labor — beneficial  in  assisting  members  to  obtain  employment,  beneficial  in 
bringing  before  the  public  their  wants  and  molding  public  opinion  in  favor  of  granting 
them — beneficial  from  a  political  point  of  view,  because  by  united  action  they  may 
obtain  legislation  which  as  individuals  they  could  not  secure.  But  when  they  go 
beyond  these  objects,  as  they  sometimes  do,  the  state,  rather  than  the  trades  unions,  is 
to  blame  in  not  making  adequate  provision  for  the  adjustment  of  differences  which  inev- 
itably grow  out  of  the  relation  of  capital  to  labor.  In  every  other  department  of  life 
the  differences  which  emanate  from  contractual  relations  are  regulated  by  common  or 
statute  law,  and  why  should  the  conflicts  arising  between  labor  and  capital  be  left  to 
the  will  or  caprice  of  the  haughty  capitalist  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  aggrieved  laborer, 
on  the  other  ?  ' 

The  right  to  enjoy  life  and  to  strive  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness  may  be  classed  among 
the  absolute  rights  $>f  man.  The  right  to  sustain  life  in  case  of  necessity  —  the  right  of 
a  starving  man  to  a  portion  of  his  neighbor's  food  —  is  paramount  to  all  human  enact- 
ments. But  the  right  to  live,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  does  not  mean 
merely  the  right  to  exist.  The  man  who  tills  the  soil,  the  man  who  forges  the  iron,  the 
man  who  pushes  the  plane,  ought  to  be  afforded  the  opportunity  of  providing  for  himself 
food,  raiment,  and  shelter.  Moreover,  as  the  family  is  ordained  of  God,  and  the  basis  of 
all  human  society,  the  head  of  the  family  is  not  only  entitled  to  all  these  things  for  him- 
self but  for  his  wife,  children,  and  all  those  of  his  household.  Hence  when  a  powerful 
manufacturer  draws  around  him  a  community  of  men,  women  and  children,  his  duty 
toward  them  is  not  fully  discharged  by  the  mere  payment  of  wages.  The  conditions 
which  he  has  created  impose  upon  him  corresponding  duties,  and  it  is  no  answer  to  the 
neglect  or  refusal  to  perform  them  to  say  that  they  are  not  imposed  by  the  law  of  the 
land,  or  that  they  do  not  grow  out  of  any  compact  or  agreement  with  the  community 
thus  organized. 

This  moral  duty  has  been  given  practical  effect,  with  excellent  results,  at  Essen  and 
Altendorf,  Germany.  For  example,  the  number  of  men  employed  by  the  Krupps  is 
25,200,  who,  with  their  families,  amount  to  87,900  people.  The  corporation  builds  and 
rents  all  dwellings  for  its  workmen,  provides  co-operative  stores,  and  boarding  accommo- 
dations for  unmarried  men,  and  attends  to  the  prevention  of  sickness  by  careful  sanitary 
regulations.  The  death  rate  is  smaller  than  any  other  community  in  Europe.  The  lives 
of  the  employes  are  required  to  be  insured,  and  in  addition  Mr.  Krupp  provides  pension 
and  relief  funds  for  the  injured  and  bereaved.  He  also  provides  schools  for  the  children 
of  his  employes,  and  churches  for  the  religious  training  of  all  connected  with  his  estab- 
lishment. 

The  Krupps  have  been  able,  through  their  social  work,  to  center  so  fully  the  interests 
of  their  employes  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  live,  and  so  to  unite  them  with  the 
interests  of  the  firm,  that  their  men  have  exhibited  less  desire  to  change  employment 
and  have  been  less  affected  by  labor  disturbances  than  in  any  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Co-operation  and  profit-sharing  have  been  conducted  with  satisfactory  results  in  many 
lines  of  industry  both  here  and  in  Europe,  and  from  the  harmony  existing  in  these  com- 
munities between  employer  and  the  employed,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  vexed  labor 
problem  may  be  solved  through  mutual  concessions  based  on  mutual  advantages.^ 

The  idea  of  master  and  servant  grows  out  of  the  domestic  relations,  and  while  it  may 
be  less  culpable  for  a  man  to  neglect  providing  for  the  support  and  comfort  of  his  serv- 


54  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ants  than  it  would  his  wife  and  children,  still  it  is  a  crime  against  the  natural  and 
divine  law  for  him  to  do  so.  Whoever  neglects  this  moral  duty  in  the  one  rase  is 
amenable  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  why  not  extend  that  law  to  include  tln.se  who  dis- 
regard it  in  the  other?  My  contention  is  that  what  has  been  accomplished  by  voluntary 
action,  and  as  a  moral  obligation  on  the  part  of  humane  employers,  might  be  enforced  as 
a  legal  duty  in  respect  to  those  who  regard  their  workmen  as  merchantable  commodities. 

In  the  abstract  it  is  perceived  that  everyone  has  a  natural  right  to  use  and  enjoy 
his  property  in  such  manner  as  he  pleases,  and  if  an  employer  of  labor  it  is  his  privilege 
to  employ  whom  he  will,  at  the  best  prices  he  may;  but  abstract  principles  and  natural 
rights  are  subordinate  to  the  laws  of  human  necessities  and  the  well-being  of  the  people. 
The  absolute  right  of  man  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  own  property  exists  only  in  a  state 
of  nature  where  no  relative  rights  intervene  and  so  long  as  he  is  able  to  defend  his  pos- 
session. But  as  soon  as  society  is  organized  and  the  individual  becomes  dependent 
upon  the  community  for  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  he  enjoys,  corresponding 
duties  arise,  which  grow  out  of  the  compact  and  are  binding  upon  him  whether  he  wills 
it  or  not,  and   whether  defined  by  law  or  stipulated  by  contract. 

Justice  to  labor  does  not  imperil  or  impair  capital.  The  stability  and  progress  of 
a  country  must  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  industrial  classes,  and  whether  the 
standing  of  the  working  population  is  to  be  debased  or  elevated  must  depend  upon  the 
relation  they  sustain  to  the  common  conditions  of  their  country.  Ownership  of  property 
is  the  true  status  of  liberty,  and  as  the  idea  of  home  is  the  initial  point  arountl  which 
clusters  every  ennobling  virtue,  it  should  be  the  duty  of  corporations  and  individuals 
who  establish  industrial  centers  and  manufacturing  communities  to  provide  homes  for 
men  and  families  engaged  in  their  employment.  All  honor  is  due  to  the  noble,  chari- 
table, and  humane  men  and  women  who  devote  their  time  and  contribute  their  means 
for  the  care,  nourishment,  and  comfort  of  children  whose  mothers  are  forced  to  toil  for 
bread,  but  there  should  be  no  occasion  for  the  infants'  corral  or  the  robust  man's  alms- 
house in  well -governed  communities.  Their  existence  belies  social  progress  and  is 
repugnant  to  the  plan  of  a  wisely  governed  state. 

The  highway  of  nations  is  strewn  with  the  ruins  of  the  democracies  of  the  past. 
Their  decline  and  fall  can  be  truthfully  ascribed  to  the  defect  in  their  policy,  which, 
while  recognizing  and  protecting  political  equality,  failed  to  provide  for  an  equality  of 
conditions  such  as  would  have  prevented  the  conflicts  between  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
conflicts  which  grow  into  the  revolution  that  results  in  despotism.  The  struggle 
between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  between  those  who  own  property  and  those  without 
property,  is  now  more  general,  if  net  more  alarming,  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  This  struggle  must  increase  in  scope  and  intensity  until  in  our  political 
economy  man  is  acknowledged  to  be  superior  to  wealth,  and,  as  a  consequence,  that  the 
rights  of  the  many  are  paramount  to  the  privileges  of  the  few.  Then  will  follow  the 
complete  emancipation  of  labor  from  the  practical  ownership  which  now  holds  it  in 
bondage,  and  unto  it  will  be  given  an  equitable  portion  of  the  wealth  it  produces  in 
alliance  with  capital. 

So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  the  conflicts  between 
employer  and  employed  rind  their  origin  in  the  false  relations  existing  between  the 
people  and  the  land,  and  between  labor  and  capital;  and  until  we  unite  labor  and  capi- 
tal in  a  closer  union  based  upon  a  more  equitable  division  of  profits,  and  effect  a  more 
general  distribution  of  the  land  among  the  subordinate  holders  of  power,  these  evils  will 
be  intensified  even  unto  the  utter  destruction  of  our  democracy. 

Next  to  the  right  of  life  and  liberty  there  is  nothing  so  sacred  to  an  American  as 
the  right  of  property;  and  in  our  efforts  to  rectify  the  wrongs  of  labor  and  to  bring 
about  a  more  equitable  division  of  the  land  among  the  people,  they  must  be  accom 
plished  not  by  subversion  of  justice,  not  by  invasion  of  right,  not  by  destruction  of 
tenures,  not  by  forfeiture  of  titles,  not  by  community  of  property,  not  by  single  tax 
upon  land,  not  by  shackling  individual  exertion,  not  by  blasting  personal  ambition,  not 
by  turning  the  hands  of  progress  back  upon  the  dial  of  time,  not  by  overthrowing  estab- 
lished institutions  which  have  been  replenished,  fostered,  and  fortified  by  the  worth  and 
wisdom  of  the  best  thinkers  and  purest  men  of  all  the  ages  that  have  gone  before,  but 
by  marching  onward  and  upward  along  the  lines  of  duty  and  law,  using  the  materials 
at  our  command  to  improve  the  condition  of  men  as  we  find  them. 

It  may  be  that  there  shall  come  no  time,  indeed,  when  there  will  not  be,  in  lament- 
able contrast,  poverty  and  wealth,  suffering  and  affluence,  misery  and  luxury.  It  may 
be  that  there  shall  come  no  day  which  will  not  see  one  class  of  men  with  only  the  labor 
of  their  hands  to  sell  and  another  whose  business  it  is  to  buy  this  primal  commodity; 
and  that  the  one  shall  endeavor  to  market  his  only  ware  at  the  highest  obtainable 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.    ,  55 

price,  and  the  instinct  of  greed  compel  the  other  to  buy  as  cheaply  as  he  can.  But  I 
believe  that  there  shall  be,  in  time  to  come,  a  vast  improvement  in  the  aggregate  com- 
fort and  independence  of  the  laboring  class,  between  the  power  of  money  in  that  coming 
day  and  its  influence  in  the  present.  Another  epoch,  as  I  believe,  will  turn  away  in 
horror  from  the  pestilential  tenement  houses  and  the  hordes  of  hungry  and  homeless 
ones  of  the  19th  century. 

The  troubles  and  dangers  that  confront  us  as  a  nation  must  be  met  and  conquered 
within  our  own  borders.  There  is  no  other  possible  escape.  Emigration  has  been  the 
safety  and  salvation  of  Eastern  lands.  There  can  be  no  emigration  from  America.  This 
is  the  Mecca  of  the  human  race,  the  final  resting-place  of  restless  humanity. 

Earth's  imperial  people  have  ever  moved  westward  as  if  impelled  by  a  resistless 
power  divine,  and  parallel  with  their  migrations  civilization  and  sovereignty  moved. 
The  world's  sceptre  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  earth.  First  raised  and  wielded  in 
Egypt,  it  passed  to  Greece,  from  Greece  to  Rome,  from  Rome  to  France,  from  France  to 
England,  and  from  England  it  is  passing  unto  America,  here  to  remain,  for  the  Orient 
is  just  beyond  us — the  land  where  it  first  arose.  By  the  logic  of  causes,  that  knows  no 
change,  the  solution  of  the  problem — mighty  and  grave — that  confronts  us  as  a  peoplo 
must  be  reached  through  agencies  of  our  own,  and  that  solution  not  only  involves  the 
life  of  the  nation,  but  comprehends  the  future  of  the  world. 

An  eloquent  and  instructive  review  was  that  of  the  Paulist  Father,  Rev. 
Walter  Elliott,  on  the  "  Missionary  Work  of  the  Church  in  the  United 
States."     It  ran  as  follows: 

FATHER    ELLIOTT    ON    CATHOLIC    MISSIONARY    WORK. 

He  stands  erect  and  has  a  far  outlook  whose  feet  rest  upon  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord.    The  ages  move  in  review,  the  nations  march  past;  his  outlook  is  universal. 

The  outlook  in  the  United  States  is  many  millions  of  independent  men  and  women 
whose  characteristics  are  liberty  and  intelligence.  Their  eternal  destiny  and  the  means 
of  arriving  at  it  are  eagerly  discussed,  but  amid  a  bewildering  conflict  of  opinions.  This 
most  modern  of  nations  yet  holds  to  a  vague  idea  of  Christ  as  the  world's  redeemer,  of 
the  Bible  as  God's  book;  for  the  rest,  the  only  common  creed  is  progress,  human  dignity, 
and  the  destiny  of  the  great  Republic.  Any  claimant  for  a  hearing  in  religious  matters 
must  before  all  else  be  able  to  square  his  fundamental  principles  with  these  beliefs. 

Catholics  are  mingled  among  this  people  in  the  proportion  of  about  one  to  six,  and 
are  the  only  perfectly  organized  body  of  Christians.  These  are  also  distinguished  by 
liberty  and  intelligence,  though  fully  half  are  new-comers  or  their  children.  They  are 
endowed  with  an  absolutely  certain  knowledge  of  man's  eternal  destiny  as  well  as  of  all 
the  means  of  arriving  at  it,  and  are  masters  of  the  most  renowned  of  intellectual  forces — 
the  faith  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  Roman  Church.  The  problem  is  how  to  place  this 
virtue  of  Catholic  faith  in  a  missionary  attitude  and  secure  it  a  hearing;  how  to  turn 
all  the  organic  and  personal  force  of  Catholic  faith  into  apostolic  zeal  for  the  eternal 
salvation  of  the  entire  nation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  are  only  beginning  to  act  as  if  we  felt  that  our  fellow-citi- 
zens were  our  brethren  in  sore  need  of  the  truth  of  God.  We  have  as  yet  failed,  as  a 
body,  to  take  the  entire  American  nation  into  account  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  have 
not  felt  it  a  duty  to  proclaim  to  them  that  the  certainty  of  Christ's  truth  is  with  us, 
that  the  pardon  of  sins  is  in  the  contrition,  confession,  and  satisfaction  of  the  sacrament 
of  penance,  that  the  union  of  their  souls  with  God  is  in  the  communion  of  his  Son's 
body  and  blood  in  the  Eucharist — and  the  other  necessary  means  of  enlightenment  and 
sanctitication. 

The  problem  is,  how  to  induce  Catholics  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  non -Catholics, 
and  to  realize  that  until  they  offer  them  the  true  religion  there  is  a  cloud  upon  their 
own  title  to  it. 

God  would  have  us  missionaries  to  the  American  people.  Does  any  Catholic  dare 
to  contradict  that?     If  so,  let  us  hear  from  him. 

Suppose  that  my  neighbor's  house  and  mine  were  separated  by  a  dense  wood,  and 
that  some  morning  I  should  wake  to  find  a  noble  avenue  cut  through  between  us;  what 
would  such  a  miracle  mean?  That  God  willed  me  to  make  my  neighbor  my  friend,  to 
visit  him  familiarly,  and  to  love  him.  God  has  done  more  than  this  with  Catholics  and 
non-Catholics  in  America,  and  by  community  of  all  that  is  good  in  civil  and  industrial 
life,  by  close  social  ties  and  personal  friendships,  has  opened  our  hearts  mutually  to 
each  other.    Let  us  be  friends  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term,  the  religious. 

The  dense  and  tangled  forest  of  prejudice  has  already  been  pierced.    That  vice  of 


56 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


honest  minds  is  now  chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  more  ignorant.  Few  converts  but 
will  tell  you  that  their  first  step  was  surprise  that  Catholics  had  been  falsely  accused. 
There  are  men  and  women  all  round  us  who  have  but  to  learn  just  what  we  are  as  a 
religious  body,  to  be  led  on  to  conversion;  they  already  know  that  we  have  been  basely 
calumniated.  In  the  better  class  of  minds  we  shall  have  to  contend  mainly  with  such 
difficulties  as  lie  in  the  way  of  all  supernatural  religion — timidity,  dread  of  the  mysteri- 
ous or  a  false  view  of  reason's  prerogatives,  unwillingness  to  submit  to  the  unchangeable 
truth.  And  in  a  multitude  of  other  cases  men  and  women  fail  to  become  Catholics  only 
for  the  same  reason  that  many  of  our  own  people  refuse  to  be  good  Catholics — worldli- 
ness,  sensuality,  fastidious  objection  to  our  vulgar  crowds,  family  pride,  human  respect. 
St.  Paul's  example  shows  how  to  deal  with  these:  "  And  as  he  reasoned  of  temperance, 
and  righteousness,  and  judgment  to  come,  Felix  trembled."  If  even  that  wretched 
bribe-taker  trembled,  our  honest  fellow-citizens  will  do  more.  Let  us  but  manage  to 
bring  to  bear  a  patient  and  intelligent  exposition  of  what  our  religion  actually  does  for 
us  in  our  inner  and  outer  life,  and  then  a  realization  of  the  need  of  salvation,  the  short- 
ness of  life,  and  the  rigors  of  the  judgment  will  do  the  rest. 

There  can  be  but  one  excuse  for  a  Catholic,  especially  one  of  intelligence,  and  above 
all  a  priest,  not  addressing  our  erring  brethren:  that  they  can  not  be  induced  to  listen  to 
him.  And  who  has  ever  fairly  sought  a  hearing  and  been  denied  it?  How  many 
instances  are  there  where  men  of  no  peculiar  gifts  have  filled  their  churches,  and 
even  public  halls,  with  audiences  full  of  Protestants,  giving  respectful  attention  to 
Catholic  truth.  The  trouble  is  not  want  of  audiences,  but  want  of  men  and  methods 
persistently  to  follow  up  the  work. 

The  collapse  of  dogmatic  Protestantism  is  our  opportunity.  Denominations,  and 
"  creeds,"  and  "  schools,"  and  "  confessions  "  are  going  to  pieces  before  our  eyes.  Great 
men  built  them,  and  little  men  can  demolish  them.  This  new  nation  can  not  but  regard 
with  disdain  institutions  hardly  double  its  own  short  life,  and  yet  utterly  decrepit; 
can  not  but  regard  with  awe  an  institution  in  whose  life  the  great  Republic  could  have 
gone  through  its  career  nearly  a  score  of  times.  I  tell  you  that  the  vigor  of  national 
youth  must  be  amazed  at  the  freshness  of  perennial  religion,  and  must  soon  salute  it  as 
divine.  The  dogmas  of  older  Protestantism  are  fading  out  of  our  people's  minds,  or  are 
being  thrust  out.  It  is  not  against  the  religion  of  men's  ancestors,  but  against  each 
one's  religion  of  yesterday,  as  unsteady  in  grasp  as  it  is  recent  in  acquisition,  that  we 
have  to  contend — we  who  speak  for  Him  who  is  of  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  the  same 
forever. 

Consider,  then,  how  it  is  with  our  noble-hearted  friends:  in  their  case  it  is  religion 
wandering  here  and  there  in  search  of  a  Church.  How  many  earnest  souls  are  about 
us,  weary  of  doubtful  teachings,  glad  to  harken  to,  ay  and  to  believe,  anyone  who 
promises  them  relief. 

See,  too,  and  admire,  how  their  religious  instincts  strive  after  organic  life.  As 
Calvinism  dies,  Christian  Endeavor  is  born  and  counts  a  million  members  in  a  day — good 
works  making  little  of  faith,  as  at  first  faith  made  little  of  good  works.  See  that  while 
Methodism  leaves  the  slums  and  is  petrifying  in  lordly  temples  and  in  universities,  the 
Salvation  Army  scours  the  gutters  it  has  turned  from  with  loathing. 

I  tell  you  that  the  people  around  us  are  religious,  that  they  long  for  God  and  are 
ready  for  those  divine  rules  of  the  higher  life  called  Catholicity. 

No  form  of  belief  faces  civilized  irreligion  with  half  the  courage  of  Catholicity.  A 
vigorous  man  exults  in  the  trial  of  his  strength.  It  is  incredible  that  an  intelligent 
Catholic  shall  not  command  the  attention  of  thoughtful  minds  on  questions  of  such 
absorbing  interest  as — What  becomes  of  our  dead? — Can  we  communicate  with  them? 
—Can  we  get  along  without  the  Bible?— What  think  you  of  Christ,  whose  son  is  He? 
We  have  the  truth  on  all  such  vital  questions;  Catholic  truth  is  simple,  accredits  itself, 
and  is  in  the  highest  degree  commendatory  of  the  Church  as  compared  with  the  Prot- 
estant denominations 

Onlymake  a  parallel  of  Catholic  principles  and  American  fundamental  ideas  on 
human  dignity,  and  you  will  perceive  that  we  are  up  to  the  times  and  kindred  to  the 
nation.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  Republic  shall  be  made  Catholic  if  we  love 
its  people  as  God  would  have  us. 

We  are  right,  and  we  can  prove  it.  How  very  much  that  means.  It  is  God's  will 
with  men  that  those  who  are  right  shall  know  how  to  prove  it,  and  those  who  are  wrong 
shall  be  brought  to  listen  to  them.  If  all  that  we  had  to  give  were  a  right  scheme  of 
social  amelioration,  we  should  win  the  people,  because  we  should  be  right;  or  if  it  were 
a  true  discovery  of  how  to  fully  develop  electrical  forces,  we  should  win  the  world  of 
science  and  industry.    But  oh!  it  is  the  true  religion  of  God  about  which  we  are  right 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  57 

—every  man's  sorest  need,  every  man's  sweetest  joy.  That  is  in  our  case  the  tremendous 
meaning  of  the  claim,  We  are  right,  and  we  can  prove  it.  The  cruel  fact  is  that 
dreamers  of  social  reform  work  harder  and  succeed  better  than  we  who  are  the  children 
of  light,  and  they  whose  only  end  is  money  are  the  best  models  in  our  day  of  devoted 
and  well-directed  endeavor. 

Why,  when  it  was  to  fly  in  the  face  of  high  Rome,  tp  be  burned  to  death,  to  be 
devoured  by  wild  beasts,  countless  thousands  yearly  rushed  into  the  Church.  And  now 
it  is  to  float  into  the  heaven  of  peace  and  joy,  it  is  to  taste  the  sweetness  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  without  any  persecution,  it  is  to  embrace  a  religion  whose  dogma  of 
human  dignity  and  equality— listen  to  Leo  XIII.  as  he  expounds  it!— adds  to  American 
greatness  the  placit  of  higher  Rome. 

I  do  not  want  to  believe  those  prophets  of  ill-omen  who  tell  us  that  we  are  shortly 
to  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  nation  which  has  lost  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  its  redeemer,  which  knows  no  heaven  or  hell  but  the  sorrows  and  joys  of  this  fleeting 
life;  but  there  is  much  to  confirm  that  gloomy  view.  And  what  voice  shall  call  them 
back  from  so  dark  a  doom  but  the  trumpet  note  of  Catholic  truth?  Who  should  be 
foremost  in  print  and  on  platform  and  in  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  pleading  for 
Christ  and  offering  his  promises  of  eternal  joy,  if  not  Catholic  bishops,  priests, 
and  laity? 

The  first  element  of  hope  in  any  enterprise  is  that  the  right  sort  of  men  and  women 
are-  undertaking  it.  The  sanctified  soul  makes  the  best  missionary.  Good  men  and 
women  are  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  it 
enlightens  me;  but  a  zealous  Christian  is  another  Christ  to  me.  The  union  of  men  with 
truth  is  not  union  with  books,  or  even  ideas,  but  with  God,  and  with  each  other;  and 
that  immediately. 

The  diffusion  of  Catholics  among  non-Catholics  makes  a  personal  and  independent 
tone  of  Catholicity  necessary  in  any  case,  but  it  also  distributes  missionaries  every- 
where, independent  religious  characters  who  can  maintain  the  truth  with  the  least 
possible  external  help.  It  is  God's  way.  One  by  one  men  are  born,  become  conscious  of 
responsibility,  die,  are  judged.  One  by  one,  and  by  personal  influence,  non-Catholics 
are  made  aware  that  they  are  wrong ;  and  then  one,  and  again  another,  of  their  Catholic 
friends  personally  influences  them  to  understand  that  Catholicity  is  right. 

Combined  action  can  do  much,  but  the  supreme  combination  is  that  of  virtue,  and 
sympathetic  interest  in  a  single  person.  Family,  social,  business  relations  are  made  by 
Providence  for  this  end;  that  they  may  become  channels  of  heavenly  influence. 

Councils  have  done  much  for  religion,  but  men  and  women  have  done  more,  for 
they  made  the  councils.  There  were  great  councils  during  the  two  hundred  years 
before  Trent,  and  with  them,  and  between  them,  matters  grew  worse.  Why  did  Trent 
succeed? — held  amid  wars,  interrupted,  almost  disjointed.  Because  the  right  sort  of 
men  at  last  had  come:  popes,  bishops,  theologians.  It  was  not  new  enactments  that 
saved  us  but  new  men — Ignatius  and  Philip  Neri,  Teresa  and  Francis  de  Sales,  and 
Vincent  de  Paul,  and  their  like. 

The  real  force  of  life  is  personal,  is  soul  upon  soul,  and  must  be  our  real  missionary 
force. 

Catholics  are,  therefore,  to  be  made  missionary  by  personal  qualities  which  shall 
attract  their  non-Catholic  acquaintances — the  American  virtue  of  self-control,  independ- 
ence of  character,  love  of  liberty  and  of  intelligence,  these  must  shine  out  with  a 
Catholic  lustre.  To  them  must  be  added  other  natural  virtues  dear  to  our  countrymen, 
such  as  truthfulness,  candor,  temperance,  industry,  fair  dealing;  these  must  find  heroes 
and  exemplars  plentifully  among  us.  All  this  is  necessary  to  introduce  the  super- 
natural life,  divine  faith,  and  hope,  and  love;  Catholic  unity;  confession  and  communion. 
"First  the  natural  man  and  then  the  spiritual  man,"  says  the  apostle.  Give  us  fer- 
vent Catholics  who  are  typical  Americans,  and  brotherly  love  will  do  the  rest.  If 
non-Catholics  are  felt  to  be  brethren  by  nationality,  soon  St.  John's  test  will  claim  its 
application:  "  We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  to  life  because  we  love  the 
brethren." 

Interest  in  the  advancement  of  God's  kingdom  must  become  a  note  of  personal 
Catholicity.  We  must  open  our  hearts  to  non-Catholics  as  to  brothers  and  sisters;  each 
of  them  who  reaches  the  circle  of  our  influence  must  feel  our  kindly  interest  in  his 
religious  state,  if  it  be  no  more  than  sympathy  with  bis  sincere  belief  in  what  is  common 
to  all. 

The  men  and  women  who  are  right  will  persuade  those  who  are  wrong,  if  they  want 
to.  Truth  is  mighty;  but  that  means  truth  thrilling  upon  the  lips  of  men  and  women, 
gleaming  in  their  eyes,  beautiful  in  their  lives.    We  need  not  pray  for  orators;  he  that 


5S 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


speaks  f;om  the  heart  is  eloquent  enough.  If  a  man  loves  American  souls  because 
Christ  died  for  them,  he  will  win  his  way  to  save  them. 

The  personal  use  we  make  of  the  truth  of  God  is  a  good  test  of  our  valuation  of  it. 
It  is  this  way  in  the  gift  of  the  truth:  if  it  is  not  worth  sharing  it  is  not  worth  keeping. 
A  people  not  eager  to  share  Catholicity  with  kindly  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  are  not 
likely  to  live  up  to  it  themselves;  certainly  they  are  not  worthy  to  enjoy  it,  much  less 
to  transmit  it  to  their  children. 

The  biographer  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  speaking  of  the  singular  power  and  warmth  of 
the  saint's  heart-beat,  says  that  "when  he  knew  anyone  to  be  tempted,  especially  with 
sensual  temptations,  he  would  draw  him  tenderly  to  his  breast,  and  so  dispel  the  tempta- 
tion at  once,  and  fill  his  soul  with  a  sweet  serenity  and  heavenly  peace."  Take  your 
doubting  non-Catholic  friend  to  your  heart,  at  least  figuratively,  and  your  words  by 
their  very  tones  of  sympathy  will  dispel  his  errors. 

The  following  lines  from  Cardinal  Newman,  entitled  "  The  Religion  of  Cain,"  and 
headed  by  the  text  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  "  are  instructive: 

The  time  has  been,  it  seemed  a  precept  plain 

Of  the  true  Faith,  Christ's  tokens  to  display; 
And  in  life's  commerce  still  the  thought  retain. 

That  men  have  souls  and  wait  a  judgment  day; 
Kings  used  their  gifts  as  ministers  of  heaven, 
Nor  stripped  their  zeal  for  God  of  means  which  God  had  given. 

'Tis  altered  now;  for  Adam's  eldest  born 

Has  trained  our  practice  in  a  selfish  rule- 
Each  stands  alone,  Christ's  bonds  asunder  torn; 

Each  has  his  private  thought,  selects  his  school. 
Conceals  his  creed  and  lives  in  closest  tie 
Of  fellowship  with  those  who  count  it  blasphemy. 

Brothers!  spare  reasoning;  men  have  settled  long 

i  hat  ye  are  out  of  date  and  they  are  wise; 
Use  their  own  weapons;  let  your  words  be  strong, 

Your  cry  be  loud,  till  each  sacred  boaster  flies. 
Thus  the  Apostles  tamed  the  pagan  breast. 
They  argued  not  but  preached;  and  conscience  did  the  rest. 

Religion  can  not  exist  in  the  soul  without  a  principle  of  fecundity  by  which  it 
demands  to  be  communicated.  Selfishness,  besides  being  a  vice,  is  a  malady.  It  was 
the  primary  evil  of  Protestantism,  and  it  has  proved  its  ruin.  The  Bible  is  the  com- 
mon heritage  of  God's  children;  the  Reformers  made  it  each  man's  private  property; 
hence  disunion  and  then  doubt.  And  any  Catholic  who  fancies  that  he  can  use  his 
Faith  as  if  it  were  his  own  exclusive  property  is  in  error,  and  is  in  danger  of  being 
decatholicized. 

The  missionary  spirit  is  needed  for  our  own  inner  life,  in  order  that  racial,  local, 
family  influences  may  be  restricted  to  their  subordinate  spheres.  These  tend  to  sup- 
plant the  universal.  Nothing  tends  to  make  a  man  universal,  catholic,  better  than  the 
noble  virtue  of  zeal  for  souls.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  who  hath  found  a  new  friend  "  i& 
perfectly  true  in  its  converse:  blessed  is  the  man  who  is  true  friend  to  another. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  therefore,  that  a  spirit  of  defense  is  riot  the  missionary  spirit,  but 
one  of  aggressive  charity.  The  dread  of  defection,  and  the  tendency  to  mournful  exer- 
cises of  reparation,  indicate  a  tone  of  mind  quite  unmissionary.  Catholic  Faith  is  too 
often  and  too  closely  identified  with  religious  traditions  and  practices  brought  from  the- 
Old  World,  producing  a  narrow  and  suspicious  disposition.  The  sensation  of  exile  is 
injurious  to  the  missionary  vocation.  "  To  the  Greek  and  to  the  barbarian,  to  the  wise 
and  to  the  unwise,  I  am  a  debtor." 

To  my  mind  our  very  dissensions,  whether  on  matters  of  principle  or  of  policy,  are 
reason  for  encouragement,  for  they  have  shown  an  independence  of  conviction  which 
yields  to  no  human  tribunal,  and  in  bowing  to  a  divine  tribunal  does  so  frankly  and 
without  cringing.  Turn  this  independence  of  thought  into  missionary  channels,  and 
the  results  will  be  equal  to  our  deep  personal  sincerity  multiplied  by  the  incalculable 
power  of  our  divine  organization. 

How  to  go  to  work  is  an  easy  problem,  since  we  have  a  perfect  organization  which 
can  utilize  the  resources  of  modern  civilization.  Let  us  but  have  the  determined  pur- 
pose— the  men  of  action  bent  upon  success — and  the  ways  and  means  are  the  divine 
methods  of  the  Church  and  the  modern  opportunities  of  the  press,  the  platform,  and 
the  incessant  intercommunication  of  all  classes  in  America. 

American  bishops,  priests,  and  laity  working  together  in  an  apostolic  spirit  will 
missionize  the  entire  land  in  half  a  decade  of  years.  The  immediate  effect  will  be  to 
throw  every  form  of  error  upon  the  defensive,  to  set  every  religiously  disposed  person  to- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  59 

sorting  out  and  dividing  calumny  from  fact,  to  start  a  small  and  perceptible  stream  of 
conversions  in  every  locality.  It  seems  like  a  dream,  but  it  is  really  a  vision  of  the 
future,  and  the  not  distant  future  either.  Having  done  nothing,  we  have  many  thou- 
sands of  converts.     What  may  we  not  hope  from  a  universal  apostolate? 

If  what  I  have  been  saying  is  true,  the  practical  suggestion  which  follows  is  that 
every  diocese  should  have  at  least  one  or  two  priests  who  shall  be  exclusively  missionary 
— I  mean,  of  course,  secular  priests,  and  missionaries  to  non-Catholics. 

As  the  bishop  has  one  of  his  more  experienced  clergy  to  do  bishop's  work  as  Vicar- 
General,  one  of  the  younger  priests  to  do  bishop's  work  as  secretary,  an  expert  to  do 
bishop's  legal  work  as  chancellor,  so  should  there  be  ope  or  two  priests  to  do  bishop's 
work  as  missionary  to  his  "  other  sheep  not  of  this  fold,"  wholly  devoted  to  arousing  the 
consciences  of  non-Catholics.  If  there  is  an  administrative  need  of  help,  and  an  epis- 
tolary and  a  legal  need  of  help,  so  is  there  a  missionary  one. 

And  this  is  the  answer  to  the  difficulty.  "  The  bishop  hasn't  got  priests  enough  to 
take  care  of  the  parishes."  If  this  were  absolutely  true  he  would  dismiss  his  secretary 
to  a  parish,  recall  the  professors  in  the  seminary  to  parishes;  if  he  can  not  take  care  of 
the  necessary  routine  and  educational  work  of  the  diocese  without  sharing  it  with  the 
priests,  neither  can  he  the  apostolic  work  without  a  missionary.  Or  is  it  not  to  be 
deemed  a  necessary  work?  Did  the  Holy  Ghost  say  only  that  bishops  were  to  rule  the 
Church  of  God  committed  to  them?  Who  was  it  that  said,  "  Go  forth  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature?  "  Have  this  and  kindred  texts  no  meaning  for 
the  Church  in  America? 

The  diocesan  missionary  should  be  the  bishop's  right  arm,  as  the  Roman  Propa- 
ganda is  the  Pope's. 

What  can  a  priest  do  in  his  parish?  He  can  give  courses  of  doctrinal  sermons, 
inviting  the  presence  of  all  thinking  men  and  women  through  the  press — or  he  can  get 
his  neighbors  to  do  this  in  his  church  for  him.  He  can  act  and  look  and  speak  as 
belonging  to  this  people  and  nation,  deeply  in  the  common  welfare.  He  is  the  appointed 
champion  of  religion  and  morality  in  his  parish,  and  he  should  act  accordingly.  He 
should  be  the  public  foe  of  all  vice.  In  him  gambling,  and  saloon-keeping  and  saloon- 
going,  bribe-taking,  and  oath-breaking,  should  find  their  bitterest  antagonist.  He 
should  be  the  known  advocate  of  every  good  cause  of  whatever  kind — well  known  as  the 
friend  of  all  good  men.  "I  became  all  things  to  all  men  that  I  might  gain  some" — a 
saying  often  quoted,  little  understood,  and  less  practiced. 

All  this  is  parochial  duty  anyway;  but  it  is  pertinent  to  our  subject  that  such  con- 
duct builds  the  Catholic  priest  a  pulpit  in  every  household  in  his  town,  and  enables  him 
to  introduce  the  Catholic  religion  to  men's  notice  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances. 

The  parish  priest  should  watch  the  local  papers,  and  defend  and  advocate  the 
truths  of  religion,  natural  and  revealed.  He  should  carefully  provide  that  Catholic 
journals  come  to  each  family,  and  see  to  the  distribution  of  the  printed  truth  gener- 
ally. 

And  this  opens  to  view  one  of  the  mightiest  of  apostolates — the  Apostolate  of  the 
Press. 

In  most  places  the  secular  press  carefully  excludes  everything  hostile  to  Catholic- 
ity, and  opens  its  columns  to  communications  from  respectable  Catholics,  especially  the 
clergy.  Oh!  why  is  not  this  golden  and  universal  opportunity  better  utilized?  There 
are  multitudes  of  converts  who  were  first  drawn  to  us  by  a  paragraph  in  the  daily 
paper. 

A  small  band  of  laymen  in  the  city  of  St.  Paul  put  their  heads  together  and  then 
their  limited  means,  and  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  is  the  result,  beginning 
a  glorious  propaganda  of  the  printed  truth.  One  man  in  New  Orleans,  Judge  Frank 
McGloin,  has  devoted  the  recent  years  of  his  life  to  the  same  work,  and  with  marvelous 
success.  Faithful  souls  are  to  be  found  in  every  parish  who  ask,  "  What  can  we  do  to 
save  our  neighbors  and  friends?  "  The  answer  is  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press.  The 
Catholic  weekly  and  monthly  press  has  a  limitless  missionary  field,  and  is  daily  seeing 
its  way  better  to  cultivate  it. 

What  gives  much  promise  is  that  the  Apostolate  of  Prayer  is  spreading  everywhere. 
Many  if  not  all  the  contemplative  communities  are  engaged  in  it,  and  most  heartily  so. 
Men  and  women  everywhere  are  being  stirred  by  a  secret  thought — Let  us  pray  for 
conversions.  Those  actively  engaged  say — Will  they  accept  a  book,  leaflet,  a  Catholic 
magazine?  If  so,  I  leave  to  God  the  rest.  Give  me  a  non-Catholic  audience,  says  the 
apostolical  priest,  and  I  leave  to  God  the  rest;  it  is  God's  will  that  I  should  seek  a 
hearing  from  them.      Prayer  will  do  the  rest.      As  a  result  of  this  apostolate  of  prayer, 


6o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  and  women  will  everywhere  arise  among  us  gifted  from  on  high  with  a  life  mi  I 
to  impart  the  truth  to  their  fellow-countrymen. 

You  see,  then,  how  to  go  about  it.  Not  alone  by  spasmodic  efforts  of  zeal  (th 
even  these  are  useful),  not  only  by  starting  societies  (though  there  is  a  wide  field  for  all 
such,  new  and  old),  but  each  Catholic  must  have  a  missionary  element  in  his  personal 
belief  and  practice  of  religion.  And  the  Church  is  herself  essentially  a  missionary  soci- 
ety, not  excepting  her  ordinary  form  of  diocese  and  parish.  Utilize  this  divine  mission- 
ary society  to  its  full  capacity,  but  above  all  encourage  personal  zeal. 

Let  every  parish  have  its  stated  courses  of  lectures  and  sermons  for  non-Catholics, 
and  public  prayers  for  their  conversion,  just  as  regular  as  the  yearly  Forty  Hours' 
Devotions  and  the  Lenten  and  Advent  courses.  Let  there  be  a  class  of  converts  in  all 
the  larger  parishes. 

Let  every  Catholic  periodical  have  its  convert's  department. 

Let  every  diocese  have  at  least  one  diocesan  missionary. 

Let  every  family  have  its  little  library  of  doctrinal  and  controversial  books  and 
pamphlets,  its  Catholic  paper  and  magazine;  every  man  and  woman  their  little  list  of 
non-Catholic  friends  for  whom  they  are  ever  praying  and  ever  asking  prayers,  to  whom 
they  are  ever  talking  and  ever  lending  books. 

Let  the  entire  American  Church  face  onward  and  move  on,  working  and  praying, 
toward  the  greatest  victory  of  the  Holy  Spirit  this  thousand  years — the  conversion  of 
the  great  Republic. 

Of  course  objections  are  heard.  For  example:  Keep  to  your  place.  I  dread  lest 
you  will  precipitate  a  public  controversy  in  my  parish.  You  are  taking  on  yourself  the 
work  of  the  bishops.  Why  don't  the  bishops  do  it?  Why  don't  the  priests  take  up  the 
work?  Why  don't  the  laity  do  their  part?  It's  dangerous  to  make  experiments. 
Where's  your  eloquence?  Where's  your  learning?  *  Have  you  ever  made  a  course  of 
philosophy?  Don't  be  a  crank,  don't  attempt  the  impossible.  Don't  be  deluded  by 
your  study  of  early  days — the  Church  is  not  what  it  once  was.  (That  is  to  confess  that 
it  is  now  racial  and  not  universal,  no  longer  youthful,  but  old  and  stiff-jointed.  Our 
Holy  Mother,  the  Church,  has  passed  the  age  of  child-bearing.)  Be  safe.  There  s  a  line 
in  the  way.  Where's  the  money  to  come  from?  Are  you  the  dynamite  that's  going  to 
blow  up  the  Presbyterian  religion,  the  Episcopal,  the  Baptist,  the  Methodist — or  the 
big  religion  which  says  mind  your  own  business?  John  Hughes  failed,  John  England 
and  Martin  Spalding  failed — are  you  impertinent  enough  to  think  you  can  succeed? 

Or  other  objections:  They  don't  want  you — they  have  no  use  for  Catholicity. 
Establish  my  little  sodality — that's  the  best  thing  to  do.  They  are  a  rotten  race  and 
totally  depraved;  let's  huddle  ourselves  and  our  little  ones  away  from  them,  or  they 
will  contaminate  us.  They  are  as  bad  as  outright  apostates,  nearly  all  in  bad  faith.  A 
race  that  once  has  renounced  the  truth  has  never  been  known  to  return  to  it,  etc. 

Yes.  Appeals  to  cowardice.  Appeals  to  race  hatred,  to  sloth,  to  despair.  Such 
croakings  once  had  weight,  but  that  day  is  passed. 

We  everywhere  behold  signs  of  the  opposite  spirit.  The  diocese  of  Covington  is 
given  a  farm,  and  the  bishop  sets  it  apart  to  support  missionaries  to  non-Catholics. 

Another  bishop  has  engaged  a  missionary  to  assemble  and  address  non-Catholic 
audiences  in  public  halls  in  the  smaller  towns  of  his  diocese;  and  several  other  bishops 
would  be  glad  to  make  the  same  arrangement. 

A  zealous  parish  priest  is  inspired  to  pray  for  conversions,  and  from  looking  about 
him  for  company  he  prints  a  little  prayer,  and  in  less  than  a  year  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  it  are  asked  for  and  distributed. 

For  the  colored  non-Catholics  there  is  a  young  society,  the  Josephites,  small  in 
number  but  full  of  courage  and  hope,  and  equipped  with  a  college  and  seminary  for  the 
training  of  missionaries.  Associated  with  them  is  a  body  of  apostolic  women,  the 
Mission  Helpers.  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  hath  filled  the  whole  earth,"  and  "  his  gifts 
and  calling  are  without  repentance, " 

Multitudes  among  the  surging  crowds  about  us  are  now  subject  to  a  mysterious 
yearning  toward  the  ancient  religion  of  God,  the  ever-youthful  Bride  of  the  Lamb. 
One  word  from  your  heart,  one  glimpse  of  your  shining  altar,  and  the  riddle  of  life  is 
solved.  All  about  us  are  minds  darkened  by  passion,  enslaved  by  lust,  blinded  by  pride 
of  wealth,  in  despair  from  poverty,  sickness,  disgrace;  you  have  the  cure  upon  your 
tongue  if  you  have  the  love  in  your  heart.  They  need  the  grace  of  God  a  thousand 
times  more  than  you  do.     Will  you  not  strive  to  give  it  to  them? 

They  suffer  from  the  deep  wounds  of  adversity,  and  have  no  such  balm  of  con- 
solation as  your  good  confession  and  happy  communion.  The  toys  of  prosperity  mislead 
them,  for  they  have  no  such  appreciation  of  the  transitoriness  of    this  life   as  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  6"i 

Catholic  religion  imparts.  They  are  just  beginning  life,  and  you  offer  them  not  the 
chart  and  comfort  of  heavenly  truth — you  who  read  the  heavens  and  who  know  the 
paths  of  the  great  deep.  They  are  dying  on  the  burning  desert,  and  you  will  not  cry 
out  to  them,  Ho  ye  that  thirst!  come  to  the  waters. 

How  many  of  them  look  into  human  life  and  behold  only  vice  and  its  writhing 
victims,  and  beyond  this  life  only  the  blank  of  agnosticism;  and  you  can  people  the  air 
about  them  with  many  thousands  of  the  angels,  and  the  spirits  of  the  just  made 
perfect. 

Young  men  are  there,  buffeting  the  flames  of  sensuality,  and  the  sacrament  of 
penance  with  its  unearthing  of  the  secret  demon,  and  its  finding  of  the  true  friend— 
which  of  you  will  not  tell  them  of  it?  It  saved  you  in  youth,  will  not  you  offer  it  to 
them?  How  can  we  enjoy  the  grace  of  God,  and  be  conscious  that  we  have  done 
positively  nothing  for  those  who  are  perishing  for  lack  of  it? 

Come,  then,  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  God!  .open  wide  your  eyes,  and  from  your 
mountain-tops  see  the  States  of  America  white  for  the  harvest.  "  And  Jesus  when  he 
came  out  saw  much  people,  and  was  moved  with  compassion  toward  them,  because 
they  were  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd,  and  he  began  to  teach  them  many  things." 
{Matt.  vi.  34.) 

Come,  ye  priests  of  God,  and  join  your  voice  with  him  who  said:  "  And  other  sheep 
I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold;  them  also  must  I  bring,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd." 

Come,  ye  men  and  women  of  the  faithful  laity,  and  join  the  glorious  work  of  con- 
verting America;  for  the  spirit  of  God  is  waiting  to  choose  you  all  to  be  his 
messengers. 

"  Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song:  sing  unto  the  Lord  all  the  earth.  Sing  unto  the 
Lord,  bless  his  name,  declare  well  his  salvation  from  day  to  day,  declare  his  glory 
among  the  nations,  among  all  people  his  wonderful  things."    (Ps.  96.)- 

We  may  find  no  more  fitting  place  for  an  admirable  paper  by  George  Par- 
sons Lathrop,  the  distinguished  New  England  convert,  on  the  "  Conse- 
quences and  Results  of  the  Discovery  of  the  New  World."  It  ran  as 
follows: 

GEORGE    PARSONS    LATHROP'S    ADDRESS. 

To  trace  the  consequences  to  religion,  brought  about  by  the  discovery  of  America, 
would  indeed  be  a  long  and  laborious  task.  Those  consequences,  as  I  understand 
the  term,  were  immediate  influences  on  the  human  mind,  and  on  human  action.  Under 
this  head  must  be  ranged  the  prodigious  stir  caused  in  Europe  by  the  finding  of 
another  continent;  the  quickening  of  thought,  the  wider  views  it  produced,  and  the 
fresh  openings  it  made  for  worldly  ambition  or  energy,  as  well  as  for  piety,  charity,  and 
zeal. 

The  greed  or  enterprise  of  monarchs  and  merchants,  of  explorers,  soldiers,  advent- 
urers, formed  a  part  of  the  consequences  that  worked  their  effort  at  least  on  the  out- 
ward history  of  religion.  But  what  is  more  important  is  that  the  voyage  of  Columbus, 
prompted  by  an  over-ruling  desire  to  serve  the  cause  of  Christ — and  aided  in  the  same 
spirit  by  the  benignant  will  of  Isabella  the  Catholic — opened  the  channel  for  a  new,  a 
deep,  and  steady  outpour  of  that  apostolic  zeal  always  inherent  in  the  Church. 

Nature  abhors  a  vacuum;  and  so  does  religion,  which  always  rushes  in  to  fill  the 
void  of  heathen  ignorance  or  agnostic  misbelief.  The  Church  in  the  Old  World,  there- 
fore, was  thrilled  and  aroused  by  a  desire  to  occupy  and  illuminate  the  whole  of  Amer- 
ica with  Christian  life  and  knowledge.  This  was  a  consequence  of  farthest  reach;  and 
afterward  it  branched  out  in  many  other  directions.  The  work  and  the  triumph  of 
Columbus  gave  a  powerful  stimulus  to  further  voyages,  and  to  commerce  with  distant 
places,  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  We  may  say  that  the  great  Admiral's  flag,  as  it 
fluttered  over  the  Atlantic  solitudes,  became  a  signal  which,  in  the  next  two  centuries, 
was  answered  by  hundreds  of  pennants  hovering  in  remote  seas,  and  marking  the  bil- 
lowy paths  pursued  by  countless  missionaries. 

It  is  impossible,  in  a  short  paper  like  this,  to  discuss  the  first  part  of  the  subject 
with  anything  like  fullness;  and  the  question  of  results  is  that  which  will  need  most 
attention. 

Consequences  are  the  rush  of  the  torrent  of  deeds,  as  it  cleaves  its  way.  Results 
msj"  be  likened  to  the  fixed  course  of  the  stream,  after  it  has  found  its  bed;  together 
with  the  new  beauties  it  has  unfolded,  the  ruin  it  may  have  caused  at  certain  points,  or 


62  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  benefit  which  it  confers,  and  the  sparkling  gold  it  sometimes  brings  to  light.  Con- 
sequence is  motion,  following  from  a  first  motion,  a  current  of  actions  or  events. 
Result  is  the  fact  which  is  established  by  the  flowing  of  that  current.  Briefly,  lesults 
are  the  summing  up  of  consequences.  Hence,  it  is  chiefly  with  results  that  we  have 
now  to  deal. 

But,  first,  let  no  one  rest  content  or  indifferent  with  imagining  that  this  subject  is 
"un-practical."  I  know  it  is  often  said  of  congresses,  schools,  or  lectures,  that,  if  they 
do  not  incessantly  treat  the  hard,  gritty,  grubby  facts  which  confront  us  all  individually, 
in  our  business  or  professional  careers  and  daily  problems,  they  are  not  "  practical."  I 
fully  believe  in  the  value  and  necessity  of  the  immediate,  every-day,  direct  view  of 
things,  and  of  instruction  adapted  to  it.  But  that  is  simply  the  limited  "  practical." 
There  is  an  unlimited  practical,  which  is  far  more  comprehensive  and  just  as  necessary. 
And  nothing  can  be  more  unlimited  and  comprehensive  in  its  practicality  than  the  his- 
tory and  science  of  results. 

In  the  vast  field  at  which  we  are  glancing,  the  first  effect  to  be  observed  is  the 
reflex  action  of  the  discovery  of  America  upon  Europe;  and  then  Ave  have  to  note  the 
gradual  shaping  of  results  in  America  itself. 

Spain's  foothold  in  the  Western  hemisphere  added  immensely  to  her  power  among 
the  nations — a  fact  which  had  much  to  do  with  later  complications,  political  and 
religious.  The  jealousy  which  other  European  countries  felt  toward  the  peninsular 
empire,  on  account  of  this  increased  importance  and  control,  arrayed  some  of  them 
against  it  and  also  intensified  the  fervor  with  which  they  espoused  the  heresies  of  the 
"  Reformation,"  since  these  were  unrelentingly  combated  by  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Mot- 
ley, who  has  celebrated  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  the  story  of  the  United 
Netherlands  as  a  grand  campaign  of  Protestantism  in  conflict  with  Catholicity,  says  : 
"  The  object  of  the  war  between  the  Netherlands  and  Spain  was  not,  therefore,  primarily, 
a  rebellion  against  established  authority,  for  the  maintenance  of  civil  rights.  To  pre- 
serve these  rights  was  secondary.  The  first  cause  was  religion.  The  provinces  had 
been  fighting  for  years  against  the  Inquisition.  Had  they  not  taken  arms,  the  Inqui- 
sition would  have  been  established  iu  the  Netherlands,  and  very  probably  in  England, 
and  England  might  have  become  in  its  turn  a  province  of  the  Spanish  Empire." 

This,  to  Motley,  is  a  thought  quite  unbearable;  and  it  is  upon  his  repugnance  to  it 
that  he  bases  his  whole  treatment  of  the  Netherlands  matter.  It  seems  to  me  that  in 
so  doing  he  reads  and  writes  history  backward,  from  the  present  into  the  past,  instead 
of  forward  and  straight  forward  from  the  past  to  the  present.  He  injects  into  it  the 
coloring  of  his  own  idea  or  prejudice  as  to  what  might  have  happened,  and  turns  his 
narrative  into  a  partisan  justification.  Thus  he  becomes  one-sided  and  takes  the  tone 
of  an  advocate,  instead  of  tracing  events  and  results  impartially.  But  the  passage  just 
quoted  from  him  shows  well  enough  how — a  hundred  years  after  the  American  discov- 
ery— Europeans  mixed  a  good  deal  of  religion  with  their  warfare  and  put  a  good  deal 
of  war  into  their  religion.  That  mingling  of  the  two  will  explain  why  some  of  the 
consequences  of  the  discovery  were  not  immediately  or  wholly  favorable  to  religion 
pure  and  simple.  Motley  also  tells  us  of  the  counsel  given  by  one  Roger  Williams,  a 
Welshman — not  the  Welsh  Roger  Williams  of  Rhode  Island,  so  conspicuous  in  the 
17th  century,  but  an  earlier  though  equally  pugnacious  Roger,  who  served  England 
and  the  States  General  as  a  soldier  of  fortune  in  1584  and  thereabouts.  He  advised  a 
combined  attack  by  sea  on  the  colonies  of  Spain.  Such  an  attack  the  English  and 
Dutch  afterward  made  successfully.  Here  we  have  the  first  momentous  example 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  New  World  affected  the  civil  and  religious  situation  of  the 
Old,  and  was  in  turn  involved  and  affected  by  it. 

At  the  same  time  single-minded  Faith — apart  from  worldly  considerations  —  had 
turned  .many  hearts  in  Europe  toward  America  and  kindled  the  eyes  of  holy  men  with 
the  light  of  a  vision.  For  the  first  time  the  sun  seemed  to  rise  in  the  West.  The  land 
of  the  Occident  was  now  the  Morning  Land  to  Christian  hopes.  The  period  of  crusades 
to  the  Orient  to  rescue  the  sepulcher  of  Christ  had  gone  by;  but  the  new,  more  peaceful 
crusade  of  the  16th  century  had  for  its  object  the  rescue  of  souls  in  America  from 
the  sepulchral  darkness  of  heathenism.  A  great  breeze  of  apostolic  zeal  streamed  in 
that  direction.  Nevertheless  the  earliest  consequences  and  even  some  of  the  later  results 
appeared,  or  at  least  might  be  fancied,  discouraging  to  the  cause  of  religion  or  inade- 
quate to  its  high  standard. 

The  first  gold  taken  by  Columbus  to  Europe  was  made  into  a  chalice,  which  is  now 
preserved  in  the  Cathedral  of  Seville;  and  it  could  well  have  been  hoped  that  all  the 
other  first-fruits  of  the  New  World  would  be  equally  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God. 
But  the  first  settlements  planted  on  Hispaniola  became — notwithstanding  the  aspiration j 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  63 

of  their  founder,  and  the  religious  devotion  connected  with  them — a  scene  of  strife, 
moral  disorder,  injustice,  and  cruelty.  Columbus,  himself  in  one  way  the  chief  sufferer 
from  these  evils,  also  inflicted  a  great  evil  upon  the  original  inhabitants,  by  sending 
home  cargoes  of  tbem  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  And  yet  from  this  enslavement  of  the 
natives,  destructive  though  it  afterward  was  to  them,  arose  Isabella's  noble  indignation 
at  the  traffic,  and  the  first  protest  against  human  slavery  in  America,  uttered  by  Father 
Anthony  de  Montesinos,  in  1511. 

The  San  Domingan  cities  of  Columbus  crumbled;  his  colonies  faded  away,  and 
have  been  overgrown  by  something  little  better  than  the  wild  weed  of  civilization.  Still, 
the  country  he  first  occupied  has  never  again  become  un-Christianized.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  as  an  example  of  the  complete  triumph  of  gentle  religion,  we  have  the  mis- 
sion of  Las  Casas,  afterward  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  in  Mexico,  who  throughout  his  life 
successfully  defended  the  Indians  through  slavery  and  oppression.  Near  Guatemala 
there  was  a  province,  Tuzulutlan,  which  the  Spanish  had  invaded  three  times,  suffering 
each  time  a  bloody  repulse.  They  called  it  "  The  Land  of  War,"  and  did  not  dare 
approach  it  again.  Las  Casas  offered  to  subdue  it,  but  on  condition  that  only  spiritual 
weapons  should  be  used,  and  that  no  Spanish  colonist  or  soldier  should  be  allowed  to 
enter  the  territory  for  five  years.  This  being  agreed  to,  he  penetrated  with  other 
Dominican  fathers  among  the  hostile  dwellers  there.  In  a  few  years  they  tranquilized 
and  made  Christians  of  the  natives;  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  what  had  been  so  long 
"  The  Land  of  War  "  received  from  Charles  V.  the  name  which  it  bears  to-day — that  is 
Vera  Paz,  or  "  Land  of  Peace."  Soon  afterward  Las  Casas  received  the  brief  of  Pope 
Paul  III.,  which  pronounced  excommunication  against  all  who  should  enslave  or  rob 
the  Indians. 

In  the  next  century  we  find  the  great  Franciscan,  St.  Francis  de  Solano,  the  apos- 
tle of  Peru,  overcoming  alone  and  unarmed  a  furious  multitude  of  savage  warriors  who 
were  about  to  attack  his  native  neophytes;  and,  eventually,  spreading  the  gospel  among 
those  dusky  swarms.  When  he  died,  a  hundred  tribes,  throughout  a  tract  of  two  thou- 
sand miles,  burned  lamps  day  and  night  in  his  honor,  and  besought  him  as  their  advocate 
in  heaven.  Although  Urban  VIII.  forbade  public  devotion  to  Francis  Solano  until  the 
claims  of  the  saint  should  be  further  examined,  the  Indians — although  faithful  and 
docile  in  everything  else — refused,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  to  cease  from  their 
open  veneration.  Then,  realizing  at  last  that  they  were  doing  their  beloved  apostle  no 
honor  by  opposing  the  command  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  they  brought  in  and  surrendered 
all  their  lamps,  and  waited  nineteen  years  longer  for  the  decree  of  Beatification. 

Thus,  as  Las  Casas  had  taught  the  Indians  of  Tuzulutlan  the  lesson  of  peace  and 
had  impressed  its  name  upon  their  very  country,  so  the  natives  of  Peru  learned,  through 
St.  Francis  Solano,  the  lesson  of  true  obedience. 

Marvelous  were  the  achievements  of  these  and  other  missionaries,  and  wonderful 
was  the  fabric  of  spiritual  culture  which  they  reared  among  the  peoples  of  Southern 
and  Central  America  and  Mexico.  Many  suffered  martyrdom,  and  all  would  gladly  and 
gratefully  have  accepted  it,  had  it  come  to  them.  The  thought  of  violent  death  in  such 
a  cause  had  no  power  to  alarm  or  deter  them;  but  the  violence  and  crueltv  of  some 
among  their  nominal  followers,  Spanish  adventurers  and  soldiers  of  the  baser  6ort, 
toward  the  natives,  must  have  been  hard  to  meet  and  endure.  This  was  a  consequence 
detrimental,  indeed,  to  religion;  and  reference  to  it  has  often  been  made  by  men  of  later 
generations,  to  show  that  because  the  name  of  religion  was  sullied  by  these  unworthy 
hangers-on.  therefore  religion  itself  must  be  false  or  unworthy.  But  do  we  not  find 
records  of  similar  cruelties  in  New  England,  toward  both  the  red  and  the  white  man, 
and  in  the  injustice  perpetrated  upon  North  American  Indians  in  this  great  country  of 
ours,  not  by  arbitrary  and  lawless  invaders  or  soldier  governors,  but  by  the  lawful 
authorities  of  a  constitutional  government,  which  makes  a  special  claim  of  loving  justice 
and  of  maintaining  the  freedom  and  equality  of  all  men?  The  truth  is  that  every  age 
and  every  race  has  exhibited  the  same  conjunction  of  the  sordid  and  sublime.  Evil 
seems  to  delight  in  settling  down  as  the  next-door  neighbor  of  good. 

But,  by  the  very  contrast  which  the  misdeeds  of  some  of  the  Spanish  invaders  offer, 
the  pure,  unselfish  course  and  the  holy  labor  of  monks  and  missioners  glow  with  a 
luster  all  the  more  clear  and  brilliant.  They  counteracted  even  this  drawback,  and 
overcame  every  other  obstacle  by  a  power  more  than  human.  Instead  of  allowing  the 
native  races  to  be  swept  away  by  fire  and  sword,  they  saved  them  body  and  soul,  and 
drew  them  gently  into  the  fold  of  the  One  Shepherd.  And  there  those  races  remain 
to-day.  Some  small  portion  of  them  are  still  unconverted;  but  a  modern  French 
naturalist,  Alcide  d'Orbigny,  who  personally  visited  thirty-nine  nations  of  pure  Ameri- 
can race  in  South  America,  and  gathered  accurate  statistics  concerning  them,  >  ~>unA 
35 


64.  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

that  among  all  these  nations  or  tribes  there  were  only  94,000  pagans,  while  in  the  same 
district  the  native  Christians  numbered  1,600,000. 

In  his  comprehensive  and  valuable  report  on  Christian  missions,  T.  W.  M.  Marshall 
says:  "  When  nature  divided  the  great  American  continent  into  two  parts,  she  seems 
to  have  prepared  by  anticipation  a  separate  theater  for  the  events  of  which  each  was  to 
be  the  scene,  and  for  the  actors  who  were  destined  to  perform  in  either  a  part  so  widely 
dissimilar.  The  one  was  to  be  the  exclusive  domain  of  the  Church,  the  other  the  battle- 
field of  all  the  sects." 

We  who  do  not  measure  progress  by  material  things  only,  or  by  mere  smartness  and 
superficial  popular  education,  can  rejoice  heartily  in  the  noble  Christianizing  of  South- 
ern America— which  Mr.  Marshall  calls  the  Church's  domain — and  the  thorough 
education,  ingrained  with  religion,  which  the  Church  established  there.  In  the  later 
days  of  some  of  those  Spanish-American  countries,  churches,  convents,  and  colleges  have 
been  robbed  or  crippled  by  selfish,  ambitious,  and  sometimes  wholly  irreligious  men, 
who  have  masqueraded  as  republican  leaders.  But  the  damage  appears  to  be  on  the 
surface  only.  The  people  are  still  Catholic.  It  is  easier  to  rob  churches  than  to  steal 
souls. 

These  disasters  came  late  in  Southern  America.  Turning  to  North  America,  "  the 
battlefield  of  all  the  sects,"  we  see  that  things  there  have  gone  just  the  other  way;  dis- 
aster, which  for  a  time  seemed  overwhelming,  came  first,  and  now  a  prosperity  of  the 
Church  has  resulted,  which  even  100  years  ago  would  have  been  regarded  as  impossible 
of  realization. 

In  the  region  which  is  now  the  United  States,  as  Gilmary  Shea  well  remarks,  the 
Church  did  not  wait  for  the  formation  of  colonies.  "  Her  priests,"  he  said, "  were  among 
the  explorers  of  the  coast,  were  the  pioneers  of  the  vast  interior;  with  Catholic  settlers 
came  the  minister  of  God,  and  Mass  was  said,  to  hallow  the  land  and  draw  down  the 
blessing  of  heaven,  before  the  first  step  was  taken  to  rear  a  human  habitation.  The 
altar  was  older  than  the  hearth." 

To  this  terse  and  striking  statement  we  may  fitly  add  the  remainder  that  these  first- 
comers  sought  to  give  the  new  country  a  kind  of  consecration,  in  the  very  names  that 
they  bestowed.  Santo  Domingo  means  "  Holy  Sunday."  Another  great  island  in  the 
Spanish  Main  was  called  Trinidad,  or  "  Trinity."  Ponce  de  Leon  in  1513  sighted  the 
coast  on  Easter  Sunday,  which  is  known  in  Spanish  as  Pascua  de  Flores;  and  hence 
the  present  name  of  Florida  commemorates  the  sacred  season  of  Easter.  Wherever 
Catholics  went,  throughout  North  America,  this  delicate  yet  pervasive  aroma  of  beau- 
tiful religious  names  and  associations  went  wTith  them  and  diffused  itself  like  the  per- 
fume of  incense,  which  lingers  in  the  air  and  the  memory.  The  spot  where  Mass  was 
first  said  at  St.  Augustine  was  marked  for  a  long  time,  on  Spanish  maps,  as  Nombre  de 
Dios:  that  is,  "  Name  of  God."  San  Francisco,  in  California,  keeps  before  us,  by  its 
name  at  least,  the  recollection  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  In  the  middle  West  there  is  a 
peak  still  known  as  the  "  Mountain  of  the  Holy  Cross,"  from  the  cruciform  mark  of 
snow  in  the  deep  ravines  of  its  rocky  height.  Many  of  the  old  religious  names  of 
places  have  been  changed  and  effaced.  But  Santa  Fe — signifying  "  Holy  Faith  " — yet 
survives  in  New  Mexico.  Maryland  was  named  for  that  pious  Queen  of  England,  Hen- 
rietta Maria,  whose  second  name  of  Maria — or  Mary — was  chosen  for  the  Catholic  col- 
ony because  it  was  the  name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

These  may  seem  remote  considerations.  But  there  is  a  great  significance  in  names 
and  the  way  in  which  they  are  applied.  Certainly  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  our 
country — which  many  persons  are  pleased  to  call,  without  authorization,  a  "  Protestant 
country  " — is  so  clearly  marked  in  every  direction  with  holy  Catholic  names,  as  well  as 
with  heroic  Catholic  traditions.  The  fact  that  these  names  have  remained  is  emblem- 
atic of  that  other  and  deeper  fact  that  the  Faith  itself  has  remained  and  increased, 
although  at  one  time  it  seemed  probable  that  nothing  would  be  left  of  Catholicity  here, 
except  its  names. 

Within  a  period  of  250  years  from  the  first  Catholic  foundations  ia  North  America, 
nearly  everything  established  by  them  had,  to  all  appearance,  been  blasted.  The  settle- 
ments in  Florida  were  devastated  and  burned  by  the  Anglicans  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  territory  itself  was  finally  given  up  by  Spain  to  England.  Later  on,  Maryland  — 
which,  as  a  purely  Catholic  colony,  offered  peaceful  life,  liberty,  and  freedom  of  worship 
to  people  of  every  sect — had  been  treacherously  undermined  by  Protestant  immigrants, 
who  overpowered  the  Catholics  and  condemned  them  to  proscription.  The  great  Cath- 
olic missionary  organization  in  Canada  had  been  destroyed.  The  Puritans  hud  set  up, 
and  were  maintaining  immovably,  their  absolute  intolerance  and  oppression  in  New 
England.     Everywhere  east  of   the  Mississippi,  Catholics  were  weighed  down  by  an 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  65 

arbitrary  power,  which  deprived  them  of  civil  rights  and  could  at  any  moment  seize 
their  property  and  drive  them  into  exile.  Even  in  the  West  and  Southwest,  where 
Catholics  were  still  free  under  Catholic  governments,  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits  had 
stripped  many  districts  of  their  priests  and  had  left  the  faithful  exposed  to  the  dangers 
of  isolation  and  religious  decay. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  in  1763,  a  dozen  years  before  the  American  Eevolution. 
Then  came  the  Revolutionary  War;  and  suppressed  Catholic  Maryland  was  promptly 
liberated  and  Catholic  citizens  were  restored  to  their  rights,  because  the  other  colonists 
knew  and  admitted  that  — when  the  pinch  came— these  citizens  were  absolutely  loyal 
to  the  country,  notwithstanding  the  wrongs  it  had  inflicted  upon  them,  and  were  essen- 
tial to  the  success  of  its  cause. 

From  the  time  when  Catholic  emancipation  was  declared  on  our  shores,  and  ratified 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  guarantee  to  every  one  the  religious 
freedom  that  Lord  Baltimore  inaugurated  on  this  continent ;  -  from  that  time,  the  Cath- 
olic and  Apostolic  Church  has  flourished  amazingly  within  our  North  American  borders. 
It  was  a  good  thing  that  all  the  sects  found  outlet  here,  and  were  enabled  to  carry  on 
their  battle  to  the  fullest  extent.  It  was  a  good  thing  that  the  Puritans  should  enter 
freely  and  have  their  way,  and  fancy  that  they  possessed  the  whole  land.  Spain,  France, 
and  England — these  three  powers  vied  with  each  other  in  colonizing  and  trying  to  pos- 
sess the  New  World,  and  especially  this  northern  part  of  it.  France  and  Spain  were 
Catholic,  and  they  rendered  us  the  service  of  tingeing  the  country  deeply  with  then- 
faith.  England  became  anti-Catholic  and  did  her  best  to  expunge  the  Faith  from  this 
realm  which  came  under  her  rule.  Yet,  as  history  has  resulted,  the  Church  at  last 
found  her  surest  foothold  in  this  country  under  the  anti-Catholic  dominion  of  England, 
which  had. tried  so  hard  to  suppress  her;  and  the  Church  has  since  attained  here,  in  a 
single  century  of  freedom,  a  growth  never  paralleled  in  modern  history. 

This,  then,  is  one  of  the  most  important  results  to  religion  of  the  discovery  of 
America. 

It  was  largely  brought  about,  humanly  speaking,  as  the  Vicomte  de  Meaux  tells 
us,  in  his  recent  book  on  "  The  Catholic  Church  and  Liberty  in  the  United  States,"  by 
'•  the  advent  of  the  Celts  of  Ireland,  and  the  Teutons  of  Germany  to  the  first  rank  of 
Catholic  peoples,"  in  the  United  States;  which  he  declares,  "  is  the  most  astonishing 
phenomenon  that  the  New  World,  at  the  end  of  this  century,  can  offer  to  the  contem- 
plation of  the  Old  World."  In  former  times  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards,  both  Catholic, 
strove  against  each  other  in  North  America;  sometimes  to  the  detriment  of  religious 
progress.  Even  the  English  James,  Duke  of  York,  also  a  Catholic,  tried  to  oppose  the 
French  in  Canada — for  political  and  state  reasons — by  setting  up  in  the  province  of 
New  York  an  Iroquios  village  under  charge  of  Jesuit  priests,  as  a  hostile  offset  to  the 
French  Indian  villages  supervised  by  Jesuits  in  Canada.  To-day,  certain  rivalries 
between  German  and  Celtic  Catholics  in  the  United  States  are  not  altogether 
unknown.  Yet  here  we  have  this  French  Catholic  of  our  time,  the  Vicomte  de  Meaux, 
honestly  sinking  all  prejudices  of  the  past  or  the  present,  and  surrrendering  himself 
completely  to  admiration  of  the  way  in  which — by  unforeseen  means — the  Irish  and 
the  Germans,  oppressed  at  home,  have  become  the  central  and  immediate  forces  of 
Catholic  advancement  in  America.  Ought  we  not  all  to  learn  some  pertinent  and 
peaceful  lesson  from  the  struggles  of  the  past,  and  this  calm,  impartial  tribute  of  a 
modern  Frenchman? 

True  liberty  is  what  the  Church  most  inculcates,  and  what  it  most  needs.  It  has 
found  it  at  last  in  this  country,  where  at  first  its  prospect  of  doing  so  seemed  most 
unlikely.  It  is  by  such  paradoxes  that  the  divine  power  works,  regardless  of  the  self- 
interest,  or  even  the  most  unselfish  foresight  and  planning,  of  men.  The  complete 
separation  of  Church  from  state,  which  exists  here,  has  been  an  immense  advantage  to 
religion,  and  will  continue  to  be  so  by  assuring  it  of  entire  independence  in  the  pursuit 
of  its  spiritual  aims. 

But  see:  The  development  of  this  independence  was  opposed  by  nearly  all  the 
human  forces  which  were  in  action  during  the  period  when  it  was  maturing.  The  Puri- 
tans themselves,  though  rebels  against  Church  authority,  formed  the  closest  kind  of 
union  between  their  own  particular  religious  organization  and  their  own  form  of  civil 
government.  When  it  became  necessary  to  admit  Catholics  as  political  equals  and  fel- 
low-citizens, the  Puritans,  who  were  in  terror  of  the  "  Romish  "  influence  that  might  be 
exerted  upon  the  state,  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  own  system  of  controlling  the 
state  by  religious  authorities,  and  to  join  in  forbidding  all  connection  of  Church  with 
state;  so  that  they  might  be  sure  of  shutting  out  the  ■'Romanists"  from  such  control. 
And  this  separation  of  Church  and  state  proved  to  be  precisely  the  most  beneficial 
thing  that  could  have  happened  for  the  progress  of  Catholic  Christianity. 


66  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

If  Catholics  had  been  able  to  establish,  when  they  first  set  out  to  do  so,  a  series  of 
flourishing  colonies  along  the  seaboard  of  North  America,  and  to  maintain  them  unop- 
posed, they  would  have  built  a  rampart  which  the  Pilgrims  and  later  legions  of 
Protestants  would  hardly  have  ventured  to  pass.  As  it  was,  the  attempts  of  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert  and  Weymouth  to  plant  Catholic  colonies  in  New  England  failed;  and 
wherever  Catholic  settlements  were  made  along  their  coasts,  from  Florida  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  they  were  overturned,  cut  down,  or  rendered  powerless.  So  it  came  to  pass 
that  other  elements  pressed  in,  which,  under  different  circumstances,  would  scarcely 
have  ventured  to  do  so.  They  throve,  and  came  to  believe  that  this  portion  of  the  con- 
tinent was  theirs.  Their  successors  streamed  in  and  believed  the  same.  Circumstances 
led  them — while  they  were  opening  the  gates  to  every  element  of  warring  religious 
belief — to  establish  complete  civil  liberty  and  freedom  of  conscience;  thereby  opening 
the  gates,  also,  to  the  one  religion  which  does  not  mean  endless  division  and  war,  but 
means  peace.  And  everywhere  they  have  gone,  through  all  the  great  expanse  of  terri- 
tory, they  have  come  upon  the  old  monuments  and  tokens  of  this  religion  which  had 
preceded  them — in  Florida,  in  Maryland,  in  New  York,  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  in 
Canada,  in  New  England  itself,  and  in  far-off  California,  where  the  restless  tide  of  pio- 
neer invasion  ceased  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  at  the  feet  of  the  old  Catholic  missions 
along  that  coast. 

The  whole  country  is  surrounded  by  the  early  outposts  of  the  ancient  Faith.  Their 
garrisons  may  have  seemed  dead,  but  they  were  only  sleeping.  The  saints  and  mission 
aries  of  the  past  have  apparently  come  to  life  once  more,  in  all  those  little  strongholds 
which  enring  the  land  and  seemed  to  be  ruins,  but  suddenly  prove  to  be  in  full  vigor  of 
existence  again.  And  in  the  train  of  these  reviving  memories  and  associations,  an 
immense  army  of  Irish,  German,  Italian,  French,  Polish  Catholics  have  come  upon  the 
field. 

Let  them  learn  from  the  past,  and  avoid  all  strife,  jealousy,  or  rivalry  among  races 
or  families,  which  may  retard  religious  and  national  progress. 

When  we  perceive  and  comprehend  how  the  apparent  failure  of  early  Catholic 
institutions  in  North  America  was  the  essential  factor  in  bringing  multitudes  of  non- 
Catholics  hither — where  they  have  developed  within  a  cordon  of  Catholic  historic 
associations,  and  have  become  mingled  with  a  great  body  of  living  Catholics —  and  when 
we  realize  how  it  has  taken  400  years  for  this  country  to  realize  that  the  hero,  Columbus, 
whom  the  entire  nation  unitedly  celebrates  in  1893,  was  the  colossal  Catholic  pioneer, 
then  we  shall  begin  to  have  some  conception  of  the  immense  scale  on  which  God  works, 
and  the  patience  with  which  he  works. 

When  we  realize,  also,  that  the  present  condition  of  the  true  Faith  in  this  country  — 
with  its  millions  of  communicants,  its  thousands  of  church  buildings  and  charitable 
institutions  —  has  grown  up  against  the  opposition  of  those  who  attempted  to  mould 
the  national  life  in  a  totally  different  direction,  we  can  appreciate  what  St.  Francis 
de  Sales  meant,  when  he  said:  "God  makes  people  co-operate  with  him,  when  they 
are  least  aware  of  it." 

THIRD    DAY. 

In  its  morning  session  of  Wednesday  the  Congress  was  favored  by  the 
presence  of  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  of  New  York,  who,  on  being  intro- 
duced by  the  Chairman,  was  greeted  with  hearty  applause,  which  he 
acknowledged  in  these  gracious  terms: 

ARCHBISHOP    CORRIGAN'S    ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  rise  to  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  the 
very  kind  manner  in  which  you,  have  seconded  the  suggestion  just  proposed,  and  I  am 
indebted  to  the  delegation  of  New  York  for  the  words  of  welcome  given  through  their 
president.  I  especially  prize  the  welcome  given  by  the  audience  in  general,  to  nearly 
all  of  whom  I  am  a  stranger,  and  therefore  their  action  is  one  of  pure  veneration  for 
the  episcopal  office.  It  is,  I  need  not  say,  a  heartfelt  pleasure  to  attend  a  celebration 
which  is  so  appropriate  an  incident  of  this  great  Columbian  Exposition. 

Let  us  look  back  awhile.  What  were  the  motives  of  Columbus  in  undertaking  his 
voyage  of  discovery?  If  we  read  his  own  letters,  which  are  the  authentic  exposition  of 
his  reasons,  we  shall  see  that  he  was  dominated  by  three  great  principles:  First,  the  love 
of  scientific  knowledge;  next,  the  love  of  his-  adopted  country,  and  lastly,  but  most  of 
all,  the  love  of  Holy  Faith.  He  was  impelled  to  his  journey  of  discovery  by  a  love  of 
scientific  knowledge,  because  he  had  long  held  that  the  world  was  round,  and  he  felt 
that  by  continually  journeying  westward  across  the  ocean  he  would  come  to  some  undis- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  67       i 

covered  continent,  and  that  scientific  fact  would  be  established  for  all  time.  Then  to  this 
love  of  science  was  added  the  debt  of  gratitude  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  particularly 
to  that  large-minded  queen  who  was  willing  to  pledge  her  jewels  that  the  enterprise 
might  be  carried  to  a  successful  termination.  Therefore  in  return  for  the  assist- 
ance and  encouragement  of  this  noble-hearted  queen  he  wished  to  add  new  jewels  to 
the  crown  of  Spain  in  the  shape  of  lands  not  yet  known  to  the  civilized  world.  And  far 
beyond  this  sentiment  was  the  underlying  love  of  the  Faith,  the  love  of  converting  souls 
and  of  bringing  them  into  the  light  which  shines  from  heaven. 

Now,  what  are  your  motives  in  coming  to  this  Columbian  Catholic  Congress?  Are 
they  not  the  same  as  those  which  guided  Columbus?  You  show  a  love  of  knowledge  by 
meeting  to  discuss  the  great  problems  which  now  agitate  the  world;  and  just  as  Colum- 
bus had  a  safe  guide  in  that  mariner's  compass  which  kept  him  in  his  western  course, 
so  have  you,  in  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Father,  an  unfailing  guide  which  will  bring 
you  also  to  the  land  of  promise.  Then  as  to  the  love  of  country;  are  we  not,  we  who  are 
Catholics,  all  animated  by  the  same  feeling?  Do  we  not  love  our  country  as  the  best 
land  on  earth?  Does  not  all  the  devotion  of  our  hearts  go  out  toward  it?  And  if 
Columbus  desired  to  show  his  affection  and  gratitude  to  Isabella  and  the  land  of  his 
adoption,  I  am  sure  that  each  one  of  us  feels  his  heart  swell  with  similar  emotion.  We 
have  great  pride  in  loving  our  country,  for  we  feel  that  just  as  the  Lord  in  the  miracu- 
lous multiplication  of  the  wine  at  the  wedding  feast  saved  the  best  for  the  last,  so  in 
the  order  of  Providence,  the  land  last  to  be  discovered  was  our  own  fair  land  and  the 
best.  Then,  again,  you  have  come  together  as  Catholics  through  love  for  the  Church, 
love  for  the  truth,  love  for  souls.  All  of  us  here,  from  every  part  of  the  United  States, 
with  our  brethren  from  abroad,  are  animated  with  the  one  faith  and  the  one  feeling 
that  guided  Columbus  —  the  one  love  for  our  Divine  Master;  this  is  the  mainspring  of 
all  our  deliberations,  and  we  are  assured  in  advance  that  that  guiding  star  will  lead  us 
safely  to  the  haven  of  rest.  And  now,  Mr.  Chairman  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have 
no  right  to  interfere  with  the  order  of  the  day's  proceedings  and  divert  your  attention 
from  important  papers,  prepared  with  great  care  by  those  who  are  to  address  you. 
Therefore,  simply,  let  me  say  in  conclusion,  that  I  trust  the  success  of  your  deliberations 
will  be  commensurate  to  the  noble  aim  you  have  proposed  yourself,  worthy  of  the  great 
occasion  that  has  called  you  to  this  Columbian  Congress,  and  worthy  of  the  queenly 
city  that  gives  us  such  a  hospitable  welcome. 

A  still  more  fervent  special  ovation  greeted  the  same  distinguished  Arch- 
bishop in  the  Thursday  evening  session,  which  was  attended  by  many  other 
illustrious  prelates,  following  being  the  eloquent  expression  of 

ARCHBISHOP    CORRIGAN'S    THANKS. 

Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend  Prelates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  As  an  hon- 
est confession  is  said  to  be  good  for  the  soul,  permit  me,  while  gratefully  acknowledging 
your  most  cordial  welcome,  to  say  how  utterly  abashed  and  overwhelmed  I  am  at  this 
immense  outpouring  and  unexpected  demonstration.  When  your  Chairman  kindly 
invited  me  to  attend  a  reception  to  be  offered  by  members  of  my  own  Diocese,  I  had  no 
idea  that  this  hall  would  be  filled  to  overflowing;  and  I  expected  merely  to  say  a  few 
pleasant  words  and  to  pass  the  time  in  friendly  conversation.  Instead  of  this,  an 
address  is  looked  for  from  one  who  is  almost  totally  unprepared  to  answer  such  expecta- 
tions. However,  if  a  speech  must  be  made,  let  me  try  to  analyze  the  cause  of  this 
most  generous  welcome. 

In  the  first  place,  the  poet  says:  "One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world 
akin."  If  this  be  true,  and  we  all  feel  the  sympathetic  thrill  of  our  common  humanity, 
much  more  does  unity  of  faith  bind  together  the  children  of  God  with  the  links  of  com- 
mon origin,  of  commmon  aspirations  and  common  destiny.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize 
the  fact  now,  but  nevertheless  it  is  quite  true,  that  until  the  blessed  day  when  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  was  preached,  men  were  strongly  divided  against  each  other,  and 
the  idea  of  a  common  brotherhood  was  unrecognized.  The  weaker  class  was  driven  to 
the  wall,  becoming  the  prey  of  its  more  powerful  neighbors.  In  Imperial  Rome 
itself,  in  the  days  of  its  highest  material  splendor,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  its  popula- 
tion were  slaves,  over  whom  their  masters  wielded  the  right  of  life  and  death,  with  a 
recklessness  that  can  only  be  fitly  characterized  as  brutal.  In  the  eyes  of  the  law, 
slaves  were  not  regarded  as  men,  but  as  chattels.  Now  the  law  gives  a  man  the  right  to 
use  his  goods  and  chattels,  his  own  property,  as  he  pleases. 

As  a  sunbeam  of  light  piercing  a  dark  dungeon,  as  a  strain  of  exquisite  and  heav- 
enly music  wafted  to  captives  languishing   in  exile,  was  the  letter  of  St.  Paul,  the 


6S 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Apostle,  to  Philemon  on  behalf  of  a  fugitive  slave,  a  slave  to  be  received  by  his  Christian 
master,  not  now  as  a  chattel,  not  even  as  a  runaway  to  be  punished  for  his  transgres- 
sion, but,  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  as  a  most  dear  brother."  This  incident  alone  shows 
how  the  Church  began  to  knit  together  the  ties  of  our  common  humanity,  from  the 
beginning.  Again,  take  the  well-known  story  of  Fabiola,  with  which  you  are  all 
familiar, °a  work  of  fiction,  it  is  true,  but  one  which  faithfully  portrays  the  state 
of  Roman  society  in  the  3d  and  4th  centuries.  Probably  you  all  remember  the 
striking  passage  in  which  the  writer  describes  the  perplexity  of  Fabiola,  on  discovering 
by  chance  a  passage  of  the  Gospel  in  which  the  love  of  God  for  all  His  creatures  is 
intimated,  for  "  He  makes  His  sun  to  shine  on  the  good  and  the  bad,  and  the  rain  to 
fall  on  the  just  and  the  unjust."  Cardinal  Wiseman,  speaking  of  the  embarrassment  of 
Fabiola  on  reading  such  a  declaration,  compares  it  to  the  perplexity  of  an  untutored 
mind  in  finding  some  shining  stone  by  the  wayside,  unable  to  decide  whether  it  be  a 
precious  gem  or  a  worth- 
less pebble.  Even  so,  the 
beautiful  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  now  univers- 
ally recognized,  struck 
the  Pagan  mind,  as  late  as 
the  4th  century,  as  an 
enigma;  for  the  Pagans 
doubted  whether  they 
were  the  revelation  of  a 
new  and  sublime  philoso- 
phy, encircling  all  human- 
ity in  the  folds  of  divine 
love,  or  whether  they  were 
mere  idle  speculations, 
pleasant,  indeed,  but  never 
to  be  realized.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  once  the  truth  of 
our  common  origin,  our 
common  destiny,  our  re- 
demption by  the  out-pour- 
ing of  the  same  Precious 
Blood,  permeated  man's 
intelligence,  the  value  of 
the  human  soul  would 
begin  to  be  appreciated  at 
the  same  time,  and  conse- 
quently man  soon  perceived 
the  consoling  truth  {hat 
the  children  of  men  being 
creatures  of  the  same 
Heavenly  Father,  consti- 
tute but  one  great  family. 
From  the  same  truth  evi- 
dently flowed  the  burning 
zeal  of  the  Catholic 
Church,'  from  the  begin- 
ning, for  the  salvation  of 
souls. 

Without  glancing  even 
for  a  moment  at  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  the  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  onward  course  of  its  existence, 
let  us  confine  our  attention  to  one  or  two  instances  that  bear  on  the  present 
celebration.  It  was  this  grand  and  inspiring  motive  of  the  value  of  the  human 
soul  that,  more  than  anything  else,  impelled  Columbus  to  tempt  unknown  seas  in 
order  to  spread  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Discouraged  and  despondent  by  many 
rebuffs,  Columbus  turned  his  steps  to  the  Convent  of  La  Rabida.  Father 
Juan  Perez,  the  hospitable  guardian,  was  interested,  it  is  true,  in  scientific 
discoveries,  but  his  sacerdotal  heart  was  still  more  touched  at  the  possibility  of  leading 
innumerable  souls  to  heavenly  light,  and  he  determined  that  Columbus  should  obtain 
the  aid  necessary  to  promote  his  enterprise.     King  Ferdinand,  cool  and  calculating 


MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP    CORRIGAN. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  69 

statesman  that  he  was,  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  manifold  advantages  that  might 
accrue  to  Spam  from  the  discovery  of  the  new  territories,  yet  he  hesitated,  wavered 
and  delayed  to  act.  Isabella  listened  to  the  selfsame  story,  and  her  instinct  of  pietv 
was  aroused,  and  she  resolved  that  as  souls  might  thereby  be  gained  to  God  she  would 
give  strong  and  efficacious  help.  Again,  it  is  a  striking  fact,  and  one  perhaps  not 
generally  known,  that  the  flag  of  the  Santa  Maria  in  which  the  great  admiral  sailed 
was  no  other  than  the  white  and  green  banner  of  the  holy  office.  What,  was  America 
discovered  under  the  flag  of  the  Inquisition  ?  Even  so.  And  here,  again,  we  find  a 
luminous  proof,  not  only  that  the  Church  did  not  retard  the  progress  of  science  by 
forbidding,  as  has  often  been  asserted,  the  belief  that  the  earth  was  round  but,  further- 
more, that  the  most  severe  ecclesiastical  tribunal  on  earth  actually  gave 'aid  and 
encouragement  to  the  discovery  of  this  continent.  Now,  what  was  the  reason  of  this 
encouragement,  for  reason  there  must  have  been  ?  Can  you  assign  a  stronger  motive 
or  a  better  reason,  than  the  love  of  advancing  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  securing 
the  salvation  of  souls — the  spirit  of  faith? 

Passing  by  four  centuries  and  coming  to  our  own  days,  what  was  the  character  of 
the  Columbian  Celebration,  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  12th  of  last  October, 
and  a  little  later  in  the  city  of  Chicago?  I  mention  these  two  cities  because  I  had  the 
privilege  of  participating  in  both  celebrations.  Without  wishing  to  give  offense,  I 
think  we  can  modestly  claim  that  these  were  both  distinctively  Catholic  celebrations. 
As  a  friend  from  Boston  said  to  me  at  the  time,  the  public-school  children  properly 
appeared  first,  and  gave  us  a  standard  by  which  we  might  form  our  judgments,  and 
then  the  Catholic  children  of  our  free  schools  followed,  and,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  the  secular  press  itself,  by  their  neatness,  their  proficiency  in  drill,  their  manly 
appearance,  they  undoubtedly  carried  off  the  palm.  A  similar  scene  was  displayed 
in  the  long  line  of  our  30,000  young  men  attached  to  various  religious  or  literary 
societies.  I  had  the  honor,  that  evening,  of  being  seated  near  the  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  our  own  chief  executive,  His  Excellency,  Governor  Flower. 
Both  were  most  favorably  impressed  by  the  numerical  strength  and  bearing  of  our  soci- 
eties, and  they  added  that  young  men  so  carefully  nurtured  by  the  conservative  spirit 
of  the  Church  could  not  fail  to  be  patriotic  and  sterling  citizens. 

Permit  me  to  point  out  still  another  manifestation  of  the  same  spirit  of  faith  in  the 
Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  in  the  World's  Pair.  I  hope  all  here  present  have  seen 
this  exhibition,  and  more  than  this,  that  our  fellow-citizens  at  large  will  carefully  exam- 
ine the  magnificent  display  made  by  our  schools  and  academies.  This  exhibit  speaks 
volumes  for  the  self-devotion  and  enthusiastic  service  of  our  Catholic  teachers,  of  our 
patient  sisters  and  brothers,  in  the  great  cause  of  education.  Without  state  aid,  and 
contending  with  many  obstacles,  "they  sow  in  tears,"  according  to  the  Holy  Scripture, 
"  but  they  reap  in  joy."  What  is  this,  then,  but  a  silent  and  yet  most  eloquent  testi- 
mony of  their  faith?  They  recognize  in  the  young  child,  humble  and  uncouth,  if  you 
will,  a  soul  for  whom  the  loving  Saviour  died,  and  of  whom  He  said:  "Forbid  them  not, 
but  permit  them,  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven."  Says  St.  John  Chrysostom: 
"  Noble  indeed  is  the  profession  of  the  painter  and  the  sculptor,  who  make  the  canvas 
breathe  and  the  marble  glow  with  instinct  of  life,  yet  nobler  far  is  the  work  of  him  who 
forms  the  soul  and  the  character  of  youth,  and  who  moulds  and  fashions  them  to  the  lin- 
eaments of  Christian  virtue." 

Such  is  the  work  accomplished  quietly,  patiently,  perseveringly,  in  our  Christian 
schools.  Those  who  enjoy  their  benefits  not  only  are  devoted  children  of  the  Church 
but  they  will  make  the  best  citizens  of  the  State.  Among  those  educated  in  our 
schools  you  will  find  no  anarchists  or  socialists,  but  thousands  and  thousands  of  brave 
men  and  true,  who  love  their  country,  not  only  for  its  own  sake  but  for  conscience' 
sake;  who  willingly  obey  its  laws,  and  who  would  shed  their  blood  in  its  defense;  men 
such  as  those  of  whom  the  poet  sang  in  the  person  of  Sir  Galahad: 

His  strength  was  as  the  strength  of  ten, 
Because  his  heart  was  pure. 

These  few  remarks  sufficiently  prove  the  strong  links  which  bind  us  together,  and 
shed  a  new  light  on  the  meaning  of  the  old  Pagan,  who,  observing  the  conduct  of  our 
forefathers  in  the  faith  1,400  years  ago,  exclaimed,  with  as  much  sagacity  as  truth:  "  See 
how  these  Christians  love  one  another!" 

Among  the  excellent  papers  of  Wednesday's  session  a  chief  place  must  be 
given  to  that  of  F."M.  Euselas  on  "Woman's  Work  in  Religious  Com- 
munities," or 


7o  WORLD* S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

THE    CATHOLIC    SISTERHOODS. 

'  To  compass  within  the  prescribed  limits  an  account  of  "  Woman's  Work  in  Religious 
Communities"  is  not  less  difficult  than  "to  do"  the  Columbian  Exposition  in  the  few 
months  allotted  to  its  existence,  remembering,  as  we  are  told,  that  allowing  three 
minutes  for  each  exhibit,  one  hundred  years  would  hardly  suffice  for  the  task.  In 
either  case  only  a  cursory  view  can  be  taken,  leaving  the  rest  to  be  inferred. 

Monachism,  or  the  state  of  religious  seclusion  more  or  less  complete,  antedates 

Christianity  be'ing  found  among  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Elias.    It  is  also  a  prominent 

feature  of  Brahminism;  even  to-day  the  lamaseries  of  Thibet  exceed  in  number  the 

monasteries  of  Italy  or  Spain.     China,  too,  has  its  cloisters  of  Buddhist  nuns,  Kuanyim, 

he  goddess  of  mercy,  being  their  patron  saint. 

Its  primitive  form  among  Christians  dates  from  the  persecution  under  the  Roman 
emperors,  when  converts  took  refuge  in  caves  and  deserts.  Later  on,  preference  for 
seclusion'continued  what  necessity  commenced,  developing  the  community  life,  at  first 
purely  contemplative,  then  combined  with  the  active;  within  the  last  century,  the 
hitter  far  outnumbered  the  spirit  of  the  age,  one  of  active  zeal  for  human  welfare, 
largely  shaping  vocations  for  such  service;  or,  with  fuller  meaning,  God  thus  guided 
means  and  instruments  toward  creation's  destined  end. 

Nature  is  indeed  a  great  diversifler;  she  "never  rhymes  her  children,  or  makes  two 
alike,"  thus  meeting  the  ever-varying,  never-ending  needs  of  humanity.  Vocations  for 
so  many  different  orders  and  for  the  myriad  duties  of  each  show  how  Infinite  Wisdom 
ever  adapts  the  demand  to  the  supply,  constantly  giving  us  new  orders  or  modifications 
of  the  old,  using  the  feeblest  instruments  for  the  greatest  designs,  the  poor  and  insig- 
nificant of  earth  being  founders  of  the  most  efficient  orders.  "  The  weak  things  of  this 
world  hath  God  chosen  to  confound  the  mighty." 

Our  grand  discoveries  and  inventions  equally  prove  this  fact,  and  we  hold  our 
breath  in  astonishment  at  the  outcome.  We  say  this  or  that  man,  almost  by  chance, 
perhaps,  originated  such  an  idea  or  wrought  out  a  new  principle  in  science.  Galileo, 
grinding  his  lenses  in  a  fortunate  way,  gave  his  magnifiers,  then  the  telescope,  our  first 
refractor  being  from  the  brain  and  hands  of  the  great  Italian. 

The  experiments  of  Galvani  upon  the  nervous  condition  of  cold-blooded  animals 
revealed  their  electricity,  which  Volta's  genius  utilized  as  an  agent  of  wondrous  impor- 
tance. Later  on  still  further  developments  were  made  by  Franklin,  Ampere,  Davy,  Fara- 
day, Bunsen,  and  others,  down  to  our  own  Morse  and  Edison,  who  have  caught  and 
chained  the  lightning's  bolt,  making  it  the  electric  motor  in  our  mechanic  and  other 

How  wonderful,  we  say,  these  discoveries  of  man's  skill  and  genius!  And  so  it 
is,  of  material  things  we  take  only  a  material  view,  always  on  the  same  dead  level. 
Thus  is  our  material  nature  stamped  and  reflected  in  opinions  uttered  or  unexpressed. 
But,  look  higher;  give  the  spiritual  forces  a  chance,  awaken  their  latent  powers,  what  a 
change!  Before,  we  saw  through  a  glass  darkly,  now  face  to  face,  revealing  the  Divine 
Master  behind  Galileo,  Newton,  Herschel,  and  their  confreres,  giving  inspiration  and 
guidance.  He  was  compass,  rudder,  and  barometer  for  Columbus  and  other  early  navi- 
gators, sending  their  rude  barks  over  unknown  seas  to  this  "  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  brave." 

Alas,  that  we  should  lose  sight  of  this  fact  in  our  mad  rush  for  —  we  hardly  know 
what.  Weak  man  can  originate  and  idea,  when  he  can  not  even  create  a  single  grain  of 
sand! 

Through  these  mistaken  views  of  life  and  its  bearings,  through  our  false  standards 
of  right  and  wrong,  the  greater  part  of  time  is  spent  in  making  and  unmaking  our- 
selves, in  unlearning  the  world's  wisdom,  "  which  is  foolishness  before  God." 

Standing  to-day  proudest  among  earth's  nations,  since  we  welcome  them  all  as 
friends  and  brothers  to  our  shores,  as  they  come  laden  with  marvels  of  genius  and 
industry  never  before  dreamed  by  poet,  painter,  or  prophet,  we  shall  trace  through  all 
the  great  Master  carrying  out  His  designs.  In  God's  creation  each  sentient  being  stands 
in  an  allotted  niche,  a  spectacle  to  angels  and  men.  Rightly  measuring  the  scope  of  her 
being  with  the  means  at  hand,  she  will  work  out  that  true  mission. 

Animated  by  these  ideas,  we  see  that  by  no  other  means  could  the  great  work  of  the 
sisterhood  be  accomplished.  How  simple  the  origin,  how  grand  the  consummation! 
Prayer  for  the  salvation  of  their  own  and  others' souls  initiated  the  plan,  giving  relief  to 
the  poor,  sick,  and  outcasts  opened  a  broader  field  for  devoted  charity,  bodily  wants 
supplied,  ignorance  must  be  enlightened  and  religious  truths  inculcated.  Thus,  educa- 
tion through  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  rounded  up  the  religious  life  in  its  beauty 
and  completeness.  . 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ji 

Viewed  in  this  light  sisters  are  before  the  world  as  representative  women  in  its  best 
sense,  not  as  relics  of  a  buried  past,  as  fossils  for  spiritual  geologists  to  examine,  classify, 
and  put  behind  glass  doors  to  be  labeled  "  Footprints  of  Creation,"  the  first  perhaps 
after  the  Azoic  age.  No,  none  of  this;  let  them  be  the  incarnate  idea  of  the  golden 
rule,  the  eleventh  commandment  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood,  to  whom  its  great  author 
gives  this  consoling  assurance:  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these, 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  history  of  different  religious  orders  and  of  the  houses  branching  therefrom 
reads  more  like  some  legend  of  remote  ages  or  a  tale  coined  from  the  brain  of  a  Jules 
Verne  than  a  reality,  so  utterly  opposed  do  methods  and  results  appear.  The  laws  of 
finance  or  the  most  ordinary  business  forms  seem  utterly  ignored  by  sisters  in  general, 
the  plans  of  architects  and  contractors  set  at  naught  to  follow  their  own  sweet  will. 
Wading  up  to  their  eyes  in  seas  of  difficulty,  personal,  social,  and  financial,  even  in  spite 
of  these,  by  ways  and  means  past  finding  out,  save  to  the  great-hearted  and  never-to-be- 
rebuffed  nuns,  they  manage  to  come  out  of  the  fray  with  flying  colors.  Sacrifices  that 
few  would  face  count  for  nothing  with  them;  to  see  a  need  is  to  meet  it,  urged  on  by 
that  supreme  motive,  the  salvation  of  souls  at  any  cost. 

Unlimited  confidence  is  the  backbone  of  their  success;  call  it  presumption,  a  tempt- 
ing of  God  if  you  will,  yet  none  the  less  effective  is  the  result.  Look  at  Mother  Irene 
in  charge  of  the  largest  foundling  home  in  New  York.    In  her  simple  faith  she  says: 

'•  Father,  please  make  a  memento  for  my  intention,  I  just  want  this  piece  of  land 
adjoining  our  grounds." 

"  That  property,  mother!  Why,  do  you  know  its  worth?  A  quarter  of  a  million  at 
least." 

"  Yes,  father,  but  I  must  have  it  as  a  playground  for  our  poor  little  orphans." 

"  Well,  mother,  how  much  money  have  you  now?  " 

"  Not  a  cent  yet,  but  never  mind,  prayer  will  win  the  day." 

And  it  did. 

Every  religious  house  is  more  or  less  the  fruit  of  earnest,  confiding  prayer.  To- 
understand  this  the  better,  we  must  deepen  and  intensify  the  true  conception  of  a 
sister's  life  and  work  by  a  fair  and  critical  examination,  making  due  allowance  for  the 
defects  and  defections  that  more  or  less  mark  every  organization,  perfection  never 
being  found  this  side  of  heaven. 

What  then  are  the  qualities  insuring  a  sister's  vocation?  While  the  purest  and 
holiest  motives  should  be  the  animus  of  her  work,  a  large  fund  of  common  sense  a 
practical  matter-of-fact  shrewdness  must  supplement  the  higher  instincts;  for  remem- 
ber your  real  Sister  of  Charity  is  not  an  angel  plumed  for  her  heavenly  flight;  she  isn't 
expected  to  spend  the  day  in  perpetual  adoration,  while  her  orphans  and  pupils,  the 
poor  and  the  sick  are — she  doesn't  know  where.  As  the  handmaid  of  our  Lord.  He 
wont  do  His  work  and  hers  too.  She  must  be  a  minute-woman,  ever  on  the  alert,  ready 
for  the  Master's  call.  She  realizes  that  the  highest  aim  and  purpose,  love  being  the 
exponent,  are  sent  through  her,  the  lowest  organ.  Herein  lies  her  true  sanctity,  none 
other  will  pass  current.  Intense  activity  without  the  enthusiasm  of  impulse,  constant 
devotion  to  present  duty,  with  a  sort  of  fiery  patriotism,  so  loyal  and  unswerving  as  to 
care  for  naught  save  winning  souls  from  their  great  enemy,  mark  the  high  and  perfeot 
aim  of  her  whole  life. 

Do  not  mistake  means  for  the  end,  the  shadow  for  the  substance;  the  whole  is 
always  greater  than  a  part.  It  is  not  because  of  her  high  or  low  estate;  it  is  not 
place,  surroundings,  or  circumstances,  prosperous  or  adverse,  not  her  brilliant  qualities, 
her  this  or  that,  which  perfect  a  sister's  life.  It  is  herself — the  great  soul  incarnate 
through  and  through — that  does  the  work;  it  is  the  assurance  of  certain  conviction 
and  the  eternal  peace  of  an  unskaken  faith;  it  is  her  inner  life,  with  its  principles 
stable  as  a  rock,  pure  as  the  diamond,  that  make  her  proof  against  any  hindrance.  No 
difficulty  can  be  an  obstacle  to  such  a  soul  when  that  noble  aim  and  high  endeavor 
surcharge  her  whole  being.  Let  duty  call  her  to  the  battlefield  or  to  the  halls  of 
science,  to  the  leper's  hut  or  the  palace  of  princes,  it  is  all  one  to  her.  A  true  religion 
still  carries  the  selfsame  purpose  everywhere,  God  behind  her,  as  His  instrument,  she 
is  what  she  is,  does  what  she  does,  and  her  end  is  gained.  Hers  is  "  the  repose  of  a 
heart  set  deep  in  God."  Let  the  world  fully  realize  this,  and,  ceasing  to  criticise  and 
cavil,  it  will  admire  and  imitate. 

We  live  in  an  age  of  thought,  deep,  critical,  far-reaching,  and  sisters  are  no  small 
factors  here.  Everything  is  on  the  alert.  What  has  been,  is,  and  shall  yet  be.  are 
questions  forcing  themselves  upon  us,  not  as  mere  isolated  events,  like  separate  blades 
of  grass  in  a  field,  but  as  links  in  God's  great  chain,  girdling  humanity  and  reaching. 
from  eternity  to  eternity. 


y3  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

It  is  an  every-day  wonder,  both  to  those  within  and  without  the  Church,  that  persons 
of  sense  and  judgment  should  leave  the  world  and  all  it  holds  dear  for  a  convent  life, 
impelled,  as  cynics  say,  by  an  ascetic  whim,  a  sentimental  notion,  proof  of  a  soft,  weak 
spot  somewhere.  Passing  strange  indeed  would  it  be  if  this  were  all;  and,  belieye  me, 
none  would  decry  such  a  step  more  than  the  religions  themselves.  Let  anyone  thus 
impressed  step  into  a  Sister's  shoes  and  look  through  her  eyeglasses.  A  few  whiffs  of 
convent  air  would  show  her  the  mistake.  A  mere  passing  whim  stand  the  test  of  a 
religious  vocation!  Why,  the  very  assertion  defeats  itself,  since  the  indispensables  are 
wanting — intellectual  power,  moral  force,  and  an  intense  sacred  purpose  that  never 
counts  the  cost.  Flesh  and  blood  with  sentimental  notions  are  spurned  beneath  their 
feet  as  utterly  unworthy  of  notice. 

Call  the  Sisters  cranks  and  idiots,  if  you  will,  their  work  a  sham,  but  remember  soft- 
brained  people  are  liable  to  dub  as  a  sham  whatever  they  can  not  grasp.  Tell  me,  could 
the  mind  of  a  crank  plan  and  perfect  such  enterprises  as  we  daily  see  carried  on,  year 
in  and  year  out,  century  after  century,  to  the  remotest  corners  of  God's  universe  ?  Their 
ideas  mere  pretension!  Show  me  one  solid,  noble  act  ever  built  on  a  pretension,  and  it 
will  be  the  first  of  its  kind.  Far  easier  to  base  the  great  pyramid  of  Ghizeh  on  a  basket 
of  eggs  or  a  bag  of  feathers. 

Sham  ideas  never  started  the  first  steam  engine,  never  stamped  our  alphabet  in  type 
metal,  never  laid  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  the  first  electric  wire  that  now  in 
long-drawn  threads  and  cables  is  our  master  of  masters  and  servant  of  servants.  Still 
less  could  pretension  lay  the  foundation  of  schools  and  orphanages,  asylums  and  hospi- 
tals. Look  a  little  farther,  dig  a  little  deeper,  before  laying  such  a  charge  at  the  door 
of  the  sisterhood.  Little  wonder  that  Job's  comforters,  predicting  a  failure,  soon  with 
astonishment  say:  "  How  is  this  ?  how  do  they  manage  it  all  ?  "  Though  puzzled  ignor- 
ance may  still  jeer  and  laugh,  thank  God  the  number  of  censors  is  rapidly  diminishing; 
experience  and  sound  judgment  are  fast  grinding  the  yeas  and  nays  of  old-time  preju- 
dice, giving  a  favorable  verdict  and  above  appeal.  That  which  is  seen  with  the  eyes, 
heard  with  the  ears,  and  which  our  hands  have  handled,  is  sufficient  refutation.  In 
letters  of  light,  stamped  by  the  Almighty,  may  be  read  their  sacred  purpose,  noble  work, 
and  its  marvelous  results.  The  admission  of  non-Catholics,  though  tardy  and  almost 
perforce,  only  the  more  surely  confirms  this.  "  Don't  know  how  it  is,"  says  one;  "  make 
up  my  mind  a  hundred  times  that  I'll  say  '  no '  to  the  Sisters'  appeals,  but  they  always 
get  the  better  of  me,  and  I'm  a  V  or  an  X  poorer  each  time  " — richer,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  say  ? — "  and  now  would  you  believe  it,  I  actually  stop  them  on  the  street." 

Motives,  measures,  actions;  real  character  stamps  one  for  better  or  for  worse;  there 
is  your  true  gauge,  my  friend,  for  the  worth  of  a  religious;  it  must  out;  if  valuable  it 
will  be  valued,  if  estimable,  esteemed.  It  is  the  whole  court  of  heaven  speaking 
through  the  heart  of  mankind  and  saying,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant." 

Nor  is  this  so  strange  after  all,  for,  taking  an  all-round  view  of  woman,  she  seems 
possessed  with  an  insatiable  desire  to  have  a  finger  in  every  benevolent  pie,  whether  it's 
rubbing  goose-oil  on  Mrs.  Neighbor's  croupy  baby  or  working  out  some  great  plan  for  the 
world's  reformation.  This  master  passion  of  her  nature  defies  all  restraint;  bluff  it  on 
one  side,  sniff  it  on  the  other,  hydra-headed,  it  still  crops  out,  and  we  who  know  its 
blessed  effects  thank  God  for  it. 

The  work  of  religious  communities  through  all  its  ramifications  represents  the  prac- 
tical wisdom,  intensified  by  critical  observation,  varied  experience,  and  well-tried 
sanctity  of  generations  upon  generations,  whose  traditions  become  in  turn  stepping- 
stones  for  their  successors.  What  have  they  done?  Far  easier  to  tell  what  they  have 
not  done.  Their  ubiquity  is  proverbial.  Put  your  finger  upon  any  spot  of  the  habitable 
globe,  and  there  will  they  be  found.  "  It  is  a  corner  of  God's  earth,"  they  say,  "  His 
footprints  are  already  there;  since  He  leads  the  way  shall  we  not  follow?  " 

The  great  success  attending  Sisters'  work,  with  means  so  limited,  is  unquestionably 
due  to  the  admirable  system  that  marks  the  plan  of  each  founder,  as  meeting  the 
special  ends  in  view.  With  wisely  directed  foresight  the  various  rules  and  constitutions 
enter  into  minutest  as  well  as  most  essential  details.  Each  department  has  its  special 
staff  of  officers  and  aids,  directly  responsible  to  the  superior  for  efficiency.  An  inter- 
change of  officers  from  time  to  time  is  of  mutual  advantage;  latent  talent  thus  brought 
<ut  adds  to  the  general  good  of  the  community.  Convent  life  is  a  wonderful  devel- 
oper.  No  delicately  sensitized  plate  of  the  photographer  ever  evolved  more  marvelous 
effects.  Out  of  an  embryo  Sister,  seemingly  inefficient  every  way,  a  shrewd  novice  mis- 
tress and  wise  superior  will  develop  a  true  woman  fitted  for  many  and  varied  duties. 
Sudden  emergencies  throw  the  novice  upon  her  own  resources,  and  necessity  becomes 
the  mother  of  invention.  One  of  these,  timid  to  excess,  left  in  charge  of  her  class, 
thns  relates  her  experience: 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  73 

"They  were  only  little  tots,  to  be  sure,  but  none  the  less  did  I  quake  when  meeting 
that  rowof  eager  faces.  One  glance  told  me  they  were  ready  for  frolic  if  I  gave  them  half 
a  chance;  that  wouldn't  do.  I  must  '  head  them,'  as  the  boys  sav,  and  1  did,  gaining  a 
victory  over  them,  but,  still  better,  over  my  weak,  fooiish  nature,  making  me  a  woman 
from  that  day  to  this." 

Through  such  perfected  system  the  work  seems  to  do  itself.  Each  new-born  day, 
of  course,  is  consecrated  by  the  baptism  of  prayer,  which,  with  other  spiritual  exercises, 
is  renewed  at  intervals,  closing  with  the  same  benediction;  otherwise  the  routine  is 
similar  to  that  in  any  well  regulated  family.  Each  member,  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
her  order,  feels  in  a  measure  responsible  for  its  success,  doing  all  she  can  to  insure  it. 
No  honors  whatever  are  attached  to  any  appointments;  if  there  are  no  mean  offices  in 
the  courts  of  kings  much  less  should  there  be  in  that  of  the  King  of  Kings.  Merit  ami 
ability  must  mark  the  positions  held;  these  being  interchangeable  help  to  secure  that 
perfect  equality. 

This  practical  view  of  a  Sister's  life  will  no  doubt  sadly  disappoint  many  who  regard 
it  as  a  sort  of  saintly  romance— an  ethereal  existence  encircled  by  a  mysterious  halo.  Let 
such  remember  that  only  out  of  these  plain,  every-day  materials  are  wrought  the  saints 
whom  we  daily  meet  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  ever  intent  on  some  errand  of  mercy, 
since  through  all  the  spiritual  life  and  motive  give  their  touch  and  spur  to  every  duty. 
They  are  the  visible  conductors  of  God's  magnetism  and  electricity.  Charged  with  this 
they  must  do  his  bidding. 

Here,  at  our  great  Exposition,  are  seen  Sisters  with  pencil  and  note-book  in  hand 
harvesting  the  ripened  fruit  and  grain  for  their  pupils.  Tangible  proofs  of  what  they 
do  for  education  are  here  before  your  eyes.  Go  to  the  southeast  end  of  the  gallery  in 
the  Liberal  Arts  Building,  next  to  the  French  exhibit,  and  see  for  yourselves.  While 
the  practical  side  of  life  receives  due  attention,  not  less  does  the  aesthetic.  Their  skill 
with  the  brush,  pencil,  and  needle  is  proverbial.  The  Dominican  Sisters  of  New  Orleans, 
Sisters  of  the  Precious  Blood,  of  Charity,  of  Notre  Dame,  etc.,  give  an  exhibit  that  only 
true  artists  can  furnish,  yet  these  are  but  types  of  what  may  be  seen  in  almost  every 
convent  throughout  the  world.  Art  is  indeed  innate,  intuitive  with  the  sisterhood;  the 
love  of  the  beautiful  as  a  reflection  of  its  divine  author  must  ever  be  linked  withlbve  of 
Him  to  whom  their  lives  are  consecrated. 

Here  in  the  United  States  are  3,585  parochial  schools,  besides  245  orphanages  and 
463  other  charitable  institutions,  in  addition  to  656  academies,  using  a  total  of  5,975 
buildings,  which,  at  a  valuation  of  83.900  each,  represent  an  investment  of  S17.975.000. 
In  addition  to  this  the  annual  running  expenses  of  these  establishments,  except  the 
academies,  which  are  supposed  to  be  self-supporting,  will  not  be  less  than  810,732,500. 
Besides  thus  providing  for  the  common  and  higher  education  of  the  children,  a  large 
number  of  whom  in  charitable  institutions  are  taken  from  the  slums,  many  a  reforma- 
tory, jail,  and  penitentiary  with  its  staff  of  officers  would  be  an  additional  tax  upon  the 
public  purse.     Let  not  this  be  overlooked  in  our  estimate  of  results. 

Nevertheless,  great  as  is  this  material  work,  linked  with  it  and  far  more  effective  is 
the  higher  and  spiritual  life  infused  into  those  under  the  Sisters'  charge,  from  the  frail 
infant,  fresh  from  the  hands  of  its  Maker,  on  to  the  highest  prelate  whose  first  lessons 
in  the  principles  of  theology  received  from  them,  became  the  impetus  and  underlying 
current  of  his  whole  life. 

The  great  question  of  religion  or  no  religion.  God  or  no  God,  in  our  school  system, 
agitating,  dividing,  and  colliding  our  educational  leaders,  here  finds  its  solution  in  the 
Sisters'  work.  The  grand  motive  urging,  driving  them  on  is  that  the  life  of  Christ,  in  its 
fullness  and  beauty,  in  its  strength  and  sanctity,  and  in  its  sublime  perfection,  as  far  as 
possible,  may  be  first  implanted  and  then  wrought  out  of  those  who  otherwise  might 
know  little  of  Christianity  beyond  a  few  formulas  and  a  code  of  morals,  shaped  too  often 
by  human  ideals  and  interests.  Tell  me  in  all  sincerity,  will  your  child  be  the  worse  for 
such  training?  Yet  more.  Side  by  side  with  each  lesson,  and  running  through  it.  the 
Sisters  aim  to  put  Jesus  Christ,  making  him  the  inspiration,  life,  and  motive  of  whatever 
is  thought,  said,  and  done.  Trying  to  live  his  divine  life  themselves,  and  finding  how 
blessed  it  is,  they  desire  nothing  less,  yea,  can  give  nothing  more  to  these  lambs  of  his 
flock.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  more  interesting  study  for  the  theorist  and  the  reformer, 
the  optimist  and  the  pessimist,  the  conservative  and  the  liberal  than  the  origin,  growth, 
and  marvelous  results  of  their  work.  In  noting  the  lines  taken  by  different  orders,  this 
fact  may  well  be  emphasized  as  a  clew  to  their  success,  that  in  singleness  of  aim  and 
purity  of  intention,  all  unite  in  the  one  endeavor  of  making  the  world  better,  wiser,  and 
happier  through  their  efforts;  thus  do  they  help  on  the  federation  of  the  human  race, 
that  glorious  ideal  of  to-day  to  be  merged  into  a  more  glorious  reality  of  to-morrow. 


h4  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  session  of  Wednesday  evening  was  held  in  a  densely  packed  hall,  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  gathering  being  -especially  awakened  by  this  brilliant 
address  of  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Ireland  on  the  subject  of 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  AND  CHARITY. 

I  am  sure  that  from  this  Congress  dates  a  new  era,  an  era  in  which,  more  than  in 
the  last,  we  shall  go  forth  showing  to  the  world  that  we  are  Catholics  and  Americans 
bearing,  as  the  Apostolic  Delegate  said  yesterday  in  magnificent  words,  in  one  hand  the 
Gospefof  Truth  and  in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  We  need 
mottoes  for  our  great  work,  and  the  motto  was  given  to  us  yesterday  in  these  words  by 
the  representative  of  the  immortal  Leo  XIII.  In  c^e  hand  the  Gospel  of  Truth — your 
faith  to  which  you  are  to  be  absolutely  loyal  in  all  your  thoughts,  words,  and  actions; 
in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States-Showing  yourselves  to  be,  because 
you  are  Catholics,  the  best,  warmest,  and  most  loyalSof  Americans.  There  are  Catholics 
— few  of  them,  thank  God! — who  dare  at  times  to  criticise  our  manifestations  of  patriot- 
ism, calling  these  manifestations,  as  one  lately  has  dared,  travesties  upon  real  patriot- 
ism. I  believe  those  men  speak  from  their  own  souls.  There  is  no  patriotism  in  their 
souls,  and  they  can  not  see  that  there  is  patriotism  in  the  souls  of  others.  Why  should 
we  not  be  loud  in  our  manifestations  of  patriotism?  We  love  what  is  great  and  good; 
therefore  we  love  the  Republic. 

We  love  what  is  given  us  by  its  institutions,  liberty,  and  prosperity,  and  because 
we  are  Catholics  we  ought,  if  it  were  possible,  to  be  more  patriotic  than  others, 
because  patriotism,  for  Catholics,  is  a  virtue  naturally,  and  a  virtue  supernaturally; 
because  we  are  Catholics,  we  love  with  all  the  strength  of  our  Catholic  hearts  the 
banner  of  the  United  States  which  sheds  throughout  the  whole  world  the  sweet  per- 
fume of  liberty.  We  love  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  grants  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  liberty  such  as  she  has  nowhere  else.  We  love  America  because 
there  is  here  a  country  great  and  glorious,  offering  to  ths  zeal  and  Faith  of  the  Church 
a  promising  and  fertile  held,  such  as  no  ocean  laves,  such  as  no  continent  opens. 

And  let  me  counsel  you  to  be  always  enthusiastically  patriotic,  and  let  it  be  known 
throughout  the  whole  country  that  Catholics  are,  as  I  said,  if  possible  more  patriotic 
than  other  fellow-citizens,  so  that  we  show  to  the  whole  country  what  are  the  lessons  of 
our  Faith.  We  show  to  the  whole  country  that  in  the  hands  of  none  others,  in  the 
hearts  of  none  others,  are  the  liberties  and  institutions  of  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States  safer.  This  then  the  motto:  The  Gospel  in  one  hand,  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  in  the  other. 

But  a  word  on  the  Catholic  Congress  itself.  It  is  held  to  bring  out  before  the  peo- 
ple the  meaning  of.,  the  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  on  the  social  question.  The  Gospel  of 
Christ  is  summed  up  by  the  Lord  himself  in  these  words:  "  Love  God  with  all  thy 
heart  and  soul,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Christianity  puts  before  us  the  two 
objects  of  our  love.  A  religion  which  would  confine  our  affections  to  God  Himself  would 
not  be  divine;  it  would  not  be  a  religion  of  the  Gospel;  God  would  not  be  satisfied 
with  it. 

Precisely  because  we  love  Him  we  must  love  all  that  He  loves,  and  love,  therefore, 
our  fellow-man.  Nor  would  it  be  sufficient  to  love  the  spiritual  good  of  the  neighbor; 
we  must  also  love  the  temporal  good;  we  must  love  him  in  soul  and  body;  we  must  love 
him  for  the  life  to  come  and  the  life  there  is.  The  Gospel  was  throughout  a  great  book 
of  holy  social  work  for  men.  The  miracles  of  our  blessed  Lord  were  primarily  exercised 
for  the  good  of  the  body,  for  the  temporal  felicity  of  man,  aiming,  of  course,  through 
those  miracles,  to  the  spiritual  good  of  man.  God  gave  the  earth  for  the  children  of 
men  that  they  may  live.  He  gave  it  to  all,  and  while,  because  of  the  nature  and  neces- 
sary conditions  of  mankind,  private  property  is  required,  yet  God  never  so  sanctified 
private  ownership  that,  because  of  private  ownership,  any  children  of  the  Great  Father 
of  all  should  suffer  from  starvation. 

It  was  God's  intention  that  there  should  be  a  sufficiency  for  all,  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  each  and  every  one  to  see  that  God's  intentions  are  realized.  God's  will  is  that  those 
who  have  an  abundance  of  good  things  for  themselves  think  of  those  who  are  in  want, 
think  of  them  as  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  family;  and  when  they  refuse  this 
universal  charity,  they  lie  in  their  prayers  when  they  look  up  to  the  skies  and  say,  "  Our 
leather,  Who  art  in  Heaven." 

This  is  the  true  Gospel  of  Christ.  This  is  the  true  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church 
To-day  the  world,  alas,  is  drifting  away  from  its  Christian  moorings.  It  is  our  duty  to 
marK  berore  all  eyes  the  path  of  peace  and  blessedness,  to  spread  before  the  nations  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  75 

divine  treasures  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  Are  you  going  to  convert  the  world  by 
argument?  By  no  means.  Argument  convinces  the  mind;  it  does  not  move  the  soul. 
The  age,  moreover,  is  tired  of  argument.  The  age  has  told  us  the  evidence  it  demands, 
and  I  admire  the  good  sense  of  the  age. 

This  age  says  to  ul,  you  profess  to  be  the  Church  of  the  Gospel.  Give  us  the  Gos- 
pel in  daily  life;  we  judge  the  tree  by  its  fruits.  And  in  so  saying  it  accepts  our  own 
challenge.  The  age  is  an  age  of  humanity.  It  has  caught  up  some  of  the  lofty  aspira- 
tions of  the  Christian  soul  in  its  great  love  for  humanity,  in  the  very  profession  of  this 
love.  The  age  demands  charity,  love  for  all  of  every  language,  every  race,  and  every 
color  —  love  of  man  as  he  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator.  Our  country  is 
well  filled  with  good  works,  charities  of  all  kinds.  Asylums  are  built  for  the  poor  and 
the  blind,  and  the  mute  and  the  imbecile.  The  American  state  is  essentially,  in  its 
instincts  and  aspirations,  Catholic.  Let  us  then  take  hold  of  these  instincts  and  aspira- 
tions and  show  that  they  have  all#ben  perpetrated  by  our  Church  in  the  past. 

The  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  labor  is  timely.  This  is  what  is  needed— Cath- 
olic social  work— social  work  to  be  done  by  all  bishops,  priests,  nuns,  and  women  and 
here  precisely  are  our  present  effort^  Catholics  have  been  half-inclined  in  the  past  to 
perform  their  social  duties  through'representatives.  It  will  not  do  to  leave  all  this 
work  to  the  priests  and  the  sisters  and  the  religieuse.  Catholic  laymen  have  been  too 
quiet  in  the  past.  The  Catholic  laity  have  an  individual  duty  in  all  these  social  ques- 
tions, in  all  the  works  of  humanity  and  of  charity.  In  these  matters  we  should  not  be 
afraid,  as  some  have  seemed  to  be,  to  co-operate  with  all  who  are  doing  good,  whether 
they  are  just  our  kind  of  people  or  not,  whether  they  be  Catholics  or  not. 

We  say  this  is  a  glorious  Church  of  ours — as,  indeed,  she  is— and  yet  what  a  fear- 
fully large  proportion  of  those  so-called  saloons  are  held  by  Catholics  and  a  fearfully 
large  proportion  who  lose  in  them  their  souls  are  children  of  the  Church.  Here 
is  work  for  all,  here  is  work  into  which  we  ought  to  put  all  our  religion,  all  our  social 
and  political  energies,  until  our  country  is  freed  from  these  dreadful  evils.  We  think 
we  are  good  Catholics  so  long  as  our  own  private  lives  are  not  contrary  to  the  law  of 
God,  but  we  have  grave  responsibilities  besides  this  in  our  social  relations  and  in  our 
political  life,  and  Catholics  who  vote  for  bad  laws,  who  vote  not  for  the  suppression  of 
great  social  evils,  contradict  the  God  of  purity  and  holiness,  contradict  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  and  murder  souls. 

There  is  much  we  can  do  in  many  directions.  Let  not  the  laymen  wait  for  the  lay- 
men, let  not  laymen  wait  for  priest,  let  not  priest  wait  for  bishop,  and  let  not  bishop 
wait  for  the  Pope.  But  let  all  go  on  in  well-doing  along  the  great  road  of  social  charity, 
and  then  we  are  living  out  Christ's  Gospel  and  are  leading  the  age,  for  which  it  hungers 
and  thirsts,  to  that  shrine  which,  when  the  nation  comes  to  it,  shall  bear  over  its  portals 
t>»e  name  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

In  the  same  session  Rev.  Father  Patrick  Cronin  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  spoke 
vigorously  as  follows,  on  "  The  Church  and  the  Republic": 

This  land,  discovered  by  Catholic  genius,  explored  by  Catholic  missionary  zeal,  bap- 
tized in  the  blood  of  the  Catholic  revolutionary  heroes,  and  preserved  in  unified  glory 
by  the  prowess  of  Catholic  arms  on  many  a  gory  field — is  it  any  marvel  that  the  Church 
should  have  phenomenally  grown  and  flourished  here? 

The  same  showering  mercies  of  the  skies  which  fructified  the  labors  of  the  mis- 
sionaries were  not  and  are  not  absent  during  our  episcopal  rule.  When  Bishop  Carroll 
took  possession  of  his  see  in  Baltimore  the  Catholic  population  of  the  Republic  was  not 
more  than  50,000.  What  is  it  to-day?  Surely  not  less  than  10,000,000!  The  Flagets, 
the  Cheveruses,  the  Kenricks,  the  Timons,  the  Spaldings,  are  names  not  born  to  die; 
and  their  successors  to-day  are  well  worthy  of  their  great  prototypes. 

The  American  hierarchy  stands  peerless  before  the  world.  Yet  among  them  there 
have  been  and  there  are  giants.  Three  especially  were  sent  by  God,  whose  names  were 
John,  whose  deeds  will  ever  be  golden  urned  in  the  heart  of  the  American  Church 
John  England,  John  Hughes.  John  Ireland.  The  first,  a  marvel  of  eloquence,  learning. 
and  courage,  could  scarce  find  place  to  lay  his  weary  head  when  first  he  bore  the  cross 
to  the  haughty  South.  On  the  day  of  his  all-too-early  death  the  whole  city  of  Charles 
ton  was  in  tears.  The  second,  a  man  of  metropolitan  largeness,  whose  heart  never 
quailed  before  a  foe,  stood  at  the  chief  gateway  of  our  immigration,  gathered  his  people 
around  him  with  paternal  solicitude,  and,  like  another  Jonathan,  slew,  with  pen  and 
tongue,  the  Know-nothing  philistine    who  dared  to  trespass  upon  their  rights: 

The  third.  What  shall  I  say  of  him?  Happily  he  still  lives.  You  all  know  him  as 
>bi;  a*  I.    As  yet  iu  the  midsummer  of  his  days,  he  has  already  written  his  rauic  wi 


T6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

characters  of  golden  light  upon  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  American  Church.  To  the 
eloquence,  activity,  and  learning  of  John  England,  John  Ireland  adds  the  combative 
courage  and  progressive  leadership  of  John  Hughes.  Loyal  to  the  core  to  Rome  and  to 
its  every  teaching,  he  is  intensely  American,  and  cherishes  as  the  apple  of  his  eye  the 
free  institutions  of  this  Republic.  He  has  a  hold  upon  the  popular  heart  which,  with  the 
possible  sole  exception  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  no  other  American 
prelate  ever  held.  Such  men  are  the  Church's  jewels,  which  she  cherishes  with  more 
than  a  Cornelia's  pride. 

I  now  come  to  the  latest  manifestation  in  the  Church's  development  in  the  United 
States.  Need  I  say  that  it  is  symbolized  by  the  magic  name  Satolli!  A  name  hailed 
and  revered  by  the  whole  American  people.  Why?  Because  it  means  law,  justice, 
liberty,  and  peace!  Because  it  means  progress  and  not  reaction.  Because  it  means 
home  rule  and  not  rule  of  4,000  miles  away,  with  all  its  chronic  difficulties  and  proverbial 
tardiness.  Because  it  means  that  henceforth  the  church  is  to  be  governed  in  the  United 
States  by  her  established  canons,  and  not  by  the  caprice  of  any  individual,  however 
learned  or  holy.  Because  it  means  that  the  Church,  now  grown  to  maturity,  has  burst 
her  missionary  swathing  bands;  that  she  stands  foivth  not  only  emancipated  forevermore, 
but  that  "  divinely  tall  and  most  divinely  fair,"  she  shall  no  longer  be  covered  with  the 
moth-eaten  rags  of  a  dead  and  buried  past,  but  shall  henceforth  be  clothed  in  the 
queenly  splendor  of  her  rightful  inheritance. 

But  Satollicism  means  even  more  than  this.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  whether 
America  is  hostile  to  the  institutions  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  burning  question  is, 
whether  the  Catholic  Church  is  hostile  to  the  free  institutions  of  America.  The  coming 
of  Satolli  is  a  final  and  irrevocable  answer  to  the  latter,  while  the  universal  outburst  of 
acclaim  that  signalized  his  advent  shows  the  hearty  friendship  with  which  America 
hails  the  co-operation  of  the  Church. 

I  shall  only  add  that  Satolli's  mission  here  is  beyond  recall.  He  is  here  with  the  per- 
manency of  Rome's  everlasting  rock.  All  blessing  and  glory  to  that  mission  and  to  the 
person  of  America's  first  resident  apostolic  delegate,  and  fadeless  laurels  for  the  peerless 
Pontiff  that  sent  him. 

A  valuable  and  suggestive  paper  was  read  during  this  session,  by  its 
author,  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary  of  Minneapolis,  on  the  subject  of 

THE    DRINK    EVIL. 

No  congress  of  earnest  men  in  our  time  and  country  can  justly  consult  the  best 
interests  of  their  fellowmen,  and  ignore  a  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  drink  evil. 
Many  honest  and  conservative  men  hesitate  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  evils  of 
intemperance,  and  to  openly  ally  themselves  with  temperance  'workers  lest  they  be 
accused  of  fanaticism  or  misunderstood  by  those  whose  good  opinion  they  highly 
esteem.  Every  great  and  noble  work  in  the  history  of  human  progress  has  suffered 
from  the  intemperate  zeal  of  its  friends  and  from  the  hypocrisy  of  its  avowed  advo- 
cates. But  the  temperance  cause  has  suffered  more,  I  imagine,  from  the  apathy  of  timid 
friends  than  it  has  from  either  hypocrisy  or  fanaticism.  It  is  a  cause  that  in  a  special 
manner  needs  the  support  of  honest,  conservative,  and  thoughtful  men. 

Intemperance  is  a  crying  sin  of  our  land,  and  with  marvelous  ingenuity  has  kept 
pace  on  its  onward  march  with  our  unrivaled  prosperity  and  progress.  Something 
over  nine  times  as  much  intoxicating  drink  is  consumed  in  the  United  States 
to-day  as  there  was  forty  years  ago,  and  we  have  only  about  three  times  as  many  people 
as  we  had  then  within  our  borders.  No  evil  existing  among  us  menaces  so  boldly  the 
peace,  prosperity,  happiness,  and  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  our  people  as  the  evil  Of 
excessive  drinking.  No  other  social  evil  disturbs  the  family  relation  and  renders  the 
domestic  life  of  men,  women,  and  children  so  inhuman  and  hopeless  as  the  evil  of 
excessive  and  habitual  indulgence  in  strong  drink.  Intemperance  unfits  husband  and 
wife  for  the  duties  of  parentage,  the  most  sacred  and  solemn  in  the  entire  catalogue  of 
human  obligations.  It  destroys  the  sense  of  decency  and  honor,  silences  conscience,  mid 
deadens  the  best  instincts  of  the  human  heart.  There  is  no  bright  side  to  the  picture 
of  strong  drink  in  the  home.  This  hideous  and  brutalizing  vice  can  not  be  condemned 
too  severely,  and  those  who  have  experienced  much  suffering  from  its  influence  may  be 
pardoned  if  they  are  unsparing  against  every  effort  that  tends  to  widen  the  way  for  the 
spread  of  habitual  drinking  among  us. 

The  Church,  through  the  united  voice  of  our  bishops  assembled  in  the  Third  Plen- 
ary Council  of  Baltimore,  warns  its  members  against  the  dangers  of  the  drink  habit 
and  the  temptations  of  the  saloon.    The  same  Council  warns  our  Catholic    people 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  77 

against  the  business  of  saloon-keeping,  as  "An  Unbecoming  Way  of  Making  a  Living." 
A  man  can  not  be  a  good  Catholic,  a  loyal  follower  of  the  teachings  of  the  Church, 
and  be  a  good  friend  of  the  saloon.  We  should  at  least  have  the  courage  to  follow- 
where  our  chief  pastors  lead,  and  our  Catholic  loyalty  is  not  above  suspicion  if  we  are 
not  as  ready  to  condemn  the  drink  evil  as  our  bishops,  who  have  been  placed  over  us 
to  rule  the  Church  of  God. 

It  is  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Catholic  Church  that,  true  to  the  spirit  of  her 
Divine  Founder,  she  has  never  become  the  Church  of  any  special  class,  as  also  she  has 
not  permitted  herself  to  be  narrowed  down  as  the  Church  of  any  particular  nation  or 
generation  of  men.  She  is  the  Church  of  all  times,  all  nations,  and  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  men.  She  is  the  living  voice  of  God  to  cheer,  instruct,  and  comfort  all  the 
people.  But  in  this  country,  owing  to  the  mighty  wave  of  immigration  from  less  fav- 
ored lands  during  the  past  half-century,  bearing  a  noble  army  of  toilers-  to  our  hospit- 
able shores,  the  great  body  of  the  wage-earners,  the  masses  of  the  people,  crowd  around 
our  altars,  and  with  loyal  honest  hearts  appeal  to  our  Church  to  devote  her  best  efforts 
to  their  moral  and  spiritual  welfare.  The  great  army  of  labor,  the  sinew  of  the  nation, 
acknowledges  a  loyal  allegiance  to  the  Catholic  Church.  The  debasing,  brutalizing 
influence  of  excessive  drinking,  and  the  saloon  environments  fall  upon  the  laboring 
classes  of  our  people  with  more  disastrous  effect  than  upon  those  better  favored  by 
fortune.  The  dreadful  vice  of  intemperance  has  made  frightful  havoc  among  our  hard- 
working Catholic  people. 

What  else  but  this  spenthrift  vice  could  afflict  a  large  portion  of  our  people  with 
poverty  so  hopeless  as  to  be  like  an  incurable  disease,  a  people  to  whom  countless  mil- 
lions are  yearly  paid?  What  else  huddles  so  many  of  them  into  the  swarming  tenement 
houses?  I  make  no  odious  comparison  between  the  intemperance  of  the  wealthy  and 
the  intemperance  of  the  poor.  The  heathenish  vice  of  drunkenness  is  an  abomination 
wherever  its  foul  presence  is  known.  I  only  state  a  fact  which  can  not  be  set  aside;  a 
fact  which  the  philanthropist  and  the  statesman  can  not  ignore,  namely,  that  the  great- 
est curse  blighting  the  lives  and  desecrating  the  homes  of  the  poor  in  this  country  to- 
day is  the  curse  of  drink.  That  homes  of  comfort  are,  alas,  too  often  blighted  by"  the 
presence  of  the  demon  of  intemperance  and  drunkenness  among  the  wealthier  classes 
of  the  people  is  equally  odious  and  even  more  disgraceful  than  among  the  poor.  But 
the  poor  are  greater  sufferers,  and  hence  enlist  our  deeper  sympathy  when  intemper- 
ance blights  their  lifes,  for  in  addition  to  the  heartache  and  sorrow  which  the  vice 
entails  equally  upon  rich  and  poor,  it  adds  the  horrors  of  penury,  beggary,  and  hopeless 
degradation  to  the  lives  of  the  children  of  toil. 

Great  and  long-standing  evils  are  not  remedied  in  an  hour.  When  we  have  to  deal 
with  human  passion  and  human  weakness,  when  we  must  conquer  bad  habits  anu 
diseased  appetites,  our  progress  will  not  be  rapid,  and  discouragement  and  failure  will 
often  be  our  reward.  Evil  there  will  always  be  in  the  world,  and  human  energy  must 
not  slumber  because  wickedness  and  sin  remain. 

The  people  look  with  longing  and  hope  to  the  Catholic  Church  to  lead  them  away 
from  the  bondage  of  drink.  The  Church  that  civilized  the  savage  and  that  preserved 
the  civilization  which  it  erected  on  the  ruins  of  barbarism,  is  able  to  rescue  the  masses 
of  the  people  in  this  country  to-day  from  the  cruel  thralldom  of  drink.  The  drink-curse 
is  intrenched  in  custom,  hence  we  must  follow  it  into  society.  At  all  social  assemblages 
of  Catholics  let  them  deny  themselves  the  indulgence  in  intoxicating  liquors  and  thus 
publicly  proclaim  their  recognition  of  the  principles  of  self-denial.  At  the  reunion  of 
friends  and  family  connections,  whether  occasions  of  joy  or  of  sorrow,  let  Catholics 
show  their  horror  of  drunkenness  by  denying  themselves  the  use  of  strong  drink.  There 
is  no  gratification  worthy  of  a  Christian  that  can  not  be  enjoyed  without  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors.  As  an  act  of  reparation  for  what  our  religion  has  suffered  from 
intemperance,  let  our  Catholic  people  proscribe  intoxicants  at  all  their  public  gatherings. 
Let  there  be  such  an  earnest  and  potent  public  sentiment  among  our  Catholic  people  that 
no  liquor-saloon  can  crowd  itself  right  up  to  the  doors  of  our  churches  and  thus,  by  its 
foul  presence,  tempt  weak  and  unwary  men  to  wickedness  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
cross.  If  our  prelates,  priests,  and  people  join  hands  together  to  work  in  harmony  and 
strength  for  the  realization  of  the  admonitions  of  our  plenary  councils,  the  awful  curse 
of  intemperance  can  be  almost  entirely  eradicated  from  among  us.  We  must  encour- 
age, then,  our  total  abstinence  societies  by  every  means  at  our  command.  We  priests, 
mindful  of  Pope  Leo's  words,  must  "shine  as  models  of  abstinence."  and  by  exhortation 
and  preaching  avert  the  many  calamities  with  which  the  vice  threatens  Church  and 
State. 

Let  there  be  a  general  and  generous  distribution  of  temperance  literature,  tracts, 


78  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

lectures,  statistics,  and  good  reading  among  our  people.  And  this  work  and  agitation 
in  favor  of  sobriety  and  temperance  must  be  constant  and  active.  The  allurements  of 
drinks  are  ever  thrusting  themselves  in  the  pathway  of  men.  Near  to  the  house  of 
prayer  the  workingman  finds  the  drinking-saloon,  cheerful,  enticing,  and  hospitable,  as 
he  goes  to  worship  God  on  Sunday  morning.  Close  to  the  gates  of  the  factory  or  mill 
the  agents  of  alcohol  ply  their  trade  and  tempt  the  weary  toiler  to  spend  for  a  moment's 
gratification  his  hard-earned  money  that  is  much  needed  in  his  humble  home.  Sur- 
rounded thus  by  attractive  temptations,  men  need  constant  warnings,  repeated  admoni- 
tions and  such  wholesome  influences  as  will  strengthen  and  safeguard  them  against  the 
overpowering  spell  of  drink. 

FOURTH     DAY. 

Thursday,  the  fourth  day  of  the  Congress,  might  well  be  called 
Woman's  Day,  the  claims  and  glories  of  the  gentler  sex  being  eloquently 
presented  by  some  famous  Catholic  ladies.  The  first  of  these  was  intro- 
duced by  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Burke  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  in  the 
following  terms: 

I  came  here  to-day  for  the  purpose  of  listening  to  a  lady  who  deserves  well  of  the 
Catholics  throughout  the  United  States,  one  whose  name  is  a  household  word  in 
every  Catholic  family  throughout  the  land,  who  has  written  and  lectured  on  the 
beauty,  and  culture,  and  refinement  of  the  Christian  art  set  forth  by  the  Church  in 
her  galleries  throughout  Europe,  the  product  of  Christian  artists,  in  a  manner  that  is 
hers  especially.  She  has  had  no  equal  among  us  in  this  respect.  I  came  here  to-day 
to  listen  to  her,  and  to  show  my  sympathy  with  the  great  work  of  this  Catholic  Con- 
gress, and  not  to  address  you.  I  will  only  say  that  it  is  an  exceeding  pleasure  for  me,  and 
for  every  ecclesiastic  who  has  witnessed  this  grand  assembly,  and  listened  to  the  elo- 
quent discourses;  we  have  been  in  admiration  with  all  the  people  of  this  great  city  at 
this  outpouring,  at  this  manifestation  of  Catholic  doctrine  and  Catholic  activity,  and 
culture  and  refinement. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  of  the  public  speakers  who  have  given  expression  to  their 
views  during  the  past  few  days,  that  the  United  States  is  a  country  of  great  possibilities, 
a  country  where  everything  can  be  accomplished  that  is  attempted  by  man;  and  it  has 
been  said,  too,  that  all  that  the  Catholic  Church  requires,  is  to  be  set  forth  before  the 
eyes  of  our  countrymen  to  be  appreciated,  loved,  and  respected  throughout  the  land. 
I  believe  never  before  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church  has  this  been  done  so 
eloquently,  so  magnificently  as  it  has  been  by  this  grand  Congress,  or  Congresses.  In 
every  part  of  this  building  there  are  persons  setting  forth  the  glory,  and  the  power, 
and  magnificence  of  the  Church  of  one  living  God;  and  the  newspapers  of  this  great  city 
are  full  of  our  doings.  They  are  flashed  to  the  ends  of  the  country,  and  our  name  to-day 
is  held  in  benediction  because  we  have  appeared  to  the  people,  I  believe,  as  we  have 
never  appeared  before. 

The  great  questions  that  have  agitated  the  human  mind  throughout  the  world  have 
been  treated  here  in  the  most  masterly  manner,  and  thoughts  and  problems  and  solu- 
tions have  been  set  forth,  based  on  the  solid  foundation  of  Christian  truth  and  conducted 
in  the  spirit  of  Christian  charity,  in  a  manner  that  is  marvelous  and  that  is  appreciated 
by  the  whole  community  in  which  we  live.  I  say  to  you,  however,  not  to  be  content 
with  what  you  see  and  hear  from  this  platform,  but  when  you  go  forth  to  the  World's 
Exposition  fail  not  to  see  the  works  of  Catholic  charity,  of  Catholic  intellect,  of  Cath- 
olic culture,  set  forth  for  the  admiration  of  the  world  as  they  have  never  been  set  forth 
before.  See  the  works  of  the  holy  nuns  who  are  hidden  from  our  gaze  in  their  cloisters, 
unknown  to  the  world  except  through  the  little  ones  of  Christ  as  they  grow  up  before 
us,  as  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  did,  advancing  in  age  and  wisdom  before  God  and  man. 
See  the  works  of  education,  the  product  of  Christian  education,  refinement,  and  cul- 
ture, and  you  shall  be  astonished,  and  it  shall  not  be  necessary  for  ecclesiastics  to  set 
forth  before  you  the  necessity  of  Christian  education,  for  there  is  an  object-lesson  that 
lights  up  the  charity  of  Christ,  to  impress  you  with  the  work  that  is  being  done  in  this 
great  country.  There  is  this  remarkable  about  the  exhibit:  It  is  an  evidence  of  Cath- 
olic education  that  can  not  be  witnessed  in  any  other  department  of  the  great  Exposition; 
it  is  one  in  which  to  the  knowledge  of  natural  things  there  is  given  a  refinement,  a  cul- 
ture, and  development  of  the  moral  nature  in  man. 

I  am  sure  that  the  hearts  of  the  ladies  will  rejoice  to-day  when  the  venerable  form 
o.  Miss  Eliza  Allen  Starr  shall  be  presented  to  you,  and  you  shall  hear  from  her  lips 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  79 

words  of  beauty  and  eloquence,  describing  the  magnificence  and  the  beauty  of  Christian 
art. 

Beauty,  expressed  under  visible  forms,  may  be  called  the  soul  of  that  art  which 
under  its  almost  infinite  variety  of  mediums,  marks  the  progress  of  the  human  ran 
one  of  the  tests  of  the  human  race,  is  one  of  the  tests  applied  to  nations  and  to  epochs. 
What  share  has  woman  had  in  this  beginning — that  is.  from  Eve  to  the  women  of  our 
own  generation?  For  we  must  go  quite  one  side  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  quite  one 
side  of  all  the  traditions  of  art,  not  to  recognize  that  Eve,  '"the  mother  of  all  the  liv 
ing,:'  contained  in  herself,  as  did  Adam,  the  germs  of  those  wonder-working  periods  in 
the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  which  have  won  our  admiration. 

"  A  perfect  woman,  nobly  planned,"  was  Eve,  and  we,  her  daughters,  look  back  over 
the  world's  five  thousand  and  almost  nine  hundred  years,  to  claim  for  her  those  endow- 
ments which  grace  the  highest  civilization  of  to-day.  No  mention  is  made  of  her 
actual  occupation  in  Genesis,  but  the  old  rhyme  of  Adam  delving  and  Eve  spinning, 
which  the  artists  laid  hold  of  even  on  the  walls  of  Campo  Santo,  Pisa,  gives  us  the 
impression  that  the  first  exercise  in  decorative  art  for  the  human  race  might  have 
come,  very  naturally,  from  the  hand  of  Eve,  while  the  woman  who  remembered  the 
loveliness  of  Eden  must  have  had  images  of  beauty  in  her  mind  which  found  expression 
under  her  skillful  fingers.  Tubal  Cain  may  have  taken  from  his  mother,  Zillah,  what 
gave  grace  of  form,  as  well  as  sweetness  of  sound  to  the  musical  instruments  of  the 
antediluvian  artificer  in  metals;  and  we  are  quite  sure  that  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors 
owed  its  beauty  to  feminine  hands. 

No  sooner,  however,  do  we  come  to  the  Mosaic  ritual  than  the  skill,  which  monu- 
ments existing  to-day  prove  to  have  belonged  to  the  women  of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  is 
found  to  have  been  practiced  to  a  high  degree  by  the  Hebrew  women  under  the  shadow 
of  Mount  Sinai.  The  Greek  scholar  is  never  allowed  to  forget  the  web  woven  by  the 
faithful  Penelope,  which  not  only  gave  evidence  of  her  industry  but  of  the  imagination 
which  endeavored  to  express,  in  the  overshot  figures  of  her  tapestry,  her  admiration 
for  her  husband,  Ulysses;  while  no  barbarous  tribe  has  yet  come  to  light  without  giving 
numberless  examples  of  the  instinctive  expression  of  beauty  under  visible  forms  at  the 
hands  of  its  women. 

This  universality  of  endowment,  and  this  universality  of  its  exercise,  giving  the 
foundation  for  woman's  work  in  art  hitherto,  will  continue  to  be  the  foundation  on 
which  her  achievements  in  art  will  be  based,  furnishing  an  argument  for  our  educators 
which  will  be  fruitful  of  results  favorable  to  those  virtues  that  show  most  fair  in  woman. 
Greece,  pre-eminently  the  home  of  beauty,  which  gave  heroes  and  poets  to  sing 
their  praises,  gave  sculptors,  also,  to  perpetuate  their  deeds  in  immortal  marble;  and  to 
a  daughter  of  Greece,  Kora,  who  helped  her  father,  Dibutades,  in  his  modeling,  we  owe 
the  reliefs  which  enabled  the  Attic  sculptors  to  tell  the  stories  of  the  gods  on  the  pedi- 
ments of  their  temples;  for  rilievo  must  always  be  regarded  as  the  sculptor's  medium 
of  narration. 

Of  those  who  worked  in  color,  we  hear  of  Helena,  belonging  to  the  age  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  who  painted  for  one  of  the  Ptolemies  the  scene  in  which  Alexander  van- 
quishes Darius,  a  painting  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  original  of  a  famous 
mosaic  found  at  Pompeii;  while  an  artist,  Calypso,  executed  a  picture  which  has  been 
transferred  from  Pompeii  to  Naples  under  the  title  of  "A  Mother  Superintending  Her 
Daughter's  Toilet."  A  Greek  girl,  Lala,  a  contemporary  of  Cleopatra,  w7as  so  celebrated 
for  her  busts  in  ivory  that  the  Romans  erected  a  statue  to  her  memory,  and  a  Roman 
paintress,  Lava,  using  her  brush  some  seventy-nine  years  before  the  coming  of  our  Lord, 
is  the  first  person  spoken  of  as  painting  miniature  likenesses  on  ivory,  which  she  exe- 
cuted with  marvelous  rapidity.  According  to  Pliny,  she  ranked  among  the  most  famous 
artists  of  her  time. 

We  shall  refer  to  this  miniaturist  again,  but  to  preserve  a  chronological  thread  on 
which  to  string  our  facts,  we  will  mention  here  that  benefactress  to  all  succeeding  time, 
Galia  Placidia,  daughter  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  who,  in  440,  or  during  the  pontificate 
of  that  Leo,  the  first  of  all  pontiffs  to  be  called  great,  caused  to  be  executed,  under  his 
approbation,  that  arch  of  triumph  which  glorifies  even  the  new  Basilica  of  St.  Paul 
outside  the  walls;  this  mosaic  being,  as  Cardinal  Wiseman  declares  in  his  "Recollec- 
tions of  the  Last  Four  Popes,"  "the  title-deed  of  the  modern  Church,"  to  the  veneration 
of  Christendom.  Not  only  this  venerable  monument,  but  very  interesting  mosaics  were 
executed  under  her  order  at  Ravenna,  before  which  the  traveler  pauses  under  the  spell 
of  their  Christian  significance  as  well  as  beauty. 

k    To  return  to  our  miniaturist,  Laya,  who  may  be  said  to  lead  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful processions  in  the  story  of  art,  for  she  was  followed  by  legions  of  monastic  workers 
36 


So  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

in  the  European  cloisters,  who,  in  the  silence  of  monastic  scriptoriums,  adorned  those 
choir  books  which  are  the  ever  increasing  wonder  of  the  lovers  of  art.  Many  of  these 
monks  are  high  on  the  roll  of  fame;  but,  working  even  more  hiddenly  than  the  monks 
of  St.  Columbkill's  time,  were  legions  of  women,  working  so  hiddenly,  in  truth,  that  it 
is  only  by  the  slip  of  a  pen  like  Montalembert's  that  we  are  likely  to  hear  of  these  nuns 
whose  names  were  caught  by  the  quick  ear  of  Saint  Bede  the  venerable;  but  the  names 
of  Saint  Lioba,  the  cousin  of  Saint  Boniface,  of  Saint  Walburga,  sister  of  Saint  Wilibald, 
the  nuns  of  Eiken  and  their  two  abbesses,  Harlinda  and  Renilda,  have  come  down  to 
us  by  the  fame  of  their  pious  labors  over  psalter  and  gospel;  and  all  this  in  the  7th 
century,  supplying  links  to  the  traditions  of  art  which  would  prepare  it  for  more  favored 
periods. 

Agnes,  Abbess  of  Quidlenberg.  was  celebrated  as  a  miniature  painter  in  the  12th 
century,  and  some  of  her  works  are  still  so  well  preserved  as  to  excite  admiration.  We 
know  that  at  this  present  time  painting  in  miniature,  on  vellum  or  paper,  is  practiced 
to  a  marvelous  degree  of  perfection  in  our  convents;  and  I  can  not  refrain  from  speaking 
of  a  volume  of  transcribed  poetry  from  the  convent  of  the  Benedictine  nuns  in  our  own 
city,  with  charming  marginal  decorations  in  gold  and  color  by  a  Benedictine  nun;  while 
in  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Cross,  St.  Mary's,  Ind.,  are  designs  on  panel,  silk,  vellum, 
paper,  which  will  compare  with  the  celebrated  works  of  the  13th  and  14th  centuries. 

In  the  14th  century,  Sister  Plautilla,  a  Dominican  nun,  won  fame  which  compelled 
Vasari  to  name  her  pictures  with  praise;  especially  a  Madonna  bearing  her  Divine  Child 
on  her  knees  as  he  is  adored  by  the  magi,  of  which  I  have  a  photograph. 

Alongside  the  Van  Eycks,  Hubert  and  John,  is  found  their  sister,  Margaret 
Van  Eyck,  who  worked  in  miniature  under  the  patronage  of  the  court  of  Burgundy,  her 
fame  extending  to  the  far  South.  Often  she  worked  with  her  brothers  on  their  pictures, 
much  in  the  way  that  the  Robbia  family  worked  together  on  the  same  compositions, 
showing  that  her  style  or  handling  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  her  renowned  brothers. 
From  these  delicate  and,  as  they  are  often  called,  feminine  labors,  we  pass  to  the 
plastic  art,  in  which  Properzia  di  Rossi,  of  Bologna,  so  distinguished  herself  that  Clem- 
ent VII.,  having  gone  to  Bologna  to  crown  the  emperor,  Charles  V.,  inquired  for  her, 
greatl.  ""esiring  to  see  her;  but,  to  his  deep  regret,  was  told  that  she  had  died  but  a  few 
days  before  his  arrival,  not  having  completed  her  thirtieth  year.  Her  works  are  still  to 
be  seen  in  the  cathedral  at  Bologna. 

It  was  to  Sabina,  daughter  of  that  Erwin  von  Steinback,  whose  monument  is  the 
Strasburg  Cathedral,  that  tha  ornamentation  of  this  wonder  of  ages  was  in  a  great  part 
committed.  Not  only  did  she  complete  the  spire  after  her  father's  death,  but  designed 
and  executed  the  sculptured  groups  of  the  portals,  especially  that  of  the  southern  isle. 
The  name  of  De  Pazzi,  associated  as  it  is  with  some  of  the  choicest  pages  of  saintly  lore, 
is  associated  also  with  art.  Caterina  de  Pazzi  was  born  in  1566,  of  the  old  Florentine 
family,  and  retired,  while  still  young,  to  a  Carmelite  convent,  under  the  name  of  Maria 
Madclelina.  There,  under  the  protection  and,  we  must  believe,  the  encouragement  of 
her  superiors,  she  threw  the  energy  of  her  ardent  and  noble  soul  into  the  works  of  her 
pencil  and  brush,  which  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  cloisters  of  the  Carmelites  at  Parma 
and  in  Santa  Maria,  in  Rome.     She  was  canonized  by  Clement  IX. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  cold  wave  which  passed  over  Europe  under  the  name  of 
the  reformation,  chilling  so  many  poetic  and  artistic  souls,  affected,  in  a  special  manner, 
the  sensitive  imaginations  of  women.  Hitherto  their  ideals  had  been  formed  by  that 
Faith  which  had  so  generously  nourished  arts  and  letters  as  well  as  souls.  With  a  recoil 
which  kept  the  traces  of  inherent  delicacy,  the  women  of  those  ages  turned  to  nature, 
studying  flowers,  fruits,  and  landscapes;  practicing,  also,  artistic  industries,  such  as 
engraving,  etching,  lithography,  indeed,  every  art  medium  which  united  them  to  the 
world  of  letters.  One  of  these  lovers  of  nature  was  Maria  Sybilla  Merian,  who  devoted 
herself  not  only  to  the  study  and  classification  of  plants  and  insects,  but  to  their  repre- 
sentation with  her  brush.  Not  contented  with  these  artistic  labors  in  her  native 
Holland,  she  visited,  in  1869,  Dutch  Guiana,  especially  Surinam,  remaining  two  years  in 
America.  On  her  return  to  Holland  the  admiration  excited  by  her  work  was  so  great 
that  she  was  induced  to  publish  her  researches  in  books  which  enjoyed  a  sale  of  suc- 
cessive editions. 

The  18th  century  was  beautified  by  a  genius  which  has  never  lost  its  charm — Maria 
Anne  Angelica  Kaufman.  Her  mind  turned  instinctively  to  painting,  which  she 
enjoyed  as  other  children  enjoy  play,  and  at  a  very  early  age  she  painted  the  Bishop  of 
Como.  In  1754  her  father  settled  at  Milan,  when  Angelica  came  directly  under  the 
influence  of  the  works  left  by  that  master  of  Greece,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  of  the 
more  tender  Luini.    The  decoration  of  a  church  in  a  secluded  region  was  entrusted  to 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  8 1 

her  father  and  herself,  her  own  share  winning  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the 
Bishop  of  Constance.  At  Florence,  and  again  at  Rome,  she  enjoyed  the  society  and 
instruction  of  the  venerable  Winckeimann.  Goethe,  with  his  aesthetically  critical  eye, 
was  compelled  to  praise  Angelica  Kaufman.  Art  was  to  her  the  breath  of  life,  and 
labor  was  her  greatest  delight.  She  died  at  Rome  in  November,  1807.  All  the  members 
of  the  Academy  of  St.  Luke  assisted  at  her  obsequies,  and  as  with  Raphael,  her  last 
picture  was  borne  after  her  bier. 

The  19th  century  brought  to  us  of  America,  a  warm  Dreath  from  the  realms  of 
imagination.  One  hardly  knows  how  it  found  its  way  to  the  sparsely  adorned  Puritan 
homes,  and  to  the  secluded  ways  of  the  daughters  and  granddaughters  of  revolution- 
ary heroes.  But  the  fact  is  all  the  same,  and  the  growth  of  artistic  ideas,  moreover, 
seemed  an  indigenous  one.  Among  the  very  first  of  our  American  women  to  give 
herself  to  art,  was  Sarah  Freeman  Clarke,  the  only  daughter  of  a  physician  in  JSewton, 
Mass.  Very  scanty  instruction  in  drawing,  of  any  sort,  was  given  in  those  days;  but 
she  got  a  glimpse,  in  some  way,  of  drawing  from  nature,  and  it  was  her  delight  to 
wander  over  the  picturesque  country  around  her  and  bring  home  sketches  of  hills,  and 
valleys,  and  homesteads. 

One  day  as  she  was  thus  engaged,  she  heard  some  ore  come  up  behind  her,  look 
over  her  shoulder,  then  turn  away,  saying:  "  Oh,  I  thought  it  was  Mis'  James! "  Who 
could  this  Mis'  James  be  who  had  the  same  tastes  as  herself?  She  determined  to  find 
out,  but  even  the  doctor,  her  father,  failed  to  have  any  knowledge  of  Mis'  James,  when 
the  washwoman  was  questioned  as  a  last  resort.  "Mis'  James!  Don't  you  know  who 
Mis'  James  is?  The  crazy  woman  what  takes  her  knitting  and  sets  on  her  husband's 
grave!"  "And  thus,"  Miss  Clarke  says,  "my  first  artistic  studies  were  coupled  with 
insanity." 

Some  years  after  a  friend  mentioned  her  case  to  Washington  Allston,  who  invited 
her  to  bring  her  sketches  to  him,  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  paint  a  picture  with  her — his 
way  of  giving  lessons.  Thus  Miss  Clarke  was  Allston's  first  and  only  pupil.  She  visited 
Europe  afterward  with  her  mother  and  brother  William,  who  is  associated  with  the 
early  days  of  Chicago.  On  their  return,  she  accompanied  him  to  our  Lake  City,  and  during 
her  expeditions  with  him  "  the  beauty,"  as  she  says,  "  of  the  prairie  was  made  known 
to  her." 

She  was  the  first  person  to  open  a  studio  in  Chicago,  and  her  magnificent  pictures 
of  oak  openings  and  prairie  adorned  the  homes  of  such  lovers  of  art  as  William  B. 
Ogden  and  Mr.  Newberry.  All  of  these,  however,  were  lost  in  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
One  of  her  most  remarkable  pictures  is  a  fragment  of  the  temple  of  Esnah,  Egypt, 
painted  for  Mrs.  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  Milwaukee,  for  whom  she  made  her  remarkable 
collection  of  Dante  sketches,  being  pen  and  ink  drawings  of  the  spots  mentioned  by  Dante 
in  his  "Divina  Commedia,"  and  which  made  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876.  A  duplicate  of  this  collection  was  made  for  Lady 
Ashburton. 

Following  closely  after  Miss  Clarke  was  Caroline  Negus,  born  among  the  hills  of 
Petersham,  Worcester  County,  Mass.  Caroline's  ambition  was  to  be  a  miniature 
painter;  to  learn  her  art  of  those  who  knew  Malbone,  and  to  do  this,  she  not  only 
taught  the  small  school  in  our  neighborhood,  to  which  I  was  sent  as  a  child,  but 
practiced  every  industry  her  facile  fingers  could  lay  hold  upon.  It  was  under  her  that 
my  own  young  fingers  found  guidance,  and  I  well  remember  her  charge  to  my  mother. 
"  Never  allow  her  to  copy  anything  but  nature."  Her  career  was  eminently  successful, 
her  pictures  on  ivory,  of  such  men  as  Emerson,  placing  her  in  the  highest  rank  of 
American  portrait  artists. 

The  first  sculptress  to  win  recognition  from  Europe  as  well  as  America  was  the 
daughter  of  a  physician  near  Boston,  who  gave  her  what  he  intended  to  be  a  training 
for  health,  but  which  developed  in  her  the  taste  for  plastic  art.  Every  opportunity  for 
a  thorough  course  of  sculpture  which  Boston  possessed  at  that  time  was  given  to  her. 
but  as  St.  Louis  gave  more  special  advantages  for  anatomical  studies  she  went  to  that 
city,  and,  in  1852,  found  in  the  sculptor  Gibson,  residing  in  Rome,  what  made  her 
mistress  of  the  technicalities  of  her  art. 

Although  her  works  are  to  be  seen  in  Europe  and  America,  for  she  has  enjoyed  a 
singularly  wide  distinction,  perhaps  her  most  charmingly  characteristic  creation  is  that 
of  Puck,  which  is  as  Shakspearean  as  Shakespeare  himself  in  its  poesy  and  drollery,  is 
an  exquisite  piece  of  modeling  and  finished  with  untold  pains.  But  it  is  to  her  latest 
work,  Isabella  of  Castile  giving  her  jewels  to  Columbus  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his 
first  voyage,  resulting  in  the  discovery  of  America,  that  Harriet  G.  Hosmer  has  intrusted 
her  fame.  This  was  modeled  in  Rome  from  studies,  as  to  likeness  and  costume,  made 
most  carefully  from  authorized  monuments  during  the  winters  of  1890,  1891,  and  1892. 


Sz  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  commission  for  this  statue  was  given  to  Miss  Hosmer  by  the  Queen  Isabella 
Association  to  be  cast  in  bronze  and  of  heroic  size  for  "The  World's  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion," as  a  tribute  from  American  women  to  the  co-discoverer  of  America.  The  full- 
sized  model  of  this  statue,  on  a  pedestal,  designed  by  the  best  architect  in  Rome,  in  a 
beautiful  material  fitted  for  indooi  exhibition,  stands  in  the  Isabella  pavilion,  just  out- 
side the  walls  of  "  the  World's  Coh  mbian  Exposition"  grounds;  but  the  statue  which  is 
now  coming  through  the  foundry  ot  Signor  Nelli,  Rome,  to  appear  in  all  the  glory  of 
bronze,  with  that  perfection  of  workmanship  which  belongs  to  the  eternal  city,  will 
stand  in  some  one  of  the  beautiful  parks  of  our  City  of  the  Lake  as  a  proof,  not  only  of 
the  noble  intention  of  the  Queen  Isabella  Association  to  honor  Isabella,  the  co-discoverer 
of  America,  thus  winning  for  itself  the  administration  and  best  wishes  of  the  Holy 
Father,  Leo  XIII.,  but  of  the  determination  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  above  all,  of  the 
Catholics  of  Chicago,  to  do  poetic  as  well  as  historical  justice  to  this  noblest  of  uncan- 
onized  women  and  peerless  Christian  queen. 

The  fame  of  a  Rosa  Bonheur  as  a  painter,  not  merely  of  animals,  but  of  animals 
under  the  influence  of  maternal  affection  or  under  the  inspiration  of  the  national  shows, 
the  fame,  too,  of  an  Elizabeth  Thompson,  who  has  brought  to  our  eyes  not  only  the 
horrors  of  war,  but,  with  a  most  womanly  instinct,  its  grandest  pathos,  show  how  wide 
the  pendulum  of  a  woman's  genius  may  swing  and  how  readily  the  technique  of  modern 
schools  is  appropriated  by  women. 

Who  was  it  that  lighted  up,  with  a  beauty  all  celestial,  the  gloomy  depths  of  a  cata- 
comb chamber  in  the  cemetery  of  Santa  Priscilla  before  the  close  of  the  1st  century  of 
the  Christian  era — before  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  had  won  their  crowns  or  their  palms? 
Lighted  it  up,  not  merely  by  her  own  maternal  loveliness,  but  by  the  divine  charms  of 
the  infant  nourished  at  her  virgin  breast,  and  before  whom  stands  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
pointing  to  the  star  above  her  head  as  typifying  the  star  which  had  arisen  out  of  Jacob, 
according  to  the  prediction? 

Who  is  it  that  is  found  again  and  again  in  the  subterranean  crypts  not  only  of  Santa 
Priscilla,  but  of  Santa  Domitilla  and  Santa  Agnes,  and  of  every  catacomb  lying  under 
the  smiling  Campagna  and  vineyards  of  Rome,  until  we  see  her  in  the  year  432,  in  all 
the  beauty  of  imperishable  mosaic,  on  the  arch  of  triumph  in  Santa  Maria  Maggiore; 
thence  onward,  on  the  apses  of  Rome's  loveliest  basilicas,  all  through  the  hidden  period 
of  antiphonals  and  psalters,  until  art  effloresced  under  Cimabue  and  Giotta  and  the 
holy  breath  of  St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic;  onward  still  through  the  ages  of  Vienese 
and  Florentine  art,  until  Raphael,  under  what  has  always  seemed  a  direct  inspiration, 
gave  to  the  world  that  hitherto  unrivaled  conception  of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  in  what 
we  know  and  reverence  as  the  Madonna  Sistina?  There  was  not  one  great  artist  in  all 
those  ages,  whether  monk,  or  nun,  or  courtier,  who  did  not  invoke  the  patronage  of 
Mary,  nor  is  there  a  school  or  academy  that  can  furnish  ideals  like  those  which  Mary 
gives  to  the  hearts  of  her  faithful  sons.     Can  she  do  less  for  her  faithful  daughters? 

Therefore  I  say  to  the  women  of  my  own  nation— put  not  your  trust  in  academies 
or  in  schools  of  technique;  but  whether  in  the  cloister  or  in  the  world,  make  Mary  your 
art  mistress,  your  guide,  your  inspiration,  and  she  will  bring  to  your  imaginations  what 
you  will  seek  for  in  vain  elsewhere.  She  will  speak,  also  through  your  pictures  and 
your  sculptures  to  your  generation,  until  they  demand,  like  those  ages  of  which  we  read, 
the  works  of  your  brush  and  of  your  chisel  to  kindle  their  devotion  and  urge  them 
onward  in  the  heavenly  way.  Do  not  tell  me  that  the  atmosphere  of  your  native  land  is 
chilling  to  devotion.  Make  your  own  atmosphere;  make  it  by  frequenting  the  sacra- 
ments, by  lives  of  loving  devotion  to  the  saints,  by  a  frequent  observance  of,  and 
attendance  upon,  all  festivals;  and  not  only  will  your  own  atmosphere  be  one  springing 
forth  lilies  and  roses,  but  it  will  be  caught  by  your  countrywomen,  so  that  you  will  be 
asked  for  in  their  homes,  will  be  placed  before  their  children,  and — glory  of  glories  to 
a  true  Christian  painter  or  sculptor — you  will  live  and  speak  to  them  from  the  altar- 
piece  and  altar-niche. 

Rouse  then,  oh  my  countrywomen,  to  the  fullness  of  your  vocation  as  artists!  Use 
all  the  opportunities  afforded  you,  not  to  win  the  poor  fame  awarded  by  gallery  or 
salon,  but  aspire  to  that  ideal  which  we  have  seen  consistent  with  a  life  of  a  conse- 
crated nun  and  even  that  of  the  saint — the  Christian  work  of  a  Christian  woman  in 
Christian  art. 

In  an  essay  entitled  "Women  and  Mammon,"  Mrs.  Rose  Hawthorne 
Lathrop,  daughter  of  America's  famous  novelist,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  pict- 
ured in  words  of  beauty  the  ideal  woman,  and  then  drew  impressive 
contrasts  and  teachings.     Among  many  bright  passages  were  these: 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  S3 

WOMAN    AND     MAMMON. 

The  word  man  conveys  to  us  the  meaning  at  once  only  of  courage,  energy,  construct- 
ive force.  But  when  the  word  woman  is  presented  to  the  mind,  two  diametrically 
opposed  types  are  surely  evoked  — the  woman  who  is  pure  and  elevating  and  the  woman 
who  is  at  most  pure  in  a  limited  sense,  and  who  lives  in  an  atmosphere  of  such  attract- 
iveness as  is  not  elevating.  This  is  the  sort  of  woman  who  would  rather  disenchant  her 
husband  with  life  than  give  up  the  approving  glances  of  a  half-dozen  admirers. 

We  will  not  describe  her  any  more  minutely,  for  it  would  be  a  picture  of  a  frequent 
companion.  A  companion  not  all  wicked,  shining  brightly  in  her  beauty,  seemingly 
sweeter  than  the  women  of  true  hearts,  petted,  clever,  and  gracious.  But  she  worships 
mammon  in  that  half-conscious  way  in  which  so  many  of  us  are  guilty  of  evil.  It  is 
only  righteousness  which  is  always  awake  to  its  responsibilities,  eager  for  its  succeo=  in 
meeting  them,  and  quick  to  detect  the  ease  and  unkindness  of  low  principles. 

Mrs.  Lathrop  described  at  length  the  influence  upon  the  world  of  these 
two  classes  of  women  and  concluded  as  follows: 

Can  it  be  that  woman  is,  in  the  majority,  forever  to  serve  mammon?  Is  she,  who  is 
the  mother  of  all  perfect  impulses,  to  be  represented  anywhere  forever  as  the  adorer  of 
vanity?  Is  she  always  anywhere  to  appear  laden  with  jewels,  like  a  jeweler's  show- 
case, and  with  jewels  that  are  very  likely  gathered  upon  her  bosom  at  the  expense  of 
health,  or  even  the  honesty  of  her  husband?  Must  woman,  who  stands  for  the  highest 
note  of  human  perfection,  who  should,  above  all  created  beings,  worship  God,  erect,  up- 
ward-looking, must  she  stoop  to  mammon  in  coquettish  courtesy,  anywhere  in  this 
world  of  God?  Oh,  woman,  the  hour  has  struck  when  you  are  to  arise  and  defend  your 
rights,  your  abilities  for  competition  with  men,  intellect,  and  professional  endurance. 
The  hour  when  your  are  to  prove  that  purity  and  generosity  are  for  the  nation  as  well 
as  for  the  home.  If  it  is  well  for  you  to  imitate  the  prof  mndest  students,  the  keenest 
business  minds,  the  sublimest  patriots,  is  it  not  well  for  you  to  imitate  the  noblest  and 
tenderest  of  your  sex? 

A  most  instructive  and  eloquent  paper  by  Miss  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  was  next  read  to  the  Congress  on  the  subject  of 

WOMAN    IN    LITERATURE. 

It  was  the  genius  of  a  woman,  the  generosity  of  a  woman,  that  first  made  possible 
the  discovery  of  America.  But  years  before  Isabella  offered  to  sacrifice  her  jewels  that 
Columbus  might  sail  out  of  Palos,  an  Essex-born  woman  over  in  England,  near  St. 
Albans,  had  launched  her  little  bark  upon  a  sea  almost  as  wide  and  trackless,  almost  as 
dim  and  perilous,  as  that  through  which  the  Santa  Maria  was  later  to  plough  its  way. 
Dame  Juliana  Barnes,  or  Berners,  a  Catholic  nun  of  Herefordshire,  was  the  first  person 
,to  write  English  verse.  The  father  of  Anglo-Saxon  poesy  was  Caedmon,  the  monk  of 
Whitby.  The  mother  of  English  female  authorship  was  Juliana,  prioress  of  Sopewell 
Nunnery. 

Pood  is  here  for  much  triumphant  exultation  in  the  glories  of  creed  and  sex.     Our 

•osoms  make  haste  to  swell  with  honest  pride,  with  womanly  self-gratulation.     But,  my 

disters,  festina  lente!     The    iconoclasts,  alas,  are  busy  and  almost  cruel.    Modern  and 

most  destructive  biographers  rudely  dispel  the  flattering  illusions  that  have  long  veiled 

the  memory  of  our  literary  primogenitrix. 

Remorselessly  they  tell  us  that  the  venerable  Dame  Berners  wrote  verses  on  the 
most  unfeminine,  the  most  un-nunlike  themes;  that  the  "  Book  of  St.  Albans,''  published 
at  Westminster  in  14S6  from  some  old,  discarded  type  of  Caxton.  contained  her  three 
rhyming  treatises  on  —  on  —  (stop  your  ears,  oh,  outraged  shades  of  the  mystic  and 
aesthetic  nine)  — on  "Hunting,"  "Hawking,"  and  "Coat  Armor." 

In  the  shock  of  this  early  English  revelation,  in  the  shame-faced  effort  to  marry 
the  mythical  prioress  to  her  verse,  we  remina  ourselves  that  Dame  Juliana  was  a  lady 
of  high  degree,  when  the  wine  of  youth  ran  red  and  hot  in  her  veins,  a  15th  century 
Diana,  in  plumed  hat  and  flying  robes,  following  the  chase  with  the  gay  knights  ami 
ladies  of  the  court,  and  we  say  to  ourselves:  before  this  valiant  woman  hid  her  noble 
presence  and  masterful  mind  behind  the  convent  grille  she  posed  on  her  palfry  among 
the  gallants  of  the  greenwood,  her  soul  straining  at  its  social  restraints,  and  Bounding 
the  warning  chime  of  its  deliverance,  even  as  the  hooded  falcon  on  her  wrist  strained 
at  its  silken  jesses  and  jingled  its  silvern  bells. 

If  Bales  describes  the  noble  Juliana  as  "an  ingenious  virago,"  he  frankly  admits  that 


s4 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


her  personal  and  mental  endowments  were  of  the  highest  character;  and  he  goes  on  to 
explain,  that,  "among  the  many  solaces  of  human  life,  6he  held  the  sports  of  the  held 
in  great  estimation,  and  was  desirous  of  conveying  these  arts,  hy  her  writing*  to  the 
youth,  as  the  first  elements  of  nobility.  In  the  three  centuries  following  the  prioress  of 
Sopewell  Nunnery,  few  of  her  own  countrywomen  ventured  after  her  into  the  new  world 

of  letters. 

Germany  had  produced  her  sacred  poet  and  dramatist,  the  Benedictine,  Dame 
Hrosvitha,  Italy  her  Catherine  of  Sienna,  her  Caterma  Adorni,  her  Victoria  Colonna. 
Spain  had  given  birth  tc  the  mystical  Teresa  Ahumada  (better  known  as  Saint  Teresa 
of  Jesus);  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church  rejoiced  in  the  brilliant  glory  reflected 
on  her  by  the  works  of  Marie  de  France,  Marie  de  Gourney,  Madame  Guyon,  Madame 
de  Sevigne,  and  Madame  Deshonilliere. 

But,  up  to  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  the  number  of  English  women 
writers  of  any  note  could  be  reckoned  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  To  the  originality 
and  keen  perceptions  of  one  noble  poetess,  however  (to  Annie,  Countess  of  Winchelsae, 
who  wrote  in  the  17th  century),  Mr.  Wadsworth  pays  this  tribute:  "  It  is  remarka- 
ble that,  excepting  the  "  Nocturnal  Reverie"  by  Lady  Anne,  and  a  passage  or  two 
in  Pope's  "Windsor  Forest,"  the  poetry  of  the  period  intervening  between  the  publica- 
tion of  "  Paradise  Lost "  and  the  "  Seasons,"  does  not  contain  a  single  new  image  of  exter- 
nal nature. 

"Literature,"  says  Dr.  Brownson,  "can  not  come  before  its  time.  We  can  not  obtain 
the  oracle  before  the  pythoness  feels  the  God."  And  he  further  directs  attention  to 
the  fact  that  "  there  is  no  literature,  ancient  or  modern,  which  is  not  indebted  for  its 
existence  to  some  social  fermentation,  or  some  social  change  or  revolution. 

The  intellectual  life  of  the  18th  century  seems  to  have  been  fermented  by  the 
strongest  leaven  of  "social  change,"  even  as  its  civil  atmosphere  was  surcharged  with 
the  electric  currents  of  widespread  revolution.  Amid  the  upheaval  of  nations  and  the 
dismemberment  of  kingdoms  certain  volcanic  tremors  foretold  the  coming  emancipation 
of  woman's  intellect. 

Prior  to  the  Augustian  age  of  English  literature  there  were  few  inducements,  few 
opportunities  for  secular  women  to  enter  the  arena  of  letters.  Men  barely  tolerated 
their  literary  sisters,  or  cauterized  them,  if  successful,  with  sneers  and  satires. 

The  very  soubriquet  "  Blue  Stocking,"  originated  in  1786,  as  a  term  of  derision  for 
literary  ladies;  and  the  measure  of  approval  accorded,  at  that  era,  to  the  works  of 
Hannah  More  was  mainly  due,  we  are  told,  to  the  egotistic  patronage  of  Garrick  and 
Dr.  Johnson.  Sara  Coleridge,  daughter  of  the  poet,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  in  one  of 
her  letters:  "The  great  mogul  of  literature  (Johnson)  was  gracious  to  a  pretender, 
whose  highest  ambition  was  to  follow  him  at  a  humble  distance.  He  would  have  sneered 
to  death  a  writer  of  far  subtler  intellect  and  more  excursive  imagination  who  dared  to 
deviate  from  the  track  to  which  he  pronounced  it  good  sense  to  be  confined.  He  even 
sneered  a  little  at  his  dear  pet,  Fanny  Burney.  She  had  set  up  shop  for  herself,  to  use 
a  vulgarism;  she  had  ventured  to  be  original." 

In  truth,  although  Johnson  protested  to  Mrs.  Trale  that  "  there  were  passages  in 
Evelina  which  might  do  honor  to  Richardson,"  no  one  can  read  the  "  Diary  and  Letters 
of  Fanny  Burney"  (Madame  d'Arblay),  gossipy  and  self -conceived  as  they  are,  without 
discerning  the  difficulties  that  handicapped  the  career  of  a  lady  of  letters,  even  in  the 
time  of  the  third  George.  That  boorish  king  rehearsing  to  one  of  his  court  ladies  a 
certain  interview  with  Dr.  Burney  reveals  the  latter's  extraordinary  terror  at  the  dis- 
covery of  his  daughter's  authorship.  "  Her  father,"  said  the  king,  "  told  me  the  whole 
history  of  her  Evelina,  and  I  shall  never  forget  his  face  when  he  spoke  of  his  feelings  at 
first  taking  up  the  book;  he  looked  quite  frightened,  just  as  if  he  were  doing  it  at  that 
moment.     I  can  never  forget  hie  face  while  I  live." 

But,  thank  heaven,  the  day  of  class  prejudice  and  narrow  jealousies  anent  woman's 
work  in  literature  has  forever  passed  away.  Through  the  widening  of  woman's  sphere, 
through  the  opening  of  innumerable  avenues  to  her  higher  education  and  intellectual 
advancement,  the  queen  hath  come  at  last  to  her  own.  The  barefooted  beggar  maid 
before  King  Cophetua  hath  been  lifted  at  last  to  her  rightful  throne  at  his  side  in  the 
kingdom  of  letters. 

While  we  agree  with  Brownson  that  woman  was  made  for  man  and  "  in  herself  is 
only  an  inchoate  man" — from  a  literary  standpoint  we  must  be  willing  to  admit  with 
Tennyson  that 

Woman  is  not  undevelopt  man, 

But  diverse. 

Not  lite  to  like,  but  like  a  difference 


BISHOP    GABRIELS, 
OGDENSBUhG 

BISHOP    MATZ, 

DENVER. 

BISHOP   JENSEN, 

BELLVILLE. 


BISHOP    SPALDING, 
PEORIA. 

BISHOP    COSGROVE, 
DAVENPORT. 


BISHOP    BRADLEY, 

MANCHESTER. 

BISHOP    McCLOUSKY, 

LOUISVILLE. 

BISHOP    RYAN, 

ALTON. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  S5 

And  be  willing  to  accept  from  the  same  standpoint  the  dead  Laureate's  prophecy  that 

In  the  long  years  liker  must  they  gro  .v; 
The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man. 
He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height. 
She,  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care. 

"  Till  at  length  her  work  shall  set  itself  to  man's  like  perfect  music  into  noble  words." 
If  she  be  the  queen  of  beauty  in  the  tournament  of  the  world's  thought,  she  must  also 
be  the  queen  of  truth  and  purity.  Like  the  woman  of  the  gospel,  she  must  hide  her 
leaven  in  her  three  measures  of  meal;  she  must  hide  the  truth  of  Christ,  the  purity 
of  Christ,  in  poesy,  fiction,  and  journalism,  until  the  whole  is  leavened. 

As  Cardinal  Newman  said  of  Philip  Neri's  work  in  Rome,  she  must  make  use,  in  a 
corrupt  and  faithless  generation,  of  th..-  great  counter  fascinations  of  purity  and  truth: 
she  must  direct  the  current  which  she  can  not  stop;  sweeten  and  sanctify  what  God  has 
made  good,  but  man  has  corrupted  and  profaned. 

Not  mere  elegance  of  diction,  brilliancy  of  style,  or  perfection  of  technique,  shall 
serve  her  ends.  Her  mission  is  a  higher  and  holier  one  than  the  polishing  of  clevc 
verses,  or  the  perfecting  of  "  a  filigree  tale  in  a  paper  cover." 

Artificial  flowers,  fashioned  by  a  Parisian  hand,  may  be  exquisite  in  form  and  color 
but  they  lack  nature's  fragrance  and  honey-dew.  All  the  pressure  in  the  world  can  not 
distil  from  them  one  drop  of  the  attar  of  roses,  such  as  is  yielded  by  the  smallest  bud  in 
the  rose  gardens  of  Ghazebor. 

An  elaborate  setting  is  employed  to  enhance  an  inferior  gem;  and  the  meretricious 
glitter  of  stage  jewels  often  does  duty  for  the  pure  radiance  of  diamonds  of  the  first 
water. 

'•  We  are  not,"  says  Ruskin,  "to  set  the  meaner  thing,  in  its  narrow  accomplish 
ment,  above  the  nobler  thing,  in  its  mighty  progress;  not  to  esteem  smooth  minuteness 
above  shattered  majesty." 

Thought  must  be  great  enough,  wise  enough,  strong  enough  to  seize  and  shape  its 
vehicle,  making  style  ever  secondary  to  sentiment. 

"  Landscape  Gardening  "  is  Emerson's  synonym  for'an  over-devotion  to  technique, 
and  close  and  stifling  is  the  confined  atmosphere'  of  Boyle  O'Reilly's  carver  of  cherry- 
stones in  the  "  Art  Master." 

For  such  rude  hands  as  dealt  with  wrongs  and  passions, 

And  throbbing  Uearts.  he  had  a  pitying  smile. 
Serene  his  ways  through  surging  years  and  fashions. 

While  heaven  gave  him  his  cherry-stones  and  file! 

If,  perforce,  the  queen  must  step  down  from  her  royal  dais  to  champion  the  "  rude 
hands  "  of  social  reformers,  or  to  deal  in  her  own  realm  with  "  wrongs  and  passions  and 
throbbing  hearts."  she  must  not  soil  her  white  sandals  or  bedraggle  the  trailing  splendor 
of  her  fair  robes  in  the  mire  of  the  slums.  It  is  proverbial  that  the  worst  corruption  is 
of  the  best.  Woman's  influence  in  letters  can  never  be  an  uncertain  or  negative  one. 
If  she  does  not  elevate  and  strengthen  she  degrades  and  enervates. 

The  day  was.  when  the  startling  realism  of  the  Bronte  sisters  (to  put  it  mildly)  met 
with  the  sternest  censure  and  fiercest  ostracism  of  right-thinking  people.^  Dr.  Brow- 
son  goes  the  length  of  declaring  that  "there  are  passages  in  'Jane  Eyre'  which  show 
that  women  can  enter  into,  and  describe  with  minute  accuracy,  the  grossest  passions  of 
man's  nature,  which  men  could  not  describe  to  their  own  Bex  without  a  blush."  And 
yet,  in  their  biography  of  its  author,  Mrs.  Gaskill  would  have  us  believe  that  when 
Charlotte  Bronte  violated  convention  (again,  to  put  it  mildly),  she  did  so  unwittingly; 
and  that  the  daring  utterances  of  the  Yorkshire  curate's  daughters  were  simply  the 
innocent  expression  of  morbid  temperaments  acted  on  by  exceptional  environments. 
Apologists  have  also  been  found  for  the  agnostic  sophisms  and  psychological  subtleties 
of  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward,  on  the  grounds  that  they  are  not  set  forth  in  "Robert  Els 
mere"  and  "David  Grieve"  with  malice  prepense  and  aforethought,  for  the  destruction 
of  believing  souls,  but  that  they  are  merely  the  grave,  troubled  exposition  of  the  writer  s 
private  uncertainties  in  ethics,  her  own  personal  perplexities  in  dogma  and  doctrine. 
But,  whether  it  be  a  question  of  murder  or  manslaughter,  whether  it  be  an  indeliberate 
slaying  of  souls  or  a  cold-blooded  intent  to  kill,  woe  betide  the  woman  who  unsettles  or 
confuses  convictions  of  right  and  wrong  in  her  readers'  minds,  or  who  leads  them  astrav 
in  issues  of  the  affections  or  of  the  marriage  relations!  Like  the  fisherman  of  I  ie 
Arabian  legend,  she  has  let  forth  unto  destruction  an  evil  and  powerful  genii  whom  s.  10 
will  never  again  be  able  to  imprison  in  the  gloomy  casket  of  her  own  fancy. 

It  is  in  the  field  of    fiction  that    the"    woman    writer  of    the  19th  century  has 


S6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

attained  her  highest  success,  has  won  her  most  enduring  fame.  Yet,  sorrowful  to  say, 
the  crab-like  tendency  of  some  of  our  modern  women  novelists  seems  to  lie  to  work 
backward  to  the  contemplation  and  delineation  of  pagan  models.  They  forgel  that  the 
passionate  song  of  Sappho  must  give  wa„  .o  the  chaste  "Magnificat "  of  Mary.  Their 
gross  indelicacy  is  due  either  to  greed  for  gain  or  itch  for  notoriety.  It  is  even  said 
that  a  young  authoress  once  begged  an  editor  to  denounce  her  work  as  indecent,  in  the 
hope  that  the  scathing  review  might  do  for  her  novel  what  barring  the  mails  did  for 
"  Kreutzer  Sonata" — sellhalf  a  million  copies  of  it!  Too  often,  however,  the  women 
who  befoul  their  pens  in  the  cesspools  of  lewd  sensualism  and  erotic  romance  (like 
certain  delineators  of  the  nude  in  art),  pander  unblushingly  to  the  pruriency  of  the 
fleshly.  They,  indeed,  create  "  words  that  burn" — yea,  that  burn- with  the  lurid  and 
unquenchable  fires  of  hell,  not  with  the  pure  and  cleansing  flame  of  Isaiah's  celestial 
coal.  Their  muse,  instead  of  swinging  before  the  Most  High  a  golden  censer,  sending 
forth  delicious  incense  from  consecrated  resins,  flourishes  before  the  golden  calf  a 
brasier  of  dusky,  smoldering  charcoal,  whence  issue  the  deadly  fumes  of  asphyxiation 
to  all  that  is  pure  and  noble  in  humanity. 

Such  women  are  the  "  Dorothy  Draggletails  "  of  literature.  They  may  have  learned, 
in  common  parlance,  "to  call  a  spade  a  spade,"  but  in  so  doing  they  have  furnished 
themselves  with  a  spade  to  dig  the  grave  of  their  own  womanly  delicacy  and  self- 
respect. 

Ye  nymphs,  that  reign  o'er  sewers  and  sinks, 

The  river  Rhine  it  is  well  known 

Doth  wash  your  city  of  Cologne; 

But,  tell  me,  nymphs,  what  power  divine 

Shall  henceforth  wash  the  river  Rhine. 

Commenting  upon  the  assertion  of  Julian  Hawthorne  and  others,  that  "  literature 
in  America  is  emasculated  by  convention,"  a  reviewer  not  long  since  boldly  declared  in 
a  leading  Eastern  magazine  that  "  it  is  the  fear  of  the  young  that  emasculates  it!  " 

Surely,  this  out-Herods  Herod. 

Accursed  is  the  age,  accursed  the  commonwealth,  that  ceases  to  respect,  to  rever- 
ence, the  innocence  of  the  young.  Even  the  pagans  wrote:  "Maxima  debetur  puero 
reverentia;"  and  the  ancient  Egyptians  at  the  obsequies  of  their  dead,  proclaimed  the 
departed  spirit  damned  or  saved,  according  as  it  had  wronged  or  reverenced  little  chil- 
dren during  life.  Conscientiously  careful,  tenderly  strong,  must  be  the  pen  that  traces 
the  first  impressions  upon  the  soft,  pure  wax  of  the  virgin  mind.  Those  gravings  will 
outlive  the  inscriptions  cut  upon  bronze  and  granite.  "  Take  your  vase  of  Venice  glass 
out  of  the  furnace,"  says  Ruskin:  "and  strew  chaff  over  in  its  transparent  heat,  and 
recover  that  to  its  clearness  and  rubied  glory,  when  the  north  wind  has  blown  upon  it; 
but  do  not  think  to  strew  chaff  over  the  child  fresh  from  God's  presence,  and  to  bring 
back  the  heavenly  colors  to  him,  at  least  in  this  world." 

What  Christian  father  wTould  dare  read  aloud  to  his  young  sons  the  immoral  trage- 
dies or  the  disgraceful  figures  of  George  Sand?  What  Christian  mother  would  dare 
lay  open  before  the  innocent  eyes  of  her  young  daughters  the  shameless  pages  of  "  The 
Quick  and  the  Dead,"  or  "The  Doomswoman,"  or  deliberately  put  into  their  hands  the 
lucubrations  of  Miss  Braddon,  or  of  that  hydraheaded  and  sensuous  gorgon  of  romance, 
yclept  the  Duchess? 

Literature,  it  is  true,  as  Cardinal  Newman  reminds  us,  can  never  be  anything  else 
than  the  manifestations  of  human  nature  in  a  human  language;  that,  as  science  is  the 
reflection  of  physical  nature,  literatureas  the  reflection  of  nature  moral  and  social.  We 
can  not  eliminate  the  evidences  of  human  passion  from  the  records  of  human  life,  and 
our  age  of  Action  is  pre-eminently  introspective  and  analytical.  But  surely,  my  sisters, 
in  order  to  be  true  to  nature,  we  are  not  called  upon  to  dip  our  pens  into  the  stinking 
slush  of  foul  and  debasing  passions.  In  order  to  be  faithful  to  reality  we  are  not 
obliged  to  lay  bare  to  the  vulgar  the  most  sacred  esoteric  mysteries;  to  make  our  toilets 
in  public;  to  expose  ourselves,  as  a  master  mind  has  phrased  it,  unveiled  in  the  market- 
place, unveiled  and  unrobed  to  the  gaze  of  a  profane  world. 

Surgeons  do  not  dissect  their  subjects  on  street  corners.  There  is  a  native  delicacy 
in  true  science  as  well  as  true  art.  Of  Rembrandt's  famous  picture,  "  The  Lesson  in 
Anatomy,"  it  has  been  remarked  that  the  artist  rivets  the  gazer's  attention  on  the  glow- 
ing, lifelike  figures  of  the  professor  and  his  students  rather  than  on  the  vivid,  repulsive 
corpse  that  lies  before  them  on  the  dissecting  table. 

If  we  must  faithfully  portray  nature  in  our  works,  my  sisters  and  colaborers,  let  us 
not  forget  the  God  of  nature  in  his  works.  Let  us  give  to  the  world  something  better 
than  the  vintage  of  an  intoxicating  and  effervescing  romance  pressed  from  the  dried 
grapes  of  exhausted  passion  and  erotic  pruriency.    Let  us  offer  it,  not  "  devil's  wine," 


WORLD'S  CO  L  U MB  I  AN  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES.  8  7 

but  "  God's  wine"— a  distillation  from  the  fresh  herbs  and  sweet-smelling  simples  of  a 
chaste  pasturage,  giving  to  fainting  souls  and  faltering  heart  the  royal  cordial  of  the 
golden  aud  Da  Grande  Chartreuse.  The  dove  that  goes  forth  from  the  saving  ark  of  a 
purified  literature  must  not  pause  to  dissect,  the  putrid  carcasses  tossed  upon  the  rocks 
by  the  receding  deluge  of  human  passions. 

"  Let  the  carrion  rot."  Leave  it  to  glut  the  rapacious  raven,  which  shall  return  no 
more  to  gladden  the  yearning  eyes  of  the  watchers;  which  surfeited  with  rottenness 
shall  never  bring  back  to  any  longing  soul  the  olive  branch  of  God's  eternal  peace. 

Once,  in  a  literary  circle  of  unusual  brilliancy  and  culture,  an  American  writer  of 
some  note  read  a  paper  to  prove  that  there  had  never  really  existed  a  female  poet! 
Beg-nnmg  with  poor,  "sweet,  smiling,  violet-crowned  Sappho,"  whose  broken  snatch  of 
Grecian  melody,  sounding  through  twenty  centuries,  he  scoffed  at  to  the  echo,  he  ran 
the  gamut  of  the  fair  singers  of  the  ages,  dealing  death  to  their  pretensions  and  destruc- 
tion to  their  fame.  His  coup-de-grace  was  a  showing  of  the  post-mortem  decline  of  Mrs. 
Browning's  literary  repute.  He  enlarged  upon  the  fact  that  during  her  lifetime,  when 
any  pilgrim  visited  the  home  of  the  Brownings  in  Italy,  it  was  less  with  the  view  of 
meeting  Robert  Browning  than  his  gifted  wife,  Elizabeth  Barrett.  But  that,  strange  to 
say,  since  the  latter's  death,  the  star  of  her  glory  has  been  steadily  declining,  whilst  the 
orb  of  her  husband's  fame  had  been  as  steadily  mounting  to  its  zenith. 

A  listener  suggested  that  this  might  be  because  an  age  devoted  to  technique  had 
launched  its  fiat  against  effusions  which  Miss  Barrett  wrote  rapidly  and  from  impulse, 
glorying,  as  Mr.  Bethune  remarks,  "in  her  expedients  to  save  time,  though  they  took  the 
shape  of  false  rhymes  or  distorted  syllables."  But,  when  it  was  presently  shown  that 
a  like  decadence  had  waited  upon  the  fame  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  Mrs.  Osgood,  Miss  Landon, 
the  Carey  sisters,  and  others,  whose  technical  expression  was  more  painstaking  and 
polished,  we  were  forced  to  conclude,  with  Emerson,  that  some  of  the  immortals  were 
merely  contemporaries;  that,  as  a  lady  writer  in  the  Century  has  lately  shown  in  com- 
menting on  the  oblivion  fast  closing  around  the  name  and  works  of  the  American, 
Margaret  Fuller,  it  is  to  a  strong  personality  that  ,  -  in  popular  songstresses  have 
owed  their  power  over  men,  and  that,  with  the  vanishing  of  their  personality,  their 
power  has  ceased  to  exist.  This  is  especially  true  of  women  of  the  transcendental 
school. 

But  to  the  19th  century  alone  belongs  the  authorship  of  American  Catholic  women. 
It  has  scarcely  more  than  reached,  indeed,  its  golden  jubilee  of  existence.  Yet  while 
England  points  with  pride  to  Adelaide  Proctor,  Lady  Fullerton,  Lady  Herbert.  Mary 
Howitt,  Alice  Meynell,  Emily  Bowles,  and  Mother  Theodosia  Drane,  Ireland  to  Rosa 
Mulholland,  Julia  Kavanagh,  Kathleen  O'Meara,  Cecelia  Caddell,  Ellen  Downing, 
Katherine  Tynan,  and  Mrs.  Cashel-Hoey,  France  to  Eugenie  de  Guerin  and  Mrs.  Craven, 
Germany  to  Countess  Hahn-Hahn,  Spain  to  Cecelia  Bohl  de  Faber,  and  Italy  to  Maria 
Brunnamonti,  America  enshrines  in  her  Catholic  heart  of  hearts  the  names  of  Anna  Han- 
son Dorsey,  Elizabeth  Allen  Starr,  Margaret  Sullivan,  Christian  Reid,  Loutee  Guiney, 
Katherine  Conway,  Sara  Trainor  Smith,  Agnes  Repplier,  Mary  Elizabeth  Blake,  Harriet 
Skidmore,  Ella  Dorsey,  the  gifted  Sadliers  ( mother  and  daughters ),  Ellen  Ford,  Mary 
Josephine  Onahan,  Helen  and  Grace  Smith,  the  cloistered  singers,  Mercedes  and  Mother 
Austin  Carroll,  and  a  host  of  others  who  blend  their  sweet  voices  in  the  grand  cantata 
of  Columbian  Catholic  literature. 

No  meed  of  earthly  glory  shall  fill  the  aspirations  of  the  true  Catholic  woman  writer. 
No  crown  of  laurel  or  of  pine  shall  satisfy  the  brow  created  for  the  amaranth  of  eternity. 
Her  face  is  set  toward  the  white  city  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem;  her  pen  is  illumined 
with  the  splendor  that  streameth  from  its  gates  of  pearl;  her  highest  ambition  is  to 
write  her  name  in  the  book  of  life,  beside  the  names  of  those  whom  her  genius  has 
ennobled,  whom  her  gifts  have  drawn  closer  to  God,  whom  her  works  have  established  in 
the  perfection  of  his  law.  She  may  not  be  crowned  after  death  as  one  of  fame's 
immortals;  her  memory  and  her  writings  may  not  long  survive  her  own  day  and  gener- 
ation, but,  having  done  what  she  could,  in  her  time,  with  the  talent  that  was  intrusted  to 
her  (and  with  it  instructed  "many  unto  justice"),  she  shall  be  crowned  by  the  Lord  God 
in  his  everlasting  kingdom  as  one  of  those  blessed  toilers 

Whose  works  shall  last, 
Whose  names  shall  shine  as  the  stars  on  high, 
When  deep  in  the  dust  of  a  ruined  past 
The  labors  of  sellish  souls  shall  lie! 

The  history  and  workings  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul's  Society,  whose  dele- 
gates had  been  holding  their  Convention  in  one  of  the  lesser  halls,  were  thus 
presented  to  the  Congress  by  Joseph  A.  Kernan,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia. 


88  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

THE  WORK  OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL. 

Before  an  audience  of  Catholics  it  would  seem  hardly  necessary  to  say  anything  in 
explanation  of  the  origin  and  aims  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  now  in  exist- 
ence in  France  for  sixty  years  and  in  our  own  country  for  almost  half  a  century,  and 
yet  there  is  evidently  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  it,  except  in  a  general  way.  It  is 
not  unusual  to  hear  even  clergymen  speak  of  the  society  as  it  now  exists  as  being 
founded  by  its  illustrious  patron,  St.  Vincent  himself,  which  is  a  nbtural  error;  but 
much  graver  ones  are  the  result  of  ignorance  on  the  subject.  To  those  who  have  read 
the  highly  interesting  life  of  Frederick  Ozanam,  by  the  late  Kathleen  O'Meara,  some 
portion  of  this  paper  will  be  a  repetition  of  what  they  have  already  learned,  but  as  there 
are  still  good,  active  Vincentians  who  zealously  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  their  founder 
and  yet  are  ignorant  of  this  charming  book,  it  may  safely  be  presumed  that  there  are 
others  in  the  same  category. 

What  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  accomplished  in  the  cause  of  charity  is  incorporated  in 
tne  "  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  and  in  the  "  History  of  the  Church  in  France,"  and  existing 
monuments  in  the  shape  of  institutions  which  owe  their  origin  to  his  great  zeal,  for  the 
poor  are  daily  reminders  of  his  wonderful  success.  More  effective  still,  perhaps,  in 
recalling  and  perpetuating  his  memory,  are  his  "Daughters  of  Charity,"  as  they  were 
originally  called,  but  whom  we  now  recognize  as  "  Sisters  of  Charity,"  known  through- 
out the  world,  and  especially  in  France,  where  their  services  in  the  hospitals  and  upon 
the  field  of  battle  have  been  honored  by  a  government  which  ignores  the  crucifix  they 
bear _the  image  of  one  whose  religion  that  government  seeks  to  abolish.  In  our  own 
sad  days  of  strife  they  rendered  like  service,  and  in  these  "  piping  times  of  peace,"  which 
may  God  prolong  indefinitely,  they  quietly  succor  the  orphan  and  the  afflicted  and  allay 
the  sufferings  of  the  sick  with  their  kindly  care  and  ministrations;  but  the  society^  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  is  everywhere  a  living  witness  to  the  great  spirit  of  charity  for  which 
the  saint's  name  has  been  so  long  a  synonym. 

In  1833,  the  year  of  its  foundation,  France  had,  within  a  few  decades,  passed  through 
two  revolutions,  had  gloried  in  its  first  empire,  and  was  not  entirely  free  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  prestige  of  the  great  conqueror  who  founded  it.  She  had  seen  three  resto- 
rations of  the  old  monarchy,  and  was  drifting  toward  another  revolution,  and  that  republic 
which  was,  in  its  turn,  to  be  wiped  out  by  a  coup  d'etat,  and  followed,  or  swallowed  up, 
by  the  second  empire.  As  has  been  said,  the  shadow  of  the  first  Napoleon,  who  had 
sought  to  subjugate  the  Church,  yet  brooded  over  her.  There  was  still  the  pride  of 
race  in  the  hearts  of  her  oid  nobility,  there  was  revolutionary  blood  in  the  veins  of  her 
citizens,  and  these  were  irreconcilable.  The  teachings  of  Voltaire  were  widespread,  the 
indifference  of  the  self-styled  Catholics  was  demoralizing,  the  general  discontent  of  the 
masses  apparent.  The  Church  was  fettered;  her  clergy  had  not  the  influence  to  be 
expected  in  a  nation  called  the  "  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church,"  but  happily  France, 
with  all  her  faults  and  her  decadence,  was  never  wanting  in  champions  of  the  Faith.  In 
every  age  she  had  faithful,  exemplary,  and  valiant  eons  and  daughters  among  the  clergy, 
the  religious,  and  the  laity,  to  fight  her  battles  against  infidelity  and  indifference;  to 
take  a  stand  for  law  and  order  and  Christian  civilization  against  anarchy  and  its  causes, 
and,  if  need  be,  to  lay  down  their  lives. 

The  government  of  the  period  was,  practically,  in  the  hands  of  men  who  were  not 
Christians;  Guizot,  Cousin,  Hugo,  Lamartine  were  the  prominent  men  of  the  day,  the 
last  of  these  being  classed  among  the  dilettante  order  of  Catholics.  At  the  same  time, 
that  restless  and  restive  spirit,  the  Abbe  de  Lammenais,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
popularity,  together  with  his  milder,  but  not  less  distinguished  associates,  Lacordaire, 
Chateubriand,  and  Montalembert,  were  battling  for  the  Church  and  its  rights  and 
privileges. 

De  Lammenais  seemed  the  most  brilliant  star  of  the  galaxy,  but  his  "  nonserviam  " 
was  a  serious  misfortune  to  the  cause  of  Catholicity  and  still  more  disastrous  to  himself, 
for  the  great  master  mind,  which  could  not  learn  humility  and  brook  submission  to  the 
universal  pastor,  soon  lost  his  influence  and  suffered  the  inevitable  eclipse  which  attends 
all  refractory  children  of  the  Church.  But  Lacordaire  was  faithful,  and  Montalembert 
and  the  others  stood  firm,  and  they  gathered  about  them  lesser  lights  but  devoted  fol- 
lowers. The  spirit  of  faith  and  practical  Catholicity  in  daily  life  among  the  laity  was 
to  be  revived  by  the  fervid  eloquence  of  the  great  Dominican,  and  the  ardor  of  the  rank 
and  file  to  be  awakened  and  strengthened  by  the  writings  of  his  associates  and  their 
arguments  in  the  senate  and  assembly. 

The  old  college  of  the  Sorbonne  (now  demolished,  in  part,  to  make  way  for  a  new 
structure),  with  its  souvenirs  of  its  founder,  and,  also,  of  its  famous  patron,  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  was  the  great  center  of  learning;  but  none  of  its  scientific  or  even  philosophi^l 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  So, 

teachings  were  allied  to  religion;  on  the  contrary,  its  lecture  halls  resounded  with 
the  logic  of  materialism.  Students  of  the  Lyceum,  the  College  Stanislas,  and  other 
smaller  schools  of  learning,  where  they  either  imbibed  their  faith  or  were  taught 
to  preserve  it,  were  here  exposed  to  the  danger  of  losing  it,  unless  they  were  fervent, 
steadfast  souls.  Among  these  were  a  few  youths,  of  one  of  whom  especially  we  have 
to  speak.  1 

Frederick  Ozanam  was  born  in  1813,  at  Milan,  where  his  father  settled  during  the 
first  empire.  The  family  traced  its  origin  not  only  back  to  the  period  when,  hundreds 
of  years  before,  it  became  Christianized  in  France,  but  also  to  that  Hebrew  race,  which 
formed  the  chosen  people  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  whose  genealogies  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Bib\e.  Ozanam's  father  had  served  with  distinction  under  the  consulate,  but 
when  the  first  consul  made  himself  emperor,  the  faithful  officer,  who  seemed  to  be 
neither  royalist  nor  imperialist,  became  disgusted  with  the  new  regime  and  refused  a 
position  under  the  imperial  government,  preferring  to  take  up  his  residence  in  Milan, 
where  he  became  an  accomplished  and  successful  physician.  He  was  an  exemplary 
Catholic,  and  it  was  natural  that  with  such  a  sire  and  such  a  mother  as  was  Madame 
Ozanam,  Frederick  should  have  passed  his  boyhood  in  the  practice  of  the  faith.  His 
later  environment  in  Paris  exposed  him,  as  it  did  a  great  many  others,  to  temptations  to 
waver,  but  his  early  training  made  him  strong,  and  so  we  find  him,  at  twenty,  a  youth 
of  steadfast  character,  serious  but  enthusiastic.  He  went  to  Paris  to  pursue  his  law 
studies  with  assiduity  and  thoroughness,  and  later  on  —  his  ability  being  duly  recog- 
nized—  he  received  the  appointment  of  professor  of  commercial  law  in  Lyons,  and 
subsequently,  was  made  professor  of  foreign  literature  at  the  Sorbonne.  It  was  in  this 
position  that  his  genius  shone  out  most  brilliantly,  and  his  Faith  as  well.  He  also  entered 
the  field  of  journalism  and  did  good  service  for  the  cause  of  religion.  His  natural 
leanings  were  toward  democracy,  with  more  or  less  Utopian  ideas  of  the  grand  republic 
that  was  to  be  the  great  remedy  for  all  political  difficulties,  the  panacea  for  all  social 
grievances,  the  great  millennium  for  the  poor  and  the  oppressed.  Like  all  earnest 
minds,  he  dreamed  of  the  days  that  were  never  to  come,  of  the  ways  that  were  never  to 
be  adopted,  and  he  descanted  upon  those  possibilities  of  the  future  which  were  never 
even  to  take  the  shape  of  probabilities.  He  was,  however,  in  no  sense  a  dreamer,  but  a 
practical  Christian  and  a  valiant  champion  of  the  right. 

When  fame  and  position  were  achieved  and  from  the  rostrum  of  that  same  old 
college  of  the  Sorbonne  he,  in  his  turn,  lectured  the  students  who  loved  him  so  well, 
nothing  deterred  him  from  defending  the  truth  and  exposing  error,  and  he  seemed  to 
have  had  the  peculiar  gift  of  ably  answering  the  sophistry  of  his  opponents  and  bring- 
ing their  fallacious  arguments  to  naught.  His  contributions  to  literature  indicate  the 
high  order  of  talent,  patient  research,  and  convincing  logic  which  characterized  his 
lectures  and  his  writings.  It  was  at  the  early  period  of  his  life  from  which  the  society 
dates  that  Ozanam  felt  the  lack  of  Christian  teaching  and  the  support  of  Christian 
example  and  companionship,  as  well  as  the  longing  for  something  higher  and  purer  to 
actuate  every-day  life  than  the  average  student  was  satisfied  with.  Hence,  in  response 
to  these  aspirations  and  in  direct  answer  to  the  taunts  of  his  sneering  associates,  who 
asked  for  some  tangible  proof  of  his  disposition  to  accomplish  something  practical,  he 
and  a  few  kindred  spirits,  encouraged  by  a  friend  of  maturer  years,  M.  Bailly,  started 
the  first  "  Conference  of  Charity,"  which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  present  wide-spread 
society.  They  first  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Mother  of  God,  making 
the  sanctification  of  their  own  souls  their  main  object.  Their  next  aim  was  the  allevia- 
tion of  the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  their  moral  and  physical  ailments — the  former  to  be 
reached  by  assiduously  caring  for  the  latter. 

A  brief  life,  but  a  noble  one,  was  that  of  Frederick  Ozanam.  We  have  only  an 
imperfect  portrait  of  him;  a  pen  and  ink  sketch,  which  shows  little  more  than  a  profile 
of  a  serious  face  upon  which  much  study  and  the  conscientious  discharge  of  laborious 
duty,  together  with  the  suffering  entailed  by  disease,  have  left  their  unmistakable 
traces;  but  he  was  cheerful  and  patient  withal,  a  good  son,  brother,  husband,  and 
father,  faithful  to  his  friends  and  charitable  to  his  enemies — if  he  had  any.  Although 
cut  off  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  he  lived  to  see  the  great  success  of  the  society  which 
he  had  helped  to  establish,  for  he  always  disclaimed  the  honor  of  being  the  sole 
founder.  For  some  time  before  his  death,  failing  health  forced  him  to  intermit  his 
duties,  and  he  traveled  in  Italy  and  Spain,  where  his  footsteps  were  marked  by  the 
establishment  of  conferences.  The  last  of  his  excursions  was  to  the  little  seaport  of 
Antignano,  which  he  left  in  the  fall  of  1853,  hoping  to  breathe  his-  last  in  Paris,  the 
scene  of  his  labors,  but  the  Lord  willed  otherwise,  and  shortly  after  his  arrival  in 
Marseilles  the  closing  scene  set  in  and-  he  died  there  on  the  8th  of  September. 


9o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

He  has  long  ago,  we  trust,  received  his  reward,  and  his  confreres  continue  to  cherish 
his  memory  with  a  respect  and  affection  which  will  long  survive  the  appreciation  of  his 
literary  labors.  He  has  had  many  worthy  successors,  also  men  of  talent  and  distinc- 
tion, in  the  government  of  the  society — particularly  in  the  council-general  in  Paris — 
and  before  giving  a  brief  sketch  of  its  progress  and  position  in  America,  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  make,  parenthetically,  a  few  reflections  on  the  influence  of  such  men  in 
the  community.  While  we  know  that  God  has  usually  chosen  the  humblest  instru- 
ments to  propagate  his  Church,  and.  at  times,  some  special  devotion,  still  we  all  recog- 
nize the  marked  effect  in  our  own  day  of  good  example,  notably  among  that  higher 
class  of  the  laity- to  whom  we  are  naturally  inclined  to  look  for  models.  We  may  recur 
to  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Ozanam  himself,  as  an  illustration  of  this. 

A  prey,  momentarily,  to  that  weakness  which  is  most  fitly  called  human  respect — 
a  powerful  motive,  especially  with  Frenchmen — he  entered  a  church  in  passing  (for  he 
was  a  devout  man  always),  and  there  he  saw,  kneeling  absorbed  in  prayer  before  the 
altar  of  Our  Lady,  that  great  scholar,  the  elder  Ampere,  in  whose  family  he  had  happily 
found  a  home  at  a  critical  time.  The  young  man  confessed,  afterward,  that  he  was 
indescribably  impressed  and  strengthened  by  the  spectacle. 

There  are  brave  men,  we  know,  in  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  but  their  deeds  are 
not  so  manifest  nor  so  likely  to  inspire  emulation  as  the  example  of  those  in  higher 
positions.  The  private  in  the  ranks  is  as  gallant  and  daring  as  his  commanding  officer, 
but  when  the  latter  is  at  the  head  of  the  charging  columns  all  eyes  are  fixed  on  him  and 
all  hearts  filled  with  the  resolution  to  follow  his  valiant  leadership. 

While  the  practical  work  of  the  conferences  was  the  fundamental  one  of  relieving 
the  poor  by  personal  visits  and  direct  assistance,  no  work  of  charity  was  ever  to  be  for- 
eign to  the  society;  and  so  we  find  it,  notably  in  France,  taking  up  and  developing  the 
patronages,  which  have  been  so  successful,  and  which  were  really  the  foundation  of 
institutions  of  a  kindred  nature  now  so  widespread,  and  which  have  taken  the  shape, 
with  our  Protestant  friends,  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations.  All  the  needs  of 
the  poor,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  have  become  the  special  care  of  the  society,  which 
also  occupies  itself  with  remedying  the  causes  of  poverty.  Hence  its  exhortations  to 
temperance  and  economy  in  both  old  and  young;  the  establishment  of  "penny  banks" 
in  England,  following  the  example  of  our  French  confreres,  who  have  also  many  other 
expedients,  such  as  co-operative  kitchens,  and  the  various  plans  which  have  been  found 
practical  for  the  prevention  as  well  as  the  alleviation  of  the  misery  entailed  by  ignor- 
ance and  improvidence.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  projects  and 
labors  of  a  Vincentian  in  the  field  of  charity.  He  has  penetrated  into  the  northern  wilds 
of  the  British  possessions  on  our  own  continent,  and  although  we  can  not  trace  his  foot- 
steps as  far  as  Cape  Horn,  he  is  to  be  found  in  various  points  in  the  intervening  land, 
from  Maine  to  California,  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America.  Conferences  exist  in 
all  the  great  nations  of  Europe  with  the  exception  of  Russia;  in  Asia,  embracing  Arabia 
and  the  Holy  Land,  and  we  know  of  at  least  one  native  Arabian  conference.  On  the 
"dark  continent"  in  Egypt,  upon  the  banks  of  old  father  Nile  and  no.  far  from  the  great 
pyramids,  whence  "forty  centuries  look  down  on  them,"  brethren  are  to  be  met  with; 
and  in  this  connection  we  may  mention  that  our  fellow-citizens  of  African  descent  have 
been  gathered  into  the  fold  in  Washington  and  Boston,  St.  Louis  and  Indianapolis.  If 
not  "Greenland's  icy  mountains  to  India's  coral  strand,"  we  count  at  least  members  in 
Norway  and  Denmark;  they  gather  together  also  upon  the  classic  soil  of  Greece,  as  well 
as  under  the  dominion  of  the  turbaned  Turk  and  amid  the  gorgeous  paganism  of  the 
Indies.  China  has  been  long  since  invaded,  and  in  distant  Australasia  Macaulay's 
dreaded  New  Zealander  (who  is  supposed  to  be  cultivating  an  artistic  eye  for  prospect- 
ive English  ruins)  has  in  his  midst  the  disciples  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 

From  the  latest  statistics  in  our  possession  the  present  condition  of  the  society  may 
be  summed  up  in  the  following  figures: 

In  the  United  States  about  500  conferences,  with  an  active  membership  of  about 
9,000,  while  the  total  membership  of  the  society  is  about  90,000,  and  the  number  of  con- 
ferences 5,000. 

The  work  of  the  patronages  has  reached,  in  France,  a  development  which  dwarfs 
our  efforts  here,  and  these  efforts  seem  insignificant  in  comparison  with  what  our  Prot- 
estant brethren  accomplish  in  the  same  field,  having  borrowed  from  our  society  the  idea, 
and  elaborated  it,  thanks  to  their  ample  means.  Unfortunately  for  us,  our  resources 
are  extremely  limited,  and  where  our  Catholic  brethren  are  wealthy  there  does  not  seem 
to  be  so  much  liberality  in  helping  to  found  and  sustain  these  institutions.  In  Pans 
they  have  established  auxiliary  societies  of  lady  patronesses  of  all  walks  of  life,  whose 
offorts  are  bent  to  secure  the  funds  necessary  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  these 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  $\ 

noble  institutions.  In  London  the  same  work  has  been  already  taken  in  hand  quite 
energetically. 

In  Boston,  especially,  the  children  of  the  poor  are  looked  after  in  the  most  thorough 
manner.  As  in  New  York,  they  have  agents  at  the  courts  to  rescue  Catholic  children 
from  commitment  to  Protestant  homes;  Catholic  ones  are  provided;  occupations  are 
found  for  those  who  are  old  enough  to  work,  and  it  is  highly  interesting  to  read  of  the 
ingenuity  exercised  in  amusing  the  children  on  the  "outings  "  given  them  in  pleasant 
weather.  The  abandoned  or  neglected  infants,  through  the  paternal  care  of  the  confer- 
ences, get  the  next  best  thing  to  proper  maternal  nursing,  arrangements  having  been 
made  to  place  them  in  good  hands,  which  has  resulted  in  materially  reducing  the  mor- 
tality among  these  little  ones.  Thus  the  society  in  Boston  is  doing 'the  work  of  a  found- 
ling asylum. 

The  organization  of  its  early  days  obtained  the  approval  of  the  late  Pope  Pius  IX. 
of  blessed  memory,  who  enriched  it  with  many  spiritual  favors,  and  our  present  Pontiff', 
Leo  XIII. ,  has  endowed  it  with  like  testimonials  of  his  paternal  affection.  The  last 
council  of  Baltimore  spoke  in  flattering  terms  of  the  society,  and  placed  it  in  the  front 
rank  of  lay  organizations.  Those  of  the  hierarchy  and  the  clergy  who.  know  best  its 
objects  and  its  aims  and  what  it  accomplishes,  are  anxious  for  its  establishment,  propa- 
gation, and  success,  and  always  give  it  their  heartiest  support.  Even  our  municipal 
authorities  recognize  it  in  a  most  practical  way  by  giving  it,  in  some  places,  a  share  in 
the  distribution  of  the  public  funds  devoted  to  charity,  because  they  realize  that  the 
application  of  the  money  will  be  direct  and  undiminished  by  salaries  of  distributors;  and 
it  has  conquered  the  respect  and,  in  many  instances,  the  co-operation  of  our  separated 
brethren,  who  admit  its  quiet  efficacy  in  succoring  the  poor.  It  is  essentially  a  lay 
society,  seeking  always  to  work  in  harmony  with  the  clergy,  to  whom  it  is  a  valuable  aid, 
and  it  is  par  excellence  the  most  important  lay  society  in  the  Church.  It  remains  there- 
fore for  Catholic  laymen  to  recruit  its  ranks.  Its  rules  are  simple;  no  great  sacrifices 
are  exacted;  no  very  onerous  duties  are  imposed. 

We  should  have  many  more  upon  our  rolls  of  active  membership;  men  of  all  classes 
and  conditions.  In  Europe,  and  especially  in  France,  conferences  are  thus  composed; 
while  in  America  we  see  few  names  of  the  wealthy  and  distinguished  upon  the  confer- 
ence lists.  With  accessions  from  this  class,  dare  we  not  hope  that  in  addition  to  its 
multifarious  works  of  charity,  it  may  have  its  humble  share  in  solving  the  serious  prob- 
lem which  agitates  all  nations  and  peoples,  the  great  living  question  of  the  relations 
between  the  rich  and  the  poor;  the  conflict  between  capital  and  labor,  and  the  other 
social  questions  involved.  Only  faith  and  hope  and  charity  can  surmount  the  obstacles 
which  these  antagonisms  present,  and  lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  relative  rights 
and  mutual  duties.  "And  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity;"  "for  the  poor  we  have 
always  with  us." 

"  Indian  Rights  "  was  next  stated  by  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  McGolrick,  of 
Duluth,  Minn.,  his  address  embodying  a  mass  of  statistics  not  deemed 
appropriate  here. 

THE    INDIAN    IN    THIS    REPUBLIC. 

Our  young  Republic,  but  now  in  the  beginning  of  its  development,  has,  for  the  most 
part,  pursued  a  policy  of  conciliation  in  its  treatment  of  the  Indian  tribes.  To  those 
who  were  supposed  to  represent  the  Government,  to  its  agents  and  officers,  must  be 
generally  attributed  the  evils  which  have  fallen  on  these  wards  of  the  nation,  which 
have  well-nigh  blotted  out  a  nomadic  race,  about  whose  extinction  there  appears  to  be 
slight  doubt,  as  they  recede  before  the  white  man's  advancing  tread. 

The  commission  of  nine  appointed  by  General  Grant  in  1869,  after  enumerating  the 
many  notorious  grievances  of  the  Indians,  summed  up  by  declaring  that  "  the  history 
of  the  Government  connections  with  the  Indians  is  a  shameful  record  of  broken  treaties 
and  unfulfilled  promises."  "Theft,  lying,  robbery,  broken  promises"— such  is  the 
summing  up  of  Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  when,  in  pleading  for  the  rights  of  the  Indians, 
she  recounts  the  story  of  their  woes. 

Professor  Painter,  agent  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  in  his  report  of  1888, 
states  as  his  conclusion,  after  a  careful  investigation,  that  "the  whole  management  of 
Indians  has  been  abnormal,  with  little  or  absolutely  no  opportunity  for  the  natural  laws 
regulating  social  life  to  operate." 

"  The  aboriginal  population  of  the  West  Ind  es,  of  Mexico,  of  Central  and  South 
America,"  writes  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Marty,  so  well  known  for  his  active  interest  in  the 


92  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Indians,  "  was  preserved,  Christianized,  and  in  great  part  civilized.  Forty-six  millions 
of  Catholic  people  now  inhabit  those  countries,  with  a  proportion  of  white  people  to  the 
mixed  and  purely  aboriginal  elements  nearly  everywhere  the  same — 20  per  cent,  white; 
43  per  cent,  mixed;  37  per  cent,  aboriginal.  North  of  Mexico,  the  fate  of  the  aborigines 
has  been  extermination." 

In  the  report  of  the  commission,  charged  with  the  distribution  of  the  fund  for  Cath- 
olic mission  work  among  the  negroes  and  Indians,  and  of  which  His  Eminence,  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  is  the  chairman,  the  Indian  population  is  marked  as  being  about  285,730.  The 
report  of  the  Government  Commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  for  1892  gives  the  Indian  popu- 
lation, exclusive  of  Alaska,  as  248,340;  with  about  3,000  employes.  The  location  of  the 
Indian  population,  together  with  the  statistics  of  Catholic  Indians,  churches,  sister- 
hoods, and  religions  for  the  year  1892,  makes  very  interesting  reading. 

In  1891  the  total  Indian  population  was  given  as  249,273,  and  of  these  80,891  were 
Catholics.  In  the  statistics  of  1876  there  were  enumerated  260  different  tribes  in  the 
United  States,  amounting  to  about  300,000  Indians.  These  were  widely  scattered,  roam- 
ing around  in  the  chase  during  the  year  and  only  settled  in  their  camping  grounds  during 
the  winter  and  early  spring.  For  many  of  these  tribes  the  Government  holds  in  trust 
certain  funds  belonging  to  them  and  for  which  they  receive  the  annual  interest. 

Five  tribes,  civilized,  the  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  Choctaws,  Seminoles,  and  Creeks, 
have  a  trust  fund  of  $8,008,525.99,  with  an  annual  interest  of  $413,790.11,  while  thirty 
other  tribes  have  about  $16,000,000  for  their  benefit.  This  fund,  if  well  managed  and 
properly  disbursed  would  be  a  great  assistance  to  the  Indians,  but  the  commissioners, 
clerks,  inspectors,  supervisors,  agents,  boss  farmers,  physicians,  teachers,  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  multitude  to  whom  the  Indian  is  so  valuable,  take  to  themselves  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  the  fund  belonging  to  these  poor  people. 

The  constant  advance  of  the  white  man,  and  the  ever-increasing  demand  for  land, 
gradually  drove  back  the  Indian  to  remote  western  wilds.  Before  the  shrewd  and  often 
unscrupulous  pioneer  the  Indian  had  to  retreat  or  become  completely  helpless. 

The  general  government  was  gradually  forced  to  exercise  unlimited  control  over  the 
aborigines  and  their  property.  They  became  wards  of  the  nation,  to  be  governed  and 
directed  in  all  their  affairs  until  they  could  be  formed  into  civilized  men.  Prisoners  in 
their  own  homes,  they  are  strictly  kept  within  lines  called  reservations.  There  they  are 
forced  to  remain,  and  can  not  leave  but  by  special  permission  and  with  a  pass, on  which 
is  marked  the  number  of  days  they  are  allowed  to  be  absent.  The  agent  has  full  power 
over  these  people,  and,  if  he  be  tyrannical,  can  govern  more  absolutely  than  the  Czar  of 
Russia. 

The  number  of  these  reservations  and  agencies  increased  up  to  1870,  when  General 
Grant  inaugurated  the  Indian  peace  policy.  Of  the  seventy  agencies  under  this  new 
system  eight  were  assigned  to  the  Catholic  Church.  In  other  agencies,  where  the  large 
number  of  Indians  were  Catholics,  their  demands  for  a  Catholic  priest  were  ignored, 
and  they  were  handed  over,  body  and  soul,  to  those  who  were  in  many  cases  hostile  to 
Catholicity. 

At  this  period,  twenty-three  years  ago,  more  than  forty  mission  houses,  with  over 
300  stations,  at  which  100,000  Indians  received  instruction  and  the  sacraments,  were 
built  up,  but  under  this  new  system  complaints  grew  ever  louder,  showing  that  the 
Government  agents  were  vising  all  their  powers  to  counteract  the  labors  of  Catholic 
missionaries,  to  prevent  their  mission  work  and  destroy  their  control  of  the  Indians. 
In  many  places  the  Catholic  missionaries  were  driven  out  of  the  reservations,  and,  at 
Archbishop  Bailey  declared,  "this  action  was  taken  under  a  government  policy  of  itself 
wise  and  humane." 

Under  this  policy,  non-Catholic  missions  and  schools  were  erected  and  established 
among  the  Indians  already  Catholic,  and  amongst  pagans  who  for  years  had  been  peti- 
tioning for  schools  and  churches  under  the  influence  of  Catholic  missionaries. 

The  sad  story,  which  can  only  be  hinted  at,  of  the  gross  immorality  of  white  men 
and  Indians  in  many  of  the  reservations ;  the  dissolute  white  man  and  the  savage  in 
league  to  destroy  every  remnant  of  purity  in  the  poor  Indian  girl ;  the  parents  them- 
selves, the  natural  guardians  of  the  children  for  whom  they  have  such  warm  love, 
engaged  in  forcing  their  daughters  to  lives  of  shame— alas  !  how  often  has  all  this  been 
rehearsed  as  the  common  tale  of  the  reservations  ! 

But  what  a  change  when  the  good  Sisters  came  amongst  the  children  of  these 
wretched  people !  In  the  midst  of  privations  and  trials,  these  brave  women  fighting 
the  good  fight  against  superstition  and  darkest  temptation  preserved  the  children  en- 
trusted to  them  pure  and  holy ;  gave  the  Indian  mother  a  new  life  of  freedom,  before 
unknown,  and  investing  them  with  Christian  purity  made  the  Indian  family  a  fit 
subject  of  rejoicing  both  to  angels  and  to  men. 


BISHOP    FOLEY, 

DETROIT. 

BISHOP    HEALY, 

PORTLAND. 

BISHOP   SCANNELL, 

OMAHA. 


BISHOP    RADAMACHER, 
FT.    WAYNE. 

BISHOP   KEANE, 

WASHINGTON. 


BISHOP    BURKE, 

ST.    JOSEPH. 

BISHOP    McGOLRICK, 

DULUTH. 

BISHOP    MESSMER, 

GREEN    BAY. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  93 

"  Give  us,"  said  the  chief  of  the  Gull  Lake  band  of  Chippewas,  Minnesota,  speaking 
in  July,  1892,  to  the  bishop  of  Duluth,  "  give  us  a  black-gown  to  teach  ourselves  and  our 
children." 

41 1  have  been  twenty  years  on  the  reservation  here,"  said  an  old  chief,  "  and  the 
promises  made  to  us  I  never  saw  fulfilled;  give  us  a  priest  and  a  school  for  our  children 
and  we  will  be  satisfied." 

Many  of  these  were  pagans,  but  they  had  centered  their  hopes  for  their  children  in 
the  sisters'  school. 

The  act  of  Congress,  February  8,  1887,  giving  the  Indians  an  individual  title  to  cer- 
tain lands,  and  thus  bringing  them  under  the  ordinary  laws  of  regular  citizens  of  the 
country  is  the  last,  and  it  would  seem  final  attempt  to  settle  the  Indian  question. 

The  amount  of  land  given  to  each  Indian  varies  with  the  locality;  the  Modocs 
received  forty  acres  each;  the  Senecas,  160  acres;  and  the  Quapaws,  200  acres  each. 

From  February,  1887,  to  November  30, 1892,  there  were  made  15,182  allotments  on 
reservations  under  the  general  allotment  act;  4,550  allotments  by  special  act  of  Congress; 
1,212  allotments  on  public  domain  outside  reservation 

As  the  Indian's  mode  of  life  and  traditions  are  altogether  opposed  to  this  settled  life, 
it  will  be  wise  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  see  that  these  people,  rendered  so  help- 
less by  long  years  of  reliance  on  the  Government  care,  may  be  protected  in  their  rights 
and  prepared  gradually  for  the  change  to  regular  citizenship.  Children  of  nature,  care- 
less of  future  needs,  if  present  wants  be  satisfied,  never,  in  any  period  of  their  history,  do 
they  need  more  the  advice  and  encouragement  of  the  faithful  missionary. 

Amongst  them  the  demon  of  intemperance  has  had  its  thousands  of  victims.  This, 
their  greatest  curse,  of  itself,  would  complete  their  destruction,  but  the  Government,  by 
wise  restrictive  laws,  aided  in  diminishing  the  evil.  Still  there  were  ever  hordes  of 
white  men  watching  to  supply,  through  greed  of  gain,  the  "fire-water"  which  changed 
the  Indian  into  a  devil. 

The  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  had  from  the  commencement  to  deal 
with  a  population  ever  increasing  at  a  rate  unparalleled  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world.  Her  missionaries  were  few,  unable  for  many  years  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
growing  towns  and  with  little  possibility  of  attending  the  new  settlers  scattered  over  a 
country  of  immense  distances.  Many,  too,  had  come  to  make  this  land  their  home, 
whose  traditions  taught  a  hatred  of  Catholicity.  History,  which  should  have  been  a 
record  of  the  truth,  became  the  medium  of  shameless  lying  and  the  disseminator  of 
calumny.  Catholics  and  Catholicity  were  judged  and  condemned  on  such  testimony ;  so 
we  need  now  the  active  co-operation  of  the  religious  orders.  Let  them  prepare  men  and 
women  missionaries  well  schooled  in  the  various  Indian  languages  and  dialects;  let 
them  prepare  such  useful  books  as  may  suit  the  present  generation,  and  the  future  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Church. 

The  day  of  the  nomadic  Indian  is  gone;  soon  to  be  settled  on  the  lands,  many  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  old  missionary  work  will  have  passed  away,  but  this  is  the  critical 
period,  and  the  Church  naturally  turns  to  her  reserve  corps  for  self-sacrificing  men,  now 
as  in  the  past. 

How  sad  it  is  to  read  the  letter  of  Archbishop  Salpointe,  who  tells  us  of  20,000 
Navajoes  "that  the  Gospel  has  never  been  preached  to  them;  that  they  are  intelligent 
and  many  of  them  would  be  won  over  easily  to  Catholicity."  Priests  are  wanting.  Sad- 
der still  is  it  to  learn  from  the  same  source  that  the  agents  of  government  commission- 
ers, hostile  to  the  Church,  "do  all  in  their  power  to  ruin  our  schools  and  to  pervert  our 
poor  Catholic  Indians,  by  means  fair  and  foul;  their  efforts  being  especially  directed 
against  the  faith  and  Catholic  allegiance  of  the  Pueblos." 

Nearly  every  bishop  who  has  to  deal  with  the  Indians  has  a  like  story  of  poverty, 
of  difficulty  in  finding  missionaries  and  of  bigoted  obstruction.  Yet  is  it  not  consoling, 
in  the  face  of  all  these  troubles,  to  find  that  over  2,000  Indians  have  been  received  into 
the  Church  in  the  last  year,  1892? 

Bright  are  the  prospects  of  the  future.  "We  have  good  hopes,"  writes  Bishop 
Lemmens,  of  Vancouver,  "  that  all  the  Indians  on  the  west  coast  will  ultimately  be 
Catholics;  the  majority  are  so  now.  The  missions  on  the  Yukon  River  and  in  the 
southwest  of  Alaska  are  very  successful." 

The  red  man  turns  to  the  Catholic  Church  as  to  a  true  friend.  May  we  in  our  day 
find  missionaries  as  of  old,  ready  to  acquit  themselves  as  men  of  God  to  win  to  the 
civilizing  influences  of  religion  the  souls  of  these  poor  wanderers  from  light  and  life. 
The  question  for  earnest  discussion,  and  which  must  meet  with  prompt  response  is 
this:  "  Can  we  devise  a  plan  by  which  the  present  demands  of  our  Indian  population 
may  be  answered?"  In  this  new  phase  of  the  Indian  question  are  we  equal  to  our 
golden  opportunity? 


94  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union  held  its  convention  in  the 
hall  of  Washington,  in  the  Art  Institute. 

This  convention  was  a  notable  gathering  of  the  representatives  of  the 
rising  generation  of  Catholics  in  the  United  States.  The  proceedings  were 
enlivened  by  the  opening  address  by  James  F.  O'Connor,  president  of  the 
Chicago  branch  of  the  Union;  an  address  by  Rev.  Francis  McGuire,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  President  of  the  Union,  and  a  paper  by  Warren  E.  Mosher, 
of  Youn°-stown,  Ohio,  all  of  which  will  be  found  later  on  in  this  book  under 
the  fifth  day's  proceedings. 

Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  made  a  short  address,  among  other  things  he 
advised  them  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  manly  independence,  self-respect,  and  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others.  He  said  that  the  old  prejudice  against  the  Catholic  religion  was 
fast  dying  out,  and  the  time  had  now  come  when  men  were  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  character  more  than  on  the  account  of  their  religious  convictions.  He  solemnly 
impressed  upon  them  their  great  responsibility  as  young  men,  and  said  they  were 
accountable  to  Almighty  God  for  the  influence  they  exerted  on  society.  He  advised 
them  to  read  the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke,  and  try  to  catch  therefrom  something  of 
the  ideals  which  that  great  statesman  held  up  for  the  guidance  of  men  in  public  life. 
The  young  men,  he  said,  should  adopt  that  grand  old  maxim  of  that  grand  old  states- 
man, Henry  Clay,  the  saying:  "  I  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President."  He 
mentioned  William  E.  Gladstone,  a  name  that  brought  forth  a  storm  of  cheers,  as  a 
man  that  always  had  the  courage  to  do  his  duty  in  the  face  of  opposition,  misunder- 
standing, and  calumny,  and  who  always  felt  his  responsibility  to  God  and  to  the  public. 
He  said  that  no  better  type  of  a  public  man  could  be  mentioned  than  that  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land. Mr.  Cleveland  represented  the  people  of  the  United  States  perhaps  better  than 
any  man  who  had  occupied  the  presidential  chair  since  the  days  of  Washington. 

After  an  address  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Burke,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  the 
regular  work  of  the  Convention  was  taken  up  by  the  reading  and  discussion 
of  numerous  valuable  papers.  On  this  fourth  day,  the  C.  Y.  M.  Union  heard 
other  papers  and  eloquent  addresses  from  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Gabriel,  of 
Ogdensburgh,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dolan,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  also  from  Father 
J.  B.  Daley,  of  New  York  City  Cathedral.  Besides  its  election  of  officers  and 
other  customary  business,  the  Union  then  passed  the  following  resolutions. 

C.   Y.   M.  N.  U.   RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union,  in  convention  assembled, 
tender  to  our  most  Holy  Father,  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  assurance  of  our  love  and  devotion. 

Resolved,  That  we  renew  our  belief  in  him  as  the  infallible  representative  of  Christ, 
and  express  our  filial  devotion  to  him,  and,  also,  to  his  representative,  Mgr.  Satolli,  whom 
he  has  appointed  the  Apostolic  Delegate  to  America. 

Resolved,  That  each  society  make  especial  effort  to  lend  itself  to  literary  work,  and, 
also,  to  the  establishment  of  classes  in  the  ordinary,  and,  if  convenient,  in  the  particular 
branches  of  learning  for  the  boys  of  our  colleges  and  parochial  schools;  and,  also,  for  our 
working  boys,  believing  that  the  great  cause  of  the  young  men  can  be  best  served  by 
taking  care  of  the  boys  and  molding  their  character. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  with  gratification  and  a  keen  sense  of  its  far-reaching  useful- 
ness we  have  watched  the  work  and  progress  of  the  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America, 
and  that  we  do  heartily  indorse  the  aim  and  objects  for  which  it  was  established,  and 
would  recommend  the  establishment  of  some  plan  or  movement  by  which  the  young 
men's  societies  can  make  use  of  the  benefits  of  the  Catholic  Summer  School. 

Resolved,  That  we  heartily  commend  the  work  of  the  Bishop's  Memorial  Hall,  con- 
ducted by  Professor  Edwards,  of  Notre  Dame  University,  and  of  the  American  Catholic 
Historical  Society,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  special  object  is  the  collection  of  all  material 
pertaining  to  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  and  the  publication  of  articles 
making  known  important  events  in  our  history. 

Resolved,  That  we  congratulate  the  young  ladies  of  many  sections  of  the  country 
upon  the  successful  establishment  of  reading  circles,  and  that  we  encourage  female 
societies  to  aid  us  in  oar  laudable  object  of  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  social  advanco- 
ment. 


WORLDS  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  95 

FIFTH  DAY. 

The  fifth  day  of  the  Columbian  Congress  was  chiefly  devoted  to  the  great 
question  of  education,  and  was  signalized  by  the  delivery  of  a  momentous 
paper  on  "  Catholic  Higher  Education"  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Rector  of  the  Cath- 
olic University  at  Washington.     Following  is 

BISHOP    KEANE'S    ADDRESS. 

For  the  right  understanding  of  the  subject  which  I  have  been  requested  to  treat,  it 
is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  higher  educa- 
tion as  compared  with  elementary  and  secondary  education. 

Elementary  education  is  the  education  of  the  child  up  to  the  age  of  twelve  or  four- 
teen. It  consists  of  a  knowledge  of  "  the  three  R's,"  which  are  the  first  instruments  of 
all  learning,  and  it  ought  to  impart  through  these  instrumentalities  an  elementary 
acquaintance  with  the  three  great  books  which  lie  ever  open  before  human  eyes — the  book 
of  nature,  the  book  of  man,  and  the  Book  of  God.  Elementary  education  is  ordinarily 
imparted,  all  the  world  over,  in  schools. 

Secondary  education  is  the  education  of  youth,  from  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen 
up  to  seventeen  or  nineteen.  It  consists  in  acquiring  the  use  of  other  instrumentalities 
of  learning,  namely,  languages  ancient  and  modern,  and  of  arriving  through  these  at  a 
more  thorough  acquaintance  with  nature  or  science,  with  the  thoughts  and  achieve- 
ments of  men  in  literature  and  history,  and  with  divine  things  in  themselves  and  in 
their  influence  on  the  life  of  mankind.  In  different  countries  different  names  are  given 
to  the  institutions  in  which  secondary  education  is  imparted.  In  Germany  they  are 
called  gymnasia;  in  France,  lycees;  in  England  and  America,  high  schools  or  colleges. 

Higher  education  is  the  education  of  man,  of  one  who  has  passed  through  the  ele- 
mentary and  the  secondary,  and  who  presses  on  in  the  paths  of  learning,  usually  from 
the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  up  to  twenty-four  or  twenty-five.  And  here  let  me 
remark,  once  for  all,  that  in  speaking  of  the  education  of  man,  I  have  no  intention  of 
excluding  women.  On  the  contrary,  I  firmly  believe  in  giving  her  every  educational 
advantage  which  she  desires  and  which  she  finds  profitable  to  her.  Waiving  for  the 
present  as  not  now  concerning  us,  the  practical  question  this  involves,  I  wish  it  under- 
stood that  I  use  the  word  man  in  the  generic  sense,  concerning  both  sexes  as  far  as  the 
subject  concerns  them  both. 

The  youth  leaving  college  at  eighteen  must  know  that  he  is  not  a  learned  man.  If 
he  thinks  he  is,  then  he  had  better  close  his  books,  for  further  study  will  be  apt  to  do 
him  but  little  good.  But  if  he  has  in  him  the  stuff  to  make  a  learned  man,  then  he 
knows  that  he  has  only  seen  what  learning  is  and  the  way  to  it. 

He  knows  that  he  can  not  hope  to  obtain  it  in  the  busy  struggle  of  life  ;  he  craves 
more  time  for  deeper  and  wider  and  more  philosophical  study,  study  that  he  will  carry 
on  with  the  seriousness  of  a  man,  of  a  disciplined  mind.  His  aim  may  be  a  learned  pro- 
fession, law  or  medicine,  giving  position  and  emolument.  It  may  be  to  master  the  great 
social,  political,  and  economic  problems,  and  thus  become  not  only  an  intelligent  citizen, 
but  a  leader  of  public  thought,  a  moving  and  guiding  power  in  the  life  of  the  com- 
munity. Or  his  fitness  or  taste  may  run  in  the  direction  of  the  natural  sciences,  and 
then  his  aim  will  be  to  acquire  that  profound  acquaintance  with  some  one  of  them  or 
some  group  of  them,  which  may  not  only  give  him  skill  but  scholarly  eminence  in  some 
of  the  various  lines  of  engineering  or  applied  science;  or  fit  him  to  be  one  of  those 
scientific  investigators  who  benefit  mankind,  and  perhaps  earn  fame,  by  extending  the 
boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  Or  he  may  have  chosen  literature  for  the  field  of  his 
life-work,  and  he  longs  for  time  and  opportunity  to  acquire  that  acquaintance  with  the 
best  thoughts  of  the  best  writers  ;  that  thorough  mastery  of  the  special  line  of  subjects 
on  which  he  would  wish  to  write  ;  that  wide  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  nature  and  his- 
tory from  which  he  is  to  draw  themes  and  illustrations  ;  that  correctness  and  dignity 
and  beauty  of  style — in  a  word,  to  acquire  such  share  as  he  is  capable  of  in  that  combi- 
nation of  qualities  which  make  the  great  writer.  Or  God  may  have  put  into  his  soul  the 
noble  ambition  to  perfect  himself  in  one  or  another  line  of  sacred  studies,  or  more 
thoroughly  grasp  their  entirety,  in  order  to  do  nobler  work  for  religion  and  for  the 
highest  welfare  of  mankind  than  the  training  of  the  ordinary  theological  seminary 
would  suffice  to  fit  him  for. 

In  whichever  of  all  these  various  directions  the  cravings  of  his  soul  may  turn,  the 
object  of  his  desires  is  what  we  call  the  higher  education,  and  the  places  in  which  it  is 
to  be  found  is  all  the  world  over  called  the  university. 
37 


96 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Owing  to  the  present  tendency  to  specialization,  many  institutions  may  be' found 
which  are  special  schools  or  institutes  aiming  at  the  exclusive  development  of  one  or 
another  of  these  lines  of  higher  study.  But  these  special  schools  are  really  departments 
of  the  university  that  have  gone  off  to  themselves,  and  the  notion  of  a  complete  uni- 
versity, it  is  now  generally  recognized,  includes  them  all. 

In  the  next  place,  we  must  consider  the  relative  importance  of  these  various 
degrees  of  education. 

Multitudes  receive  only  the  elementary.  Probably  it  will  always  be  so  with  the 
bulk  of  the  sons  of  toil.  To  supply  it  to  them  all  and  of  as  excellent  a  quality  as  possible 
is  one  of  the  most  imperative  duties  of  civilization. 

Secondary  education  is  reached  by  that  more  fortunate  portion  of  the  community 
who  are  ordinarily  styled  the  "middle  classes."  Such  classes  will  naturally  be  formed 
wherever  industrial  freedom  exists,  wherever  energy  and  ability  have  a  chance  to  rise. 
It  is  manifestly  necessary  that  they  should  advance  in  culture,  as  they  rise  in  the  social 
respectability  which  their  improved  condition  entails.  Thus  high  schools  and  colleges 
become  a  necessity  of  every  civilized  community,  and  the  increase  in  the  number  of  their 
students  may  be  considered  a  good  criterion  of  the  community's  advance  in  civilization 
and  the  increase  of  popular  prosperity. 

But  God  has  put  into  the  hearts  of  his  creatures  an  instinctive  craving,  not  only 
for  the  good  and  the  better,  but  also  and  especially  for  the  best.  Knowledge  acquired 
makes  the  mind  hunger  for  the  greater  abundance  of  knowledge  which  it  sees  beyond 
it,  and  by  following  the  craving  the  soul  develops  its  noblest  faculty  and  grows  in  the 
dignity  and  beauty  of  its  being.  God  wills  it  so.  And  knowledge  is  a  migrhty  power, 
not  only  for  one's  own  improvement,  but  also  for  the  utility  of  our  fellow-men.  This  is 
another  reason  for  the  providential  instinct  which  impels  the  mind  toward  its  fullest 
improvement. 

Hence,  with  the  development  of  civilization  has  ever  advanced  the  development  of 
the  educational  system.  The  truest  pride  of  a  civilized  nation  is  in  the  universal  spread 
of  its  schools,  in  the  multiplication  of  its  colleges;  but  its  chief  glory  is  in  the  number 
and  excellence  of  its  universities. 

Since  the  Son  of  God  sent  forth  his  Church  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  she  has  ever 
been  the  foremost  promoter  of  education  in  all  its  degrees.  She  knows  well  that  her 
divine  mission  can  never  be  furthered  by  darkness,  by  ignorance  or  stupidity,  for  "  God 
is  the  light,  and  there  is  no  darkness  in  Him."  She  has  ever  blessed  and  guided  minds 
emerging  into  the  first  beginnings  of  knowledge;  she  has  fostered  the  sacred  thirst  for 
knowledge  as  it  grew,  and  has  everywhere  encouraged  and  directed  the  establishment 
of  the  colleges  which  fanned  the  sacred  flame  and  led  onward  into  the  light;  she  has, 
with  special  affection  and  care,  encouraged  and  spurred  on  those  minds  of  noblest 
calibre,  that  longed  for  the  deepest  draughts  of  the  waters  of  truth,  and  in  nothing 
does  she  more  fondly  glory  than  in  being  the  mother  of  nearly  all  the  great  universities 
of  the  world.  She  knows  that  it  is  God  who  has  implanted  in  man  that  craving  for  the 
fullest  truth,  and,  in  her  perfect  loyalty  to  both  God  and  to  humanity,  she  fosters  the 
craving  and  does  all  in  her  power  to  satisfy  it.  She  knows  it  is  "the  Father  of  Lights, 
from  whom  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh,"  who  has  given  to  superior  knowledge 
its  present  influence  among  mankind,  and  for  the  world's  good  she  desires  to  see  that 
influence  brought  to  the  utmost  perfection,  and  used  by  good  men  through  noblest 
motives  for  the  best  ends.  This  is. the  reason  of  the  part  she  has  taken  in  education, 
and  especially  in  its  highest,  noblest,  and  most  influential  department. 

In  our  age,  more  than  in  any  that  has  prececed  it,  and  in  our  country,  more  than 
in  any  other  country  in  the  world,  reasons  of  special  importance  urge  both  on  the 
Church  and  on  civilization  the  necessity  of  encouraging  and  diffusing  the  advantages 
of  the  higher  education,  and  of  making  it  as  complete  and  as  sound  as  possible. 

Human  society  is  passing  through  the  agonies  of  a  very  deep  and  wide  recon- 
struction. Social  conditions  are  being  leveled  upward.  Privileged  classes  are  passing 
away,  and  lingering  vestiges  of  caste,  of  feudal  arrogance,  of  autocratic  Caesarisni, 
evoke  only  protest  and  indignation.  Natural  inequalities  have  to  be  accepted,  but 
artificial  inequalities  are  dams  and  dikes  which  will  not  long  withstand  the  flood-tide. 
In  this  condition  of  things,  the  existence  of  which  no  man  can  question,  there  are 
grave  dangers  to  be  guarded  against;  but  there  are  also  weighty  principles  of  right 
which  have  to  be  respected  and,  above  all,  there  is  a  world-transformation  which  it 
iB  the  duty  of  prudence  to  foresee  and  to  provide  for. 

Now,  how  are  these  tendencies  to  be  wisely  directed?  How  is  the  future  to  be 
wisely  molded?  In  one  word,  the  process  of  leveling  up  must  be  encouraged  and 
helped.    Loyalty  to  humanity  demands  it;  loyalty  to  the  Creator  of  humanity,  to  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  97 

blessed  Father  of  us  all,  demands  it;  it  can  be  discountenanced  and  resisted  only 
through  loyalty  to  traditions  of  men  which  too  often  make  void  the  will  of  God. 

And  how  is  that  leveling  up  to  be  safely  accomplished?  Tn rough  education;  by 
making  elementary  education  more  and  more  universal  and  steadily  elevating  its  level; 
by  lifting  larger  and  larger  numbers  from  elementary  into  secondary  education,  till  the 
multitudes  in  the  schools  be  rivaled  by  the  multitudes  in  the  colleges;  and  in  a  special 
manner,  by  bringing  the  advantages  of  the  very  highest  education  within  the  reach  of 
every  child  of  the  masses  to  whom  God  has  given  the  highest  qualities  of  brain.  The 
day  is  past  when  it  could  be  pretended  that  the  finest  quality  of  brain  could  be  found 
only  in  the  privileged  classes.  Intellectual  power  is  a  gift  which  God  dispenses  as  lie 
will,  and  wherever  God  has  given  it  He  has  given  with  it  a  right  to  its  full  development. 
And  the  day  is  past— nay,  the  day  never  has  been— when  privilege  and  conventionality 
of  any  kind  could  look  down  on  intellectual  pre-eminence.  Therein  lies  the  highest 
respectability,  the  loftiest  influences  dignity  before  which  artificialties  of  position  must 
bow,  a  power  which  even  the  might  of  wealth  can  not  lastingly  withstand.  Place  these 
advantages  bounteously  within  the  reach  of  everyone  whom  God's  providence  has  made 
tit  for  them;  bring  them  especially  within  reach  of  the  gifted  poor;  let  it  be  distinctly 
understood  that  poverty  shall  debar  no  man  from  the  intellectual  pre-eminence  for 
which  God  has  fitted  him;  let  the  offspring  of  the  sons  of  toil  mount  to  that  degree  of 
learning,  and  consequent  respectability  and  influence,  to  which  their  Creator  by  theii 
endowments  calls  them— thus,  better  than  by  any  or  all  other  means,  shall  the  social 
problem  of  the  future  be  solved.  Thus  shall  complaints  of  injustice  and  chafing  against 
inequalities  be  stilled.  Thus  shall  human  society  be  leveled  up,  as  far  as  God  and  nature 
mean  that  this  should  be  done.  Thus  shall  the  wrongs  of  humanity  be  righted  and  its 
rights  secured— not  by  violence,  which  only  entails  reaction  and  worse  disaster,  but  by 
the  gentle,  irresistible  force  of  the  true  and  the  just,  acting  together  in  God's  ways  for 
the  real  and  lasting  elevation  of  His  creatures. 

In  the  reconstruction  of  the  world,  Divine  Providence  has  given  a  mission  of  special 
influence  in  America.  She  is  giving  the  keynote  of  the  world's  future;  and  God  has 
meant  her  to  do  so.  In  America,  therefore,  above  all,  must  that  universal  abundance 
and  excellence  of  elementary  education,  and  that  universal  freedom  and  facility  of  the 
highest  education,  prevail. 

But  here  we  are  faced  by  a  thought  of  tremendous  importance.  Intellectual  power, 
like  any  other  power,  may  be  used  for  purposes  of  evil  as  well  as  purposes  of  good, 
may  be  a  curse  or  a  blessing  to  its  possessor  and  to  those  who  come  within  its  influence. 
It  may  do  the  work  of  the  Father  of  Light,  leading  to  light  and  peace  and  welfare, 
temporal  and  eternal;  or  it  may  do  the  work  of  Lucifer,  who  ever,  as  in  Eden,  offers 
what  he  claims  to  be  a  higher  knowledge,  ending  in  darkness  and  disaster. 

Hence  the  natural  relationship  of  the  Church  of  God  to  education.  Hence  espe- 
cially her  relation  to  the  higher  education,  since  it  is  this  which  forms  the  men  of  intel- 
lectual power  and  influence,  who  shape  the  thought  and  action  of  their  generation  and 
lead  the  millions  through  true  principles  or  false  ones  in  the  wrays  of  wisdom  or  of  folly 
and  evil.  Having  in  her  custody  both  the  philosophy  of  human  experience  in  all  ages, 
and  the  far  higher  philosophy  of  divine  revelation,  being  the  divinely  established  power 
for  the  world's  moral  and  spiritual  improvement,  hers  is  naturally  the  influence  which 
perfects  education,  which  breathes  a  living  soul  into  it,  which  insures  its  tending  toward 
heaven's  appointed  ends,  and  its  being  used  for  the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  man- 
kind. That  is  why  Providence  made  her  the  civihzer  of  the  barbarians  and  the  educa- 
tor of  the  modern  world;  that  is  why  her  influence  never  can  be  spared  from  education 
and  why  its  absence  is  always  a  grave  danger  to  human  society. 

Therefore  does  she  stand  amid  the  surging  mass  of  mankind  blessing  its  upward 
aspirations,  smiling  maternal  approval  on  the  "  excelsior  "  which  ever  sounds  forth  from 
its  heart.  Again  and  again  of  late  we  have  heard  that  word  of  benediction  on  the 
aspirations  of  humanity  from  the  lips  of  Leo  XIII.,  and  the  world  has  rejoiced  at  the 
sound. 

Therefore  does  she  exult  at  the  mighty  energies  which  God  has  put  into  our  young 
America,  and  with  uplifted  hands  pray  that  these  energies  may  ever  bo  used  fur  the 
world's  good.  Therefore  does  she  bend  all  her  powers  to  bestow  on  this  favored  land 
the  fullest  blessings  of  Christian  education.  Therefore  does  she  long  to  Bee  1  lie  multi- 
plication of  schools  in  which  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ  shall  be  the  soul  of 
the  educa-tion  there  imparted.  Therefore  does  she  strive  in  like  manner  to  multiply 
Christian  colleges  and  to  spur  her  people  to  the  noble  ambition  of  making  their  advance 
in  educational  advantages  keep  pace  with  their  advance  in  earthly  means  and  in  social 
position.    Therefore  has  she,  for  over  thirty  years,  as  the  proceedings  of  her  councils 


9S 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


show,  longed  to  crown  the  system  of  Christian  education  with  a  university  that  would 
be  worthy  of  her,  worthy  of  our  age,  worthy  of  America.  From  the  Fathers  of  the  Sec- 
ond Plenary  Council  in  1866  that  wish  burst  forth  as  a  longing  and  a  prayer,  for  the 
realization  of  which  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  flock  was  not  yet  ready.  From  the 
Fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  in  1884  it  thundered  forth  as  a  resolution  no  longer 
to  be  delayed,  and  at  last,  blessed  and  spurred  on  by  the  approval  and  exhortations  of 
Leo  XIII.,  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Catholic 
University  of  America.  •  . 

A  woman  was  the  instrument  of  Providence  to  supply  the  means  for  the  beginning 
of  the  great  work.  May  her  name  stand  forever  in  honor  among  the  women  of  America. 
Other  women,  and  some  men,  too,  emulate  the  noble  example.  From  among  the  clergy 
and  the  people  of  the  country  hundreds — whose  names  shall  ever  form  a  roll  of  honor  in 
our  country  and  history— responded  to  the  appeal  of  the  hierarchy,  and  to  the  soul- 
stirring  exhortation  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  that  all  should  rally  with  united  devotedness 
to  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  work.  National  associations  and  unions  have  rec- 
ognized in  it  an  object  worthy  of  their  united  endeavor,  the  worthiest  means  of  rendering 
monumental  honor  to  great  names  which  they  wished  to  immortalize. 

Here  let  me  especially  pay  a  tribute  of  grateful  acknowledgement  to  the  Catholic 
Total  Abstinence  Union  of  America  for  having,  by  the  endowment— though  not  yet 
complete— of  a  professorial  chair  in  the  university,  erected  the  worthiest  of  centennial 
monuments  to  the  apostle  of  temperance.  I  regret  that  the  endowment  was  received 
after  our  official  announcements  for  the  next  scholastic  year  had  already  been  printed, 
and  that  the  Union  does  not,  therefore,  appear  in  the  list  of  the  founders  of  chairs.  But 
I  am  happy  to  make  this  public  announcement  of  their  noble  deed,  which  shall  forever 
stand  inscribed  in  the  university's  official  documents,  as  well  as  in  the  imperishable  tab- 
lets on  her  walls. 

And  so  the  beginning  of  the  great  work  has  been  made.  It  is  as  yet  only  a  begin- 
ning, but  yet  such  a  beginning  as  to  have  already  outstripped  any  previously  existing 
work  of  Catholic  education  in  the  land  and  to  give  noble  presage  and  encouragement 
for  a  great  future.  One  faculty  is  already  established  and  endowed  in  perpetuity, 
secure,  as  far  as  human  things  can  be  secure,  against  all  possibilities  of  financial  embar- 
rassment—and that  one  the  noblest  of  all  the  faculties,  the  faculty  of  divinity,  which 
places  God  and  Christ  in  the  center  of  the  whole  work  as  its  inspiration  and  guide  for- 
ever, and  which,  for  four  years  past,  has  already  been  bestowing  on  the  clergy  of  America 
the  first-fruits  of  the  intellectual  blessings  so  ardently  sighed  for  by  our  predecessors  in 
the  Lord's  vineyard. 

Now,  responsive  to  the  repeated  exhortations  of  our  glorious  founder,  Leo  XIII.,  all 
efforts  are  being  made  to  establish  and  endow  another  great  faculty,  the  faculty  of 
philosophy,  science,  and  letters,  which  will  throw  open  to  the  laity  the  beginning  of  those 
educational  advantages  which  are  meant,  in  God's  good  time,  to  rival  the  best  which 
advancing  civilization  and  the  Church  of  God  have  offered  to  eager  intellects  in  the 
grand  seats  of  learning  in  the  Old  World.  How  soon  that  opening  will  be  made  —  hew 
ample  will  be  the  learned  training  and  opportunities  which  from  the  beginning  it  will  be 
able  to  offer;  how  rapidly  its  development  shall  go  on;  how  soon  there  shall  bud  fori,h 
from  it  the  faculties  of  law  and  medicine;  how  soon  the  university  shall  stand  befo;e 
the  eyes  of  America  and  of  the  world,  in  the  full  proportions  which  Leo  XIII.  craves  uo 
have  it  attain  —  all  this  depends  on  the  good  will  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  on  the.r 
appreciation  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  work,  and  of  that  national  character 
impressed  on  it  by  the  Holy  Father,  which  he  meant  should  bring  it  home  to  the  sym- 
pathies and  to  the  honest  pride  of  every  Catholic  in  the  land. 

It  takes  time  for  every  great  idea  to  reach  its  full  appreciation  and  welcome,  and 
we  are  willing  to  be  patient.  Nay,  more;  every  great  idea  must  expect  to  be  disputed 
and  contradicted,  and  we  are  quite  willing  to  take  our  share  in  the  crucible.  There  are 
naturally  those  who,  when  the  project  was  first  proposed,  believed  it  inopportune ;  who, 
when  its  plan  was  determined  by  competent  authority,  believe  it  mistaken;  who,  when 
the  attempt  was  made,  considered  it  doomed  to  failure,  and  who,  naturally,  would  be 
somewhat  glad  to  wag  their  heads  and  say,  "  I  told  you  so."  Some  people  are  proof  even 
against  Papal  pronouncements,  and  invulnerable  against  the  logic  of  accomplished 
facts.  Their  imagination,  having  made  up  its  mind  to  the  worst,  can  see  chimeras  dire 
peeping  over  the  walls  of  the  new  institution,  threatening  the  destruction  of  all  ortho- 
doxy in  the  land.  The  Pope  and  his  delegate  say  the  contrary.  "  But  that  makes  no 
difference,  you  know;  you  see  we  know  better."  Nay,  they  even  discover  that  it  is  an 
ogre  plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  Catholic  school  system  in  our  country.  True,  it  is 
an  integral  part  of  the  system  of  Catholic  education,  and  it  is  rather   an  unheard-of 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  99 

thing  for  the  superstructure  of  a  house  to  plot  against  its  own  foundations;  true,  the 
utterances  of  its  rector  have  always,  as  is  well  known,  been  strongly  in  advocacy  of 
Catholic  education  in  all  its  departments.  "  But,  nevertheless,"  say  these  wiseacres, 
"  we  know  it  is  so  and  the  university  is  laboring  to  destroy  our  schools." 

Well,  we  are  willing  to  have  patience  with  all  this  silly  misrepresentation,  sorry  for 
those  who  disseminate  or  believe  it,  and  regarding  the  hindrance  which  it  may  throw  in 
the  way  of  the  work  as  only  a  ripple  at  its  prow.  The  work  of  the  hierarchy  of  the 
United  States  and  of  Leo  XIII.  can  afford  to  be  magnanimous  with  such  obstacles,  and 
to  press  on. 

Only  a  few  weeks  ago  the  glorious  Pontiff,  in  long  private  audience,  most  lovingly 
granted  to  one  of  the  professors  of  the  university,  discoursed  with  him  at  great  length 
on  the  progress  thus  far  made  by  the  university,  and  on  the  difficulties  and  hindrances 
which  it  had  to  encounter.  Then  the  Holy  Father  reminded  the  professor  how  he, 
when  Nuncio,  in  Belgium,  had  seen  the  early  struggles  and  difficulties  of  the  University 
of  Louvain;  how  he  had  sympathized  with  the  university  and  aided  it  in  its  struggles, 
and  how  he  had  lived  to  see  it  the  glory  of  Catholic  Belgium,  with  2,000  eager  students 
crowding  its  academic  halls.  "Such,"  said  the  Holy  Father,  "has  been,  and  shall  be 
my  course  in  regard  to  the  Catholic  University  of  America.  It  is  my  work;  I  am  its 
founder;  I  shall  be  its  protector;  and  it,  too,  must  yet  see  the  day  when  its  students 
shall  be  numbered  by  the  thousand."  Such  words  from  the  heart  and  lips  of  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  are  for  us  answer  enough  to  all  objections,  and  assurance  enough  against  all 
prognostications  of  evil.  They  and  the  apostolic  benediction  that  went  with  them  will 
sink  into  the  hearts  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  and  bring  forth  the  fruit  so  earnestly 
desired  by  the  Vicar  of  Christ.  Like  the  crusaders  of  old,  they  will  exclaim  together 
"  God  wills  it,"  and  strive  with  an  eagerness  and  a  generosity  worthy  of  the  Church's 
mission  in  America  to  make  this  the  noblest  national  seat  of  Christian  learning  that 
the  world  has  yet  beheld;  a  great  power  of  higher  education,  exerting  a  beneficent, 
elevating  influence  on  the  whole  system  of  Catholic  education  throughout  the  United 
States;  a  great  beacon-light  of  sweetly  blended  natural  and  supernatural  truth,  shining 
forth  from  our  country's  oapital  city,  a  guide  in  the  pathway  of  our  country's  future. 

The  gifted  Brother  Ambrose  of  De  La  Salle  Institute,  Chicago,  next 
read  a  paper  entitled,  "  Lessons  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit,"  refer- 
ring to  the  magnificent  display  of  the  work  of  Catholic  schools,  etc.,  which 
had  formed  a  most  attractive  feature  of  the  great  Columbian  Exposition: 

A    VOICE    FROM    DE    LA    SALLE. 

The  district  school  teacher  and  the  hedge  schoolmaster  have  passed  away.  In  their 
place  we  have  the  educator.  He  is  no  longer  the  coming  man;  he  is  here.  To-day  his 
work  is  admitted  to  be  the  aristocracy  of  the  labors.  The  world  had  to  be  taught  that 
truth.  Those  old-time  monks  and  shaven  priests  and  long  dead  martyrs  knew  it  well. 
The  Gersons  and  the  Roger  Bacons  and  the  Bedes  and  the  Cassians  put  their  energies 
into  it.  They  knew  the  school-house  was  a  giant  factor  in  civilization.  They  left  the 
glories  of  the  battlefield  to  their  masters,  but  kept  for  themselves  the  struggles  of  the 
mind.  And  they  won;  won  everlasting  victories.  They  soon  taught  the  world  that  to- 
day there  are  schools  for  everything.  Apprenticeships  as  Berved  forty  years  ago  are 
virtually  dead.  Murillos  of  to-day  send  their  Sebastians  to  art  schools.  The  chisel, 
the  brush,  the  rudest  handicraft,  as  well  as  that  which  requires  the  greatest  deftness 
—each  has  its  school.  There  are  schools  of  architecture  and  schools  of  design,  schools 
of  pottery-making  as  well  as  schools  of  medicine,  law  schools  and  schools  of  agriculture, 
schools  of  art  and  schools  of  science. 

Let  not  our  modern  educators  deceive  themselves  in  the  belief  that  these  good 
things  have  come  with  them  and  because  of  them.  The  truth  is,  they  have  happened 
along  about  the  time  the  world  caught  the  idea  that  Christianity  has  been  thrusting 
before  its  mental  eye  for  centuries.  "  We  will  dignify  labor,"  cry  the  advocates  of  man- 
ual training.  "  Laborare  est  orare,"  centuries  back,  said  the  old  Benedictine  monk, 
whether  he  illumined  the  page  or  taught  the  feudal  farmer  to  care  for  his  crops.  And 
farther  back  than  he  the  Fathers  in  their  homilies  on  the  text  "  Pray  always,"  made  the 
explanation  that  gave  the  Benedictine  the  idea  he  so  tersely  expressed.  And  still  farther 
back  than  they,  the  warm  wind  that  blew  over  the  sea  of  Tiberias  kissed  the  lips  of  Him 
that  uttered  the  sweet  command  "  Pray  always."  And  so,  all  that  is  good,  and  all  that 
is  true,  and  all  that  is  beautiful  in  modern  civilization  may  be  traced  back  to  the  gentle 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.     He  was  the  inspirer  of  the  old  masters;  He  and  His  mother  and  His 


100  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

saints  and  angels  gave  themes  to  the  sculptor's  chisel  and  the  artist's  brush.     If  the 


bishop,  prince,  or  priest 
Alcuin,  who  would  have  made  France  a  Christian  Athens.  It  the  decree  ot  the  eternal 
brotherhood  of  man  has  at  last  been  accepted,  the  slave  whose  shackles  have  been 
stricken  off  must  bend  his  knee  in  thanksgiving  to  the  God-man,  Christ.  If  to-day 
woman  is  admitted  into  this  eternal  brotherhood,  if  yesterday  chivalry  raised  her 
on  a  pedestal  and  worshiped  her  with  reverence  untold,  it  is  and  it  was  because  the 
Virgin  Mother  of  Jesus  was  the  peerless  woman  of  prophecy,  the  Immaculate  Virgin, 

Mary. 

Our  silver  dollars  bear  the  legend  "  In  God  we  trust."  We  are  a  Christian  people. 
The  Constitution  of  our  country  is,  in  its  very  essence,  Christian.  Our  standing  army 
has  its  Christian  chaplains.  Our  President  each  year  sets  aside  one  day  on  which  to 
return  thanks  to  the  God  of  the  Christians  for  the  favors  received  at  his  hands.  The 
very  birthday  of  the  founder  of  Christianity  is  a  legal  holiday.  But  in  our  Slate  schools 
the" tenets  of  Christianity  may  not  be  taught.  The  army  may  have  its  chaplains,  the  nation 
its  days  of  thanksgiving,  the  people  their  churches,  but  the  young  in  their  class  hours  must 
be  without  the  God  whose  name  is  graven  on  the  dollars  with  which  their  teachers  are 
paid.  Oh!  well  might  the  prophet  of  old  take  down  his  harp  from  the  weeping  willow, 
and  tuning  its  strings  to  the  minor  keys  sing  as  once  he  sang  by  t  he  rivers  of  Babylon: 
"  The  little  ones  have  asked  for  bread,  but  there  are  none  to  break  it  unto  them."  Oh! 
well  indeed  could  he  so  sing  to-day,  if  Christ  had  never  come.  But  Christ  has  come; 
and  the  centuries  that  have  passed  bear  evidence  to  the  quickening  activity  of  His 
philosophy.  That  philosophy  accepted  is  Christian  faith.  And  Christian  Faith  has 
stimulated  private  enterprise'  to  sprinkle  the  land  with  schools  in  which  the  tenet6  are 
taught. 

Now,  if  the  religion  of  Christ  was  the  force  that  changed  the  savage  to  the  gentle- 
man, that  taught  him  the  arts  of  peace,  that  struck  the  shackles  off  the  slave,  that 
welded  woman  unto  the  brotherhood  of  man,  that  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  the  ivy- 
mantled  universities  to  serve  as  beacon  lights  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  that  induced 
men  and  women  to  forego  every  legitimate  pleasure  in  life  that  they  might  "break  the 
bread  to  the  little  ones,"  that  to-day  urges  the  Catholics  who  can  to  add  their  mite  to 
the  support  of  schools  wherein  the  influence  of  Christian  truth  may  be  made  active,  tell 
us  what  are  these  Christian  schools  doing  for  truth  and  for  lighl  f 

At  creation's  dawn  God  said,  "  Let  there  be  light,"  and  light  was.  At  Christianity's 
dawn  the  Church  said:  "Let  there  be  light."  Go  out  to  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit 
at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  and  there  behold!  "Light  is."  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  worry  you  with  the  recital  of  the  history  of  that  display.  You  have  heard  it,  you 
have  read  it  over  and  over  again.  Those  whose  efforts  shaped  it  need  no  commendation 
fro n  my  poor  lips.  Their  monument  is  their  deed.  Catholic  education  in  its  minutest 
detail  is  there.  If  you  wish  the  full  force  of  its  grandeur  and  magnificence  to  strike 
you,  examine  the  educational  exhibits  by  which  it  is  surrounded.  When  you  have  done 
you  will  pass  away  with  a  luscious  sense  of  honest  pride  you  never  felt  before.  Then 
go  to  your  homes  in  the  East  and  the  West,  the  North  and  the  South.  That  school-house 
in  the  shadow  of  your  parish  church,  be  it  bright  with  its  newness  or  dingy  with  age,  will 
henceforth  wear  a  lustre  to  your  eye.  You  never  dared  to  dream  that  through  its  hum- 
ble portals  such  evidences  of  success  could  be  sent  forth.  Then  tell  the  people  who, 
with  you,  Sunday  after  Bunday,  heard  the  hard-working  pastor  ding-donging  for  the 
dimes  and  the  dollars  that  built  the  schools  and  put  the  teachers  in  them — tell  them 
wrhat  has  been  done,  because  they  made  the  necessary  sacrifices.  Bring  them  the  good 
news  and  give  them  the  taste  of  the  sweet  peace  of  joy.  They  will  bless  you  for  it,  and 
they  will  know  ''  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountain  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth 
good  tidings  and  shall  preach  peace." 

Ignorance  is  not  the  evil  of  this  day.  Quantitative  doses  of  religious  instruction 
given  half-hourly  each  day  are  not  the  "  cure  all"  for  the  world's  ills.  The  woods  are 
filled  with  people  who  know  better  than  they  do.  Their  heads  are  right.  The  wrong  is 
with  their  hearts.  To  set  hearts  right  is  the  real  object  of  the  Catholic  school.  Re- 
ligious education,  not  religious  instruction,  is  their  real  support.  To  accomplish  this  is 
the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  religious  teaching  orders  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Fifty- 
two  bodies  of  religious  teaching  orders  have  done  the  actual  work  that  produced  the 
results  displayed  in  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit.  How  many  Catholic  schools 
would  there  be  in  this  wide  land  of  ours  were  it  not  for  these  religious  educators  ? 
They  have  made  the  vast  majority  of  these  schools  a  possibility.    Go  out  to  the  Catholic 


H.  L.  SPAUNHORST,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  IOC 

educational  exhibit  and  see  if  the  cassock  and  the  cowl  and  the  nun's  dark  veil  throw 
the  shadows  of  gloom  upon  the  minds  of  the  little  ones  and  keep  from  them  the 
light  of  to-day. 

I  hold  as  a  psychological  axiom  that  soul  is  best  fitted  to  raise  others  to  higher 
things  which  is  freest  from  purely  natural  affections.  Witness  Diogenes  when  he  would 
elevate  his  followers.  Witness  Plato,  who  at  twenty  followed  Socrates,  renounced  mar- 
riage, and,  like  his  master,  lived  content  with  the  barest  necessaries,  in  order  to  give 
himself  entirely  to  the  things  of  the  mind.  The  religious  teachers  of  to-day  are  untram- 
meled.  Look  on  this  young  man  or  that  young  woman,  clothed  in  the  religious  habit, 
standing  before  the  students  in  a  Catholic  school-room.  Do  you  for  a  moment  appre- 
ciate all  the  sacrifices  they  have  made  to  be  there?  They  stood  before  God's  altar,  and, 
taking  their  heart  strings  in  their  hands,  they  wrenched  them  from  the  bleeding, 
quivering  heart  that  they  dashed  to  the  floor.  Then,  kneeling  down,  they  swore  away 
their  liberty,  by  oath  renounced  the  right  of  ownership,  and  thus  made  themselves 
more  penniless  than  the  pauper.  Do  you  think  they  did  not  feel  it?  Ay!  they  did  and 
they  do.  But  onward  they  move,  forgetful  of  all  things  save  Christ  and  his  little  ones. 
Thus  do  they  "  rise  on  stepping-stones  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things."  There  is 
nothing  to  come  between  them  and  the  cause  they  have  wedded.  Ambition?  Wealth? 
The  pleasures  of  life?  Whoever  knew  of  them  between  the  nun's  fair  veil  or  the  sombre 
cassock  of  the  religious?  The  treadmill  of  the  class-room  affords  no  opportunity  for  the 
play  of  such  passions.  The  love  of  home,  of  father,  of  mother,  of  brother  and  sister— 
oh !  it  burns  in  their  hearts  with  a  steady  flame,  and  the  days  make  it  stronger  and  the 
years  make  it  brighter.  But  the  voice  of  Christ  is  sounding  in  their  hearts  and  they 
may  not  leave  His  side.  Age  comes  with  its  wrinkles,  disease  with  its  pains,  and  still 
they  are  feeding  the  lambs  of  Christ's  flock.  This  is  devotion.  Look  for  it  where  you 
will,  it  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  Tell  me,  is  there  beneath  God's 
blessed  sky  a  grander  thing  than  such  devotion  and  such  sacrifices?  The  world  is  filled 
with  men  and  women  who  are  courting  its  joys  and  sipping  its  cups  of  pleasure.  Any- 
body can  do  that!  But  it  is  only  the  chosen  few  who  can  rise  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
deed  done  by  those  who  have  labored  in  the  class-rooms  from  whence  have  come  the 
glories  of  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit. 

Priceless  gifts  of  heaven,  you  Catholic  educators,  I  salute  you  !  Bright  jewels  in 
the  crown  of  Holy  Church,  I  hail  you  !  Your  sombre  robes,  your  simple  homes,  your 
sweet,  retiring  ways  can  never  dim  the  lustre  of  your  deeds.  Jewels  of  Mother  Church 
on  earth,  yours  shall  it  be  to  shine  as  stars  in  heaven  for  all  eternity. 

H.  L.  Spannhorst  of  St.  Louis,  in  a  paper  upon  "Catholic  Societies,"  gave 
valuable  suggestions  to  the  Congress,  as  follows,  upon  the  subject  of 

CATHOLIC    ORGANIZATION. 

I  shall  speak  of  such  societies  which  were  meant  by  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  arch- 
bishops and  bishops  assembled  at  Baltimore  in  1884,  when  they  said:  "It  is  not  enough 
for  Catholics  to  shun  bad  or  dangerous  societies;  they  ought  to  take  part  in  good  and 
useful  ones."  Again  has  the  voice  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  been  heard,  giving  approval 
and  encouragement  to  many  kinds  of"  Catholic  associations,  not  only  as  a  safeguard 
against  the  elements  of  secret  societies  but  also  as  a  powerful  means  of  accomplishing 
much  of  the  good  that  our  times  stand  in  need  of.  Not  only  should  the  pastors  of  the 
Church  be  diligent  in  building  up  "  the  spiritual  house,"  the  tabernacle  of  God  with 
men,  "  but  every  hand  among  the  people  of  God  should  share  in  the  labor." 

We  find  sufficient  ground  for  the  encouragement  of  organizations  and  the  susten- 
ance of  Catholic  societies.  We  find,  furthermore,  that  which  is  mentioned  as  desired 
has  become  a  necessity  in  our  time,  and,  I  may  say,  more  so  than  at  the  time  since  the 
mentioned  pastoral  was  issued.  It  is  not  simply  the  name  which  constitutes  a  society 
Catholic,  but  it  is  the  effect  the  organization  creates  and  sustains  upon  its  members  in 
the  practice  of  their  religion  in  every  day's  life. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  church  in  which  all  are  alike;  station  or  position  with  it 
in  a  spiritual  sense  cuts  no  figure;  the  Confessional  and  Holy  Sacraments  are  for  all,  and 
approachable  by  all  through  the  same  source  and  channel.  The  Church  has  time  and 
again  told  us  to  organize  Catholic  societies — or  rather  Catholics  into  societies.  Look  at 
the  roll  of  your  societies  of  Catholic  men.  Who  are  they?  Generally  men  of  small  means 
and  humble  stations:  many  of  them  look  upon  the  societies  of  which  they  have  become 
members  as  their  protectors  and  supporters  in  time  of  reverses,  sickness,  and  need. 
Why  then  not  join  in  and  become  members  of  a  society  with  an  object  so  noble,  a  work 
-of  two-fold  charity? 


102 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


To  help  support  your  brother  when  in  need,  and  also  to  give  proof  of  your  love  and 
affection  toward  him,  who  is  your  equal  before  God,  is  a  duty  for  every  person.  Cath- 
olic societies  are  the  need  of  our  time.  Under  the  circumstances  surrounding  us,  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  not  a  few  of  our  own  people,  who  are  not  too  practical  in  their  duties, 
may  for  various  considerations  be  entrapped,  and  finally,  through  indifference  and  con- 
stant association,  led  astray,  either  through  ignorance  or  indifference  lose  their  faith 
and  become  enemies  of  their  mother  Church;  we  must,  through  our  own  activity,  stop 
this  and  regain  what  has  been  already  lost. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  many  of  our  Catholic  men  look  upon  societies  with 
indifference  as  being  a  matter  to  be  left  entirely  to  those  who  may  need  at  some  time, 
through  adversities,  sickness,  or  other  ailings,  assistance  and  help,  they  believing  them- 
selves so  well  fixed,  not  expecting  want  of  any  kind  or  help,  thus  forgetting  their  duty 
toward  their  fellowman,  commanded  by  our  Saviour  when  He  said:  "  Do  unto  others  as 
you  would  have  them  do  unto  you." 

When   I   speak  of  the    societies     

which,  in  my  judgment,  are  best 
adapted  to  accomplish  the  most  good 
in  our  time,  I  mean  and  recommend 
so-called  benevolent  societies,  which 
years  ago  were  so  very  popular.  If 
to-day  they  are  not  as  popular  as  fif- 
teen and  twenty  years  ago,  there 
must  be  a  reason  for  this,  which  I 
find  in  the  fact  that  men  of  Catholic 
societies  are  gradually  falling  into 
classes,  i.  e.,  those  who  have  been 
successful  in  acquiring  a  better  con- 
dition of  life  during  their  days,  have 
by  toil  or  some  successful  stroke, 
operation,  or  speculation — the  latter 
the  most  ruinous  of  all  operations 
of  our  day,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
pretty  widespread — housed  their 
share  of  worldly  rewards,  this  class 
actually  believing  themselves  better 
than  the  poorer  and  laborer.  The 
latter,  who  in  many  cases  is  a  better 
Christian,  has  remained  practical, 
and  brings  up  his  family  in  the  faith 
and  in  the  practice  of  religion. 

There  was  a  time  when  benevolent 
societies,  i.  e.,  societies  which,  gener 
ally  mostly  by  monthly  contributions 
by  its  members,  paid  to  a  member  or 
his  family  a  certain  sum  weekly  dur- 
ing his  inability  to  follow  his  daily 
vocation,  or  in  case  of  death  provided 
for  the  widow  or  orphan  left  behind. 
To  the  credit  of  the  German  Catho- 
lics, it  must  be  said  that  this  class  of 

societies  is  to-day  in  its  prime.  There  are  about  550  societies,  numbering  between  55,000 
and  60,000  Catholic  men  throughout  the  United  States.  This  organization,  known  as 
the  "German  Roman  Catholic  Central  Verein,"  will  hold  its  thirty-eighth  annual 
convention  in  St.  Louis,  commencing  September  17th.  None  of  these  societies  is 
yet  fifty  years  old. 

These  societies  have  contributed  to  sufferers  by  calamities,  fires,  etc,  including 
$3,142.98  for  the  Peter's  pence,  $28,682.35.  During  the  last  twelve  years  they  have  paid 
to  57,624  sick  calls  $1,348,290.19;  to  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased  members  $1,328,- 
;j38.73. 

The  Bohemians  and  Poles  work  in  entire  harmony  and  successfully.  The  Irish 
Catholic  Benevolent  Union,  too,  is  an  organization  working  in  the  same  direction. 
Within  the  last  twenty  years  numerous  organizations  have  been  formed  which  make  a 
specialty  of  what  is  termed  life  insurance  upon  principles  different  from  that  followed 
by  the  substantial  and  tried  life  insurance  proper. 


MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP    KENRICK. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  103 

As  a  result  of  the  withdrawal  from  some  Southern  States  of  the  regular  life- 
insurance  companies,  people  were  left  without  life  insurance  or  chances  to  get  any. 
Plans  were  adopted  which  have  since  become  popular— one  by  assessment,  the  other  by 
the  contributing  plan.  By  the  first,  assessments  are  made  on  every  living  member, 
generally  according  to  their  ages,  to  pay  for  the  death  losses  occurring,  limiting  the 
amount  of  benefit  from  $1,000  to  $2,000.  The  other  plan  is,  each  living  member  con- 
tributes for  each  death  occurring  a  stipulated  sum,  thus  creating  a  fund  out  of  which 
deaths  occurring  are  paid.  # 

Upon  those  who  are  interested  in  the  management  of  such  institutions,  and  those 
who  organize  them,  there  rests  a  great  responsibility.  Two  items  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten, that,  like  in  regular  life  insurance,  the  largest  number  of  laboring  and  middle 
classes  would  not  seek  and  acquire  life  insurance,  unless  urged  thereto;  and  that,  sec- 
ondly, but  a  small  per  centum  acquire  the  age  allotted  them  by  the  experience  tables  of 
life  insurance,  and  where  there  is  no  reserve  fund  there  is  no  surety. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  I  deem  benevolent  societies,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
of  great  benefit  for  any  parish;  not  only  because  of  the  immediate  contribution,  but  also 
because  a  united  body  of  men,  organized  into  a  society  by  the  advice  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  pastor  in  a  congregation,  can  always  be  made  a  telling  instrument  for  good. 
Dr.  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  of  Notre  Dame  University,  Indiana,  pre- 
sented a  very  instructive  paper  on  "The  Needs  of  Catholic  Colleges,"  which 
is  given  in  substance  as  follows: 

The  object  of  the  writer  of  this  paper  is  not  to  find  fault  with  existing  institutions, 
or  the  management  of  them,  but  to  accentuate  the  fact — sufficiently  well  known  but 
jot  enough  considered — that  a  crisis  has  come  in  higher  Catholic  American  education, 
and  that  if  it  remain  stationary  now  it  must  eventually  go  backwards.  The  primary 
object  of  this  paper,  then,  is  to  point  out  means  by  which  a  forward  movement  may  be 
carried  out. 

Catholic  colleges  have  suffered  both  from  ignorant  fault-finders  and  equally 
ignorant  or  narrow-minded  supporters.  More  than  all,  from  that  almost  slavish  adher- 
ence to  tradition  which  goes  by  the  name  of  conservatism.  However  satisfactory  this 
state  of  affairs  may  be  to  those  who  do  not  actually  suffer  from  it,  we  can  not  believe 
that  it  is  satisfactory  to  those  who  are  not  content  to  remain  within  the  Chinese  walls 
which  such  conservatism  would  build  around  them.  However  we  may  strive  to  excuse 
ourselves  for  our  isolation  with  the  saying  that  the  outside  world  is  bad,  we  can  not 
prevent  our  children  from  taking  their  part  as  men  in  it,  nor  can  we  afford  to  neglect 
due  preparation  for  their  struggle  in  this  world.  I  can  best  justify  this  paper  by 
quotation  from  Cardinal  Newman's  "  Idea  of  a  University,"  which  I  shall  take  as  my 
text.     On  page  15  of  his  preface,  he  says: 

"  Our  ecclesiastical  rulers  view  it  as  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  religion  that 
there  should  be  any  cultivation  of  mind  bestowed  upon  Protestants  which  is  not  given 
to  their  own  youths  also.  Protestant  youths,  who  can  spare  the  time,  continue  their 
studies  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty-two.  *  *  *  I  conceive  that  our  prelates 
are  impressed  with  the  fact  and  its  consequences  that  a  youth  who  ends  his  education 
at  seventeen  is  no  match  for  one  who  ends  it  at  twenty-two. 

"  All  classes  indeed  of  the  community  are  impressed  with  a  fact  so  obvious  as  this. 
The  consequence  is,  that  Catholics  who  aspire  to  be  on  a  level  with  Protestants  in  dis- 
cipline and  refinement  of  intellect  have  recourse  to  Protestant  universities  to  obtain 
what  they  can  not  find  at  home.  Assuming  (as  rescripts  from  propaganda  allow  me  to 
do)  that  Protestant  education  is  inexpedient  for  our  youth,  we  see  here  an  additional 
reason  why  those  advantages,  whatever  they  are,  which  Protestant  communities  dispense 
through  the  medium  of  Protestantism  should  be  accessible  to  Catholics  in  a  Catholic 
form." 

The  need  of  a  Catholic  university  and  of  the  most  adequate  colleges  is  as  great  in 
this  country  as  it  ever  was  in  England.  We  have  much  to  learn  from  the  example  of 
the  English  in  higher  educational  matters;  but  the  lessons  we  gain  from  them  are  in 
the  nature  of  warnings.  We  Catholics  in  the  United  States  are  not  so  isolated  from 
our  non-Catholic  neighbors  as  the  Catholic  English  are.  We  know  that  some  of  their 
greatest  minds  havo  regretted  this  isolation,  and  we  know,  too,  that  the  same  spirit  of 
conservatism  which  would  make  them  content  with  an  inferiority  of  instruction  and 
education  in  this  world,  under  a  false  impression  that  they  may  be  helped  by  it  to  be 
among  the  aristocrats  in  the  next,  would,  if  permitted,  produce  similar  effects  on  the 
Catholic  body  here.  If  it  be  the  duty  of  a  Catholic  to  consider  himself  as  a  being  apart, 
with  no  duty  to  any  of  his  neighbors  except  to  those  of  his  own  faith,  then  men  like- 


io4  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Cardinal  Newman  and  the  late  Lord  Petre  have  tried  to  place  a  visionary  and  useless 
object  before  their  fellow-countrymen.  The  nature  of  our  American  social  system  and 
government  has  prevented  the  tendencies  to  exclusiveness  and  appalling  narrowness, 
which,  in  addition  to  bigoted  restrictions,  deprive  the  whole  system  of  Catholic  higher 
education  in  England  of  any  stimulus  or  hope  for  us. 

In  truth,  we  can  not  look  abroad  for  models.  In  that  other  English-speaking 
country,  Ireland,  which  might  afford  us  some  help,  we  have  had  the  mortification  of 
seeing  a  great  university  to  which  our  fathers  liberally  contributed  become  a  failure. 
And  the  present  condition  of  Catholic  education  in  Ireland  is  in  its  highest  branches 
dependent  on  the  future  action  of  the  bishops  and  the  political  parties.  But  fortu- 
nately we  have  not  upon  us  the  weight  of  English  conservatism,  nor  are  we  dependent 
— and  we  can  thank  God  for  it — on  any  political  movement.  We  have  it  in  our  own 
power  to  decide  whether  the  number  of  Catholic  young  men — serious  and  earnest 
young  men —  shall  increase  every  year  at  such  secular  institutions  as  Harvard,  Yale, 
Cornell,  Ann  Arbor,  and  Johns  Hopkins,  or  enable  them  to  gain  under  true  religious 
influences  such  an  equipment  as  the  world  of  to-day  demands. 

We  believe  that  no  height  of  culture,  no  amount  of  skill,  no  success  in  the  world 
will  compensate  for  the  absence  of  a  knowledge  of  the  purest  morality  and  philosophy 
and  the  intention  to  inculcate  their  precepts  by  our  example.  The  church  is  truth, 
and  we  fail  to  fulfil  the  greatest  of  all  commands,  which  is  to  love  our  neighbor  as  our- 
selves, if  we  selfishly  refuse  to  let  the  light  within  us  shine  before  men.  The  highest 
patriotism  is  the  highest  Catholicity;  it  is  the  tenderest  charity;  it  is  the  first  Christian 
duty.  Our  experience  teaches  us  that  ideals,  no  matter  how  fine,  if  clothed  in  forms 
that  are  unsympathetic  or  impracticable,  fail  of  their  influence.  We  make  high  claims 
for  Catholic  education.  We  are  not,  with  all  our  humility,  above  praising  what  we 
have  done.  The  Catholic  press  has  been  uniformly  kind  to  our  colleges.  The  annual 
commencement  is  never  unaccompanied  by  amiable  comments  which  give  great  con- 
solation to  the  optimist  and  corroborate  Pope's  dictum,  "  that  whatever  is,  is  right." 
Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  noble  men  who  in  religious  communities  have 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  Catholic  education  in  their  life  blood,  our  colleges  have 
achieved  only  a  limited  influence  in  American  social  life.  They  need  much  more  than 
they  have  to  make  them  widely  effective.  The  time  has  come  when  they  must  broaden 
their  scope,  when  they  must  reach  the  people  at  large  or  be  content  to  remain  small 
and  isolated  eddies  apart  from  the  main  stream.  We  who  are  the  heirs  of  the  agea 
ought  to  be  men  of  our  time.  Ascetical  or  mystical  models  need  to  be  fitted  to  a 
modern  environment  to  be  of  any  use  at  all.  We  can  not  reasonably  close  our  eyes  to 
facts,  and  this  fact  is  evident,  that,  no  matter  how  ascetic  or  mystical  the  theories  of 
the  Catholic  teacher  among  us  may  be,  he  is  seldom  averse  to  acknowledge  the  value 
of  material  success.  We  need,  first  of  all  in  our  Catholic  colleges,  a  firm  insistence  on 
some  system  which  will  make  men  rather  than  exotics.  We  need  a  system  of  discipline 
which  will  lay  more  stress  on  the  honor  of  the  youth  and  less  on  the  subtle  distinctions 
between  venial  and  mortal  sin. 

Another  need  of  our  Catholic  colleges  is  that  they  should  have  more  students.  The 
transient  element — that  element  which  comes  into  them  without  special  aim,  and 
which  obtains  only  a  partial  benefit  from  them — has  always  been  too  large.  It  is  an 
axiom  that  no  school  can  be  entirely  efficient  while  it  is  dependent  on  the  fees  of  its 
students.  The  necessity  of  considering  the  financial  question  very  carefully  has  forced 
some  of  our  colleges  to  accept  as  inmate  or  boarder  (I  wish  to  make  a  distinctior, 
between  the  student  and  the  mere  boarder),  any  lad  not  absolutely  a  criminal,  and  the 
same  necessity  obliged  some  of  them  to  take  pupils  without  proper  conditions  or  ade 
quate  examination.  Whether  this  be  true  of  other  American  schools  is  another  ques- 
tion; I  am  solely  concerned  with  the  Catholic  schools.  The  necessary  attention  given 
to  the  ways  and  means  by  which  the  expenses  of  the  Catholic  colleges  should  be  paid 
has  occupied  attention  and  absorbed  energies  which  are  required  in  other  directions. 
It  is  the  duty  of  all  laymen  interested  in  the  present  and  future  of  the  highest  form  of 
education  to  assist  in  any  plan  by  wThich  these  energies  may  be  directed  into 
their  proper  channel.  They  must  be  helped  to  the  greater  glory  of  God  and  a 
better  development  of  society.  At  present  the  Catholic  college  does  not  obtain  its 
proper  quota  of  real  students  because  it  must,  in  order  to  exist,  accept  boarders — mere 
sojourners  6ent  to  be  kept  until  called  for.  When  the  boarding-house  anomaly  and  the 
reformatory  atmosphere  are  eliminated  in  the  public  mind  from  the  reputation  of  some 
of  our  colleges  higher  education  will  have  begun  to  progress.  It  is  well  that  the  col- 
lege should  keep  its  students  beneath  its  own  roof,  but  let  them  all  be  students. 

The  Catholic  College  needs  more  men  who  want  to  be  students.    At  present  there 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  105 

is  a  gap  between  it  and  the  higher  parochial  or  public  school  which  ought  to  be  filled 
Harvard,  Yale  and  Cornell  and  Ann  Arbor  have  brought  themselves  by  means  of 
scholarships  directly  in  contact  with  the  most  studious  and  worthy  classes  of  our  young 
men.  The  pupil  of  the  parochial  school,  no  matter  how  industrious  and  clever  he  may 
be,  no  matter  how  ambitious,  must  in  order  to  obtain  further  instruction  be  financially 
well  off  or  have  a  friend  who  will  pay  his  tuition  at  a  Catholic  college.  Failing  in  these 
things,  he  can  obtain  through  some  of  the  public  high  schools  a  scholarship  in  one  of 
the  secular  colleges.  This  accounts  in  some  manner  for  the  rapidly  increasing  number 
of  Catholic  students  at  secular  colleges.  It  is  evident  that  the  pupil  of  the  parochial 
school  has  no  advancement  in  a  logical  direction  to  look  forward  to  unless  he  has 
money.  The  Catholic  college  must  have  fees  in  order  to  live  ;  it  lives  solely  bv  its  fe<  ; 
it  is  without  endowment,  except  the  gratuitous  services  of  self-sacrificing  Christians. 
Its  fees,  including  board,  are,  owing  to  this  flesh-and-blood  endowment,  comparatively 
low,  and  yet  the  endowments  in  money  and  the  scholarships  which  reduce  the  expense's 
of  the  student  at  secular  colleges  place  our  colleges  in  immediate  competition  with 
them.  And  the  prestige  in  the  public  eye  of  certain  secular  colleges  seems  an  additional 
advantage  to  the  graduate. 

Our  colleges  need  at  present  not  only  more  students  but  more  ambitious  and  per- 
severing students.  These  come,  as  a  rule,  from  that  class  whose  grip  on  the  world  is 
dependent  on  its  own  exertions,  and  yet  this  is  the  class  which  the  colleges  find  it  most 
difficult  to  reach.  It  costs  from  S400  to  §500  a  year  to  keep  a  student  decently  at  the 
best  of  our  colleges — this  lowest  estimate  includes  traveling  expenses  and  clothes.  But 
there  is  no  way  of  lessening  it  unless,  as  at  Notre  Dame,  there  are  some  opportunities 
of  a  student's  paying  part  of  his  tuition  in  manual  or  other  labor.  At  Harvard,  for 
instance,  a  scholarship  very  frequently  reduces  the  yearly  expenses  of  the  student  to 
the  one-fifth  part  of  8500.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  the  sons  of  the  people  are  always 
well  represented  in  the  graduating  classes  at  Harvard,  and  that  at  Cornell  the  poorer 
Catholic  who  has  secured  a  scholarship  is  enabled  to  gratify  his  ambition  to  stand  as 
the  equal  of  any  man  in  his  fight  for  a  place  in  society. 

The  reason,  then,  why  our  colleges  do  not  attract  the  hardest  working  class  of 
students  is  because  the  Catholic  pupil  in  the  parochial  school  is  cut  off  from  gaining,  by 
his  own  exertions,  the  benefits  of  the  higher  Christian  education.  This  condition  of 
affairs  has,  no  doubt,  led  some  of  our  bishops  to  encourage  the  establishment  of 
Catholic  clubs  and  libraries  as  part  of  the  secular  university  system.  The  recent 
founding  of  guilds,  under  Catholic  auspices,  at  Harvard,  Cornell,  and  Ann  Arbor,  show 
that  these  far-seeing  prelates  have  chosen  to  make  the  best  of  what  we  can  only 
regard,  at  its  best,  as  an  expedient.  The  attendance  of  Catholics  at  the  secular 
universities  can  be  accurately  characterized  by  no  other  term. 

The  Catholic  colleges  need  endowment.  But,  more  than  all,  they  need  scholarships. 
And  with  the  scholarships  will  come  just  such  students  as  they  ought  to  have.  And 
with  such  students  will  cease  the  maintenance  of  a  system  of  discipline  which  can  only 
be  justified  on  the  presumption  that  each  older  student  is  possessed  of  a  devil  which 
can  not  be  exorcised,  but  which  must  be  caged.  Lay  professors  of  character  and  of 
acquirement  are  needed,  too.  No  college  which  is  entirely  manned  by  ecclesiastics  can 
thoroughly  do  its  work  or  obtain  its  proper  effect  on  society  in  America.  This  is 
admitted  by  thoughtful  and  observant  men  who  talk  and  write  on  the  subject  of  higher 
Catholic  education.  Happily  there  is  now  no  Catholic  college  in  the  country  in  which, 
when  a  vacancy  occurs,  the  place  can  be  supplied  by  any  layman,  with  or  without  char- 
acter, who  is  willing  to  work  for  a  mere  pittance.  And  there  is  now  no  Catholic  college 
in  this  country  where  the  sacrament  of  holy  orders  is  supposed  to  give  a  man  all  the 
requisites  of  an  ideal  character. 

It  lies  with  us  laymen  to  supply  the  present  need  of  the  Catholic  colleges.  We  can 
no  longer  wait  for  the  bishops  or  the  religious  communities  to  take  the  initiative.  We 
are  primarily  responsible  for  the  souls  of  our  children.  We  only  are  responsible  before 
our  fellow-citizens  for  the  position  we,  as  a  body,  take  in  the  intellectual  and  social  life 
of  our  country,  and  we  feel  most  heavily  the  results  of  any  system  of  education  which 
would  leave  us  in  the  rear  of  the  onward  march  of  American  progress.  Besides,  a  sen- 
timent of  gratitude  to  those  self-sacrificing  men  who,  by  their  own  devotion,  have  given 
us  the  foundations  of  the  higher  education  ought  to  lead  us  to  crown  their  work 
through  our  own  exertions.  We  who  come  in  daily  contact  with  the  world  know  better 
than  even  the  most  learned  and  pious  priests  the  requirements  for  legitimate  success 
in  life. 

The  needs  of  Catholic  colleges  are  chiefly  money  and  the  right  kind  of  students. 
Endowments  for  professorships  we  can  not  hope  for  at  once.    But  we  can  have  scholar- 


106  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ships  at  once.  If  every  man  with  an  income  of  $1,500  a  year  would  contribute  $10- 
and  every  man  with  $3,000  a  year  $20,  we  should  have  a  fund  which  would  give  each 
ambitious  and  deserving  Catholic  boy  in  this  country,  whether  in  a  parochial  or  public 
school,  an  opportunity  of  securing  that  education  which,  in  the  present  condition  of 
things,  he  can  not  get. 

We  must  put  our  brains,  our  hearts,  and  our  sympathy  into  this  work.  We  can 
not  look  to  the  rich;  we  ought  not  to  look  wholly  to  them.  Let  us  put  our  shoulders 
to  the  keel  of  this  ship  of  education  which  is  lying  on  the  dock  waiting  for  the  tide 
which  may  never  come.  One  good  push,  gentlemen,  one  strong  effort,  and  we  can  send 
it  steadily  into  midstream,  onward  to  the  rising  sun. 

A  deeply  interesting  paper  by  Katherine  E.  Conway,  of  Boston,  on  "The 
Catholic  Summer  School  and  the  Reading  Circles,"  was  one  of  the  features 
of  the  Congress.     The  paper  was  as  follows  : 

"Your  mission  is  to  make  America  Catholic."  This  was  Archbishop  Ireland's 
greeting  to  the  assembled  delegates  at  the  Catholic  Centenary  Congress  in  Baltimore 
four  years  ago.  And  this  was  the  charge  with  which  he  sent  them  back  to  their  homes. 
Patriotic  and  religious  enthusiasm  were  at  flood-tide,  and  all  hearts  were  willing  to 
respond,  like  the  first  Crusaders  at  the  call  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  "  God  wills  it." 

The  archbishop's  charge  was  mainly  to  the  laity,  and  the  apostolate  to  which  he 
pledged  them  was  on  the  lines  of  secular  opportunity.  But,  with  dispersion,  the  electric 
current  of  brotherly  sympathy  was  broken.  Individuals  stood  apart,  each  no  longer 
feeling  the  strength  of  1,000  behind  his  own  good  intent.  Men  questioned,  not  in 
doubt,  not  in  discouragement,  but  in  reverent  expectation  of  an  answer  :  "  How  shall 
this  be  done  ?  " 

The  answer  came,  and  we  know  one  term  of  it  by  the  resultant  action.  "  First  fit 
yourselves  for  the  mission.  Foster  the  community  spirit  among  Catholics.  Raise  the 
Catholic  intellectual  average.     Prove  your  strength  in  the  mass." 

Association  became  the  watchword  of  the  time.  New  organizations  sprang  up  on 
every  side,  and  new  life  was  transfused  through  existing  bodies.  The  first  immediate 
result  of  the  Congress  on  this  line  was  the  Catholic  Truth  Society,  whose  aims  and 
achievements  have  already  been  so  well  presented  here.  But  that  was  a  consequence 
of  the  second  term  of  the  answer,  and  aimed  directly  at  missionary  work  among  non- 
Catholics. 

This  paper  is  concerned  rather  with  those  other  associations  whose  origin  was  in 
their  members'  conviction  of  the  primal  need  of  missionary  work  among  Catholics 
themselves,  but  through  agencies  heretofore  untried  among  us. 

Our  opponents  are  often  our  best  teachers;  yet,  not  every  plan  resorted  to  by  non- 
Catholics  or  distinctly  anti -Catholic  bodies  in  missionary  and  reformatory  work,  not  to 
speak  of  less  well-intentioned  effort,  is  adaptable  to  the  Catholic  purpose.  Would  that 
this  were  never  forgotten!  We  don't  want,  for  example,  a  Catholic  political  party, 
because  some  fanatics  have  organized  a  Protestant  party  in  the  shape  of  the  mis-called 
American  Protective  Association.  We  don't  want  a  "Secular  Solidarity" — whatever 
that  may  be— of  Catholic  women  for  public-reform  work,  because  such  an  association 
prospers  among  Protestant  women.  We  don't  want  Catholic  camp-meetings,  nor  Cath- 
olic women-suffrage  leagues,  nor  Catholic  dress-reform  circles.  We  don't  want  to  be  so 
ignorant  of  the  history  and  spirit  of  our  own  religion  as  not  to  know  what  true  Ameri- 
canism has  drawn  from  it;  much  less  to  humor  by  our  servile  attitude  the  erroneous 
notion  popular  in  certain  circles  that  Catholicity  can  not  make  its  way  except  in  bor- 
rowed  attire. 

The  noblest  and  loveliest  can  be  made  to  look  grotesque  by  misfit  garments. 

But  there  are  examples  set  by  the  various  Protestant  bodies  of  so  splendid  utility 
and  suggestiveness  that  we  shall  not  be  blameless  if  they  are  lost  upon  us.  What 
thoughtful  Catholic  has  not  blushed  to  see  how  far  ahead  of  us  they  are  in  practical 
and  attractive  methods  for  holding  their  young  people — and  alas  !  sometimes  drawing 
our  own  away — by  societies  combining  business  and  social  advantages  with  religious 
affiliation?  See  the  network  of  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  .Christian  Associa- 
tions which  overspread  the  land;  the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies,  the  Chautauquan 
reading  circles,  and  the  Chautauquan  summer  school,  and  radiating  from  it  to  every 
section  of  the  country  its  local  assemblies. 

What  is  the  secret  of  the  growth  and  permanence  of  all  these  things?  One  double 
word  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense — lay  co-operation.  Protestant  men  and  women 
of  every  class,  being  actively  benefited  by  these  societies,  are  actively  interested  in 
them.    Protestant  men  of  means  have  put  them  on  a  sound  business  basis. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ioy 

Oh,  it  is  true  that  they  out  r umber  us  and  have  an  overwhelmingly  larger  share  of 
this  world's  goods.  But  this  does  n^t  explain  everything.  Is  there  even  a  slight  founda- 
tion for  the  reproach  sometimes  made  us,  that  we  are  lacking  in  capacity  for  organi- 
zation, that  we  have  enthusiasm  in  excess  and  perseverance  in  defect? 

Let  us  honor  the  men— young  men  they  were,  too— who,  long  before  the  days  of 
Catholic  congresses,  anticipated  these  questions.  Indifferent  or  short-sighted  Catholics 
who  ask  scornfully  to-day,  "What's  the  use  of  your  Catholic  Congress?"'  asked  twenty 
years  ago,  "  What's  the  use  of  your  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union?"  The  union 
might  have  answered  then,  "  We  mean  to  train  leaders  for  you."  It  might  sav  to-day, 
"  We  have  kept  our  promise;"  for  few  among  the  priests  and  laymen  whom  we  instinct- 
ively write  on  the  roll-call  of  our  national  men  but  have  developed  themselves  in  the 
Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union.  And  what  good  work  of  national  magnitude 
but  has  had,  if  not  its  inception,  at  least  a  generous  fostering  in  the  same  association? 

At  least,  the  reading-circle  movement  and  the  Catholic  summer  school  have  their 
roots  in  it.  A  layman,  Warren  E.  Mosher,  a  zealous  member  of  the  union,  deeply 
impressed  by  the  adaptability  of  the  Chautauquan  methods  to  Catholic  needs  and 
uses,  familiarized  himself  with  them,  started  a  reading  circle  in  his  native  city,  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio,  and  seized  all  Catholic  occasions,  local  and  national,  for  the  advocacy  of  a 
reading  union  and  a  Catholic  summer  school. 

Lay  co-operation  in  church  wor:;  among  Catholics— a  word  not  of  new  coinage,  but 
merely  of  new  emphasis — is  sometimes  spoken  of  by  people  who  forget,  for  the  moment, 
the  direct  and  special  service  to  religion  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson  and  John  Gilmary 
Shea,  and  in  another  line,  of  Ellen  Ewing  Sherman  and  Sarah  Peters,  as  if  it  were  a 
novel  idea — an  experiment  which  may  possibly  result  in  disaster  to  church  and  people. 
And  yet  inter-relation  and  inter-dependence  among  all  degrees  and  orders  seem  inevita- 
ble, so  long  as  we  can't  even  get  our  bishops  and  priests  from  another  race  of  being6 
grown  in  another  planet. 

The  need  is  of  more  lay  co-operation.  George  Parsons  Lathrop  has  well  described 
the  power  of  the  Catholic  laity  as  a  moral  Niagara  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  Arch- 
bishop Ireland  has  spoken  not  simply  for  lay  co-operation,  but  for  lay  initiative  in 
certain  good  works.  Mr.  Mosher  took  the  initiative  in  his  summer-school  project,  and 
found  priests  ready  to  co-operate  with  him.  We  may  name  among  them  those  who 
later  have  successively  held  the  presidency  of  the  school — the  Rev.  Morgan  M.  Sheedy, 
of  Pittsburg;  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  F.  Loughlin,  of  Philadelphia;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
J.  Conaty,  of  Worcester,  the  present  executive,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  McMillan,  of  the 
Paulists,  the  present  chairman  of  the  board  of  studies.  All  these  priests  are  identified 
also  with  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union. 

To  mention  the  Paulist  fathers  is  to  recall  an  American  Catholic  literary  movement 
of  missionary  intent,  long  preceding  and  preparing  the  way  for  our  reading-circle 
movement  and  Catholic  summer  school — that  begun  by  Father  Isaac  T.  Hecker  when 
he  founded  the  American  Catholic  Publication  Society,  the  Catholic  World,  and  he 
Young  Catholic,  and  carried  on  so  faithfully  and  fruitfully  ever  since  by  his  disciples, 
the  Paulists.  To  them  he  said,  as  Archbishop  Ireland  later  said,  to  all  American  Cath- 
olics, "Your  mission  is  to  make  America  Catholic." 

And  whether  working  directly  on  the  non-Catholic  body,  like  Father  Walter  Elliott, 
in  his  missions,  or  indirectly,  like  the  home  missionaries,  by  unifying  the  Catholic  peo- 
ple and  raising  their  spiritual  and  intellectual  standard,  this  end  is  ever  before  the 
Paulists. 

If  the  first  local  reading  circles  were  Mr.  Mosher's,  the  first  National  Reading  Union 
was  that  of  the  Paulist  fathers,  starting  in  1889,  with  headquarters  in  New  York,  and 
Rev.  Thomas  McMillan,  director.  Under  its  protection  reading  circles  were  founded 
East  and  West,  till  in  1890,  Mr.  Mosher  established  his  Catholic  Educational  Union,  cen- 
tralized at  Youngstown,  Ohio,  to  share,  not  to  divide,  afield  too  large  for  any  one  organ- 
ization to  work  effectively  alone. 

The  reading  circles  of  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  had  for  chronicle  and  medium 
of  inter-communication  a  department  of  the  Catholic  World;  the  circles  of  the  Cath- 
olic Educational  Union  and  the  Catholic  Reading  Circle  Review,  founded  and  edited 
by  Mr.  Mosher.  But  the  printed  word  is,  after  all,  a  cold  and  tedious  process  for  the 
fostering  of  that  community  spirit  needed  in  the  establishment  of  a  work  of  general 
advantage. 

When  the  Paulist  fathers,  in  January,  1892,  effected  a  national  gathering  of  Catho- 
lics, mostly  literary  workers,  journalists,  and  philanthropists,  for  the  promotion  of  the 
apostolate  of  the  press  they  founded  no  new  organization.  The  convention  did  not  aim 
<-9ven  at  repeating  itself.     It  met  on  the  Epiphany  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  feast,  the 


xoS  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

dominant  thought  being  how  to  manifest,  through  the  press,  the  church  of  Chript  to  the 
non-Catholic  American  people. 

Again  and  yet  again  the  answer,  "  Unite  and  raise  the  Catholic  spiritual  and  intel- 
lectual average  first  of  all." 

The  reading  unions  as  Embodying  this  idea  were  both  represented  by  their  heads. 
So  were  a  number  of  Catholic  literary  societies  and  alumnae  associations  of  like  aim. 
The  most  successful  man  in  the  Catholic  popular  library  work,  Rev.  Joseph  H.  McMahon, 
of  New  York,  set  forth  the  intellectual  needs  and  risks  of  the  young  American  Catholic. 
New  England's  great  contingent  of  Catholic  men  and  women  of  letters — she  sent  the 
most  because  she  has  the  most  to  send — spoke  less,  on  the  whole,  for  direct  missionary 
work  among  non-Catholics  than  for  strengthening  and  unifying  our  own  forces  and 
reclaiming  our  own  estrays. 

The  apostolate  of  the  press  has  done  infinite  good  in  many  directions.  For  one 
thing  it  was  the  hot-house  in  which  the  sapling  of  the  Catholic  summer-school  idea  was 
hastened  to  flower  and  fruit.  Almost  immediately  thereafter  Mr.  Mosher  appealed  for 
an  expression  of  opinion  to  the  membership  of  this  educational  union  and  Catholics 
generally,  through  the  Catholic  Reading  Circle  Review.  It  was  heartily  favored  and 
received,  moreover,  the  cordial  approval  of  many  bishops  and  priests. 

In  the  May  following  a  permanent  organization  was  effected;  Rev.  Morgan  M. 
Sheedy,  of  Pittsburg,  presided,  a  programme  of  lecture  courses  and  single  lectures 
arranged  by  Rev.  Joseph  H.  McMahon,  first  chairman  of  the  board  of  studies,  and  the 
first  session  successfully  held  in  New  London,  Conn.,  from  July  31st  till  August  20th  fol- 
lowing. The  secular  press  and  the  non-Catholic  public  generally  followed  the  experi- 
ment with  interest. 

The  summer  school  let  loose  a  good  deal  of  money  in  New  London  and  on  the 
various  railroads  leading  thither.  When  it  became  known  that  the  school  was  seeking 
a  permanent  site,  public-spirited  people  in  various  sections  began  to  offer  inducements 
to  its  trustees.  The  best  offer  came  from  the  town  of  Plattsburgh,  N.  Y.,  on  the  Dela- 
ware and  Hudson  River  Railroad — a  site  of  450  acres  at  Bluff  Point,  overlooking  Lake 
Champlain,  with  the  opportunity  of  incorporation  under  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

This  was  accepted,  a  reorganization  was  effected  and  the  enterprise  was  incorpo- 
rated under  the  title  of  "The  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America." 

Smith  Weed,  of  Plattsburg,  donated  the  use  of  the  opera-house  for  the  lectures,  the 
town  the  use  of  the  Plattsburg  high  school  for  a  house  of  studies,  and  the 
Grey  Nuns  their  academy  hall  for  social  purposes,  pending  the  erec- 
tion of  the  summer-school's  own  buildings,  and  the  second  session  was  held  from  July 
15th  till  August  7th,  inclusive,  with  larger  attendance  of  students,  a  better  programme 
of  lectures,  and  a  great  increase  of  general  interest  over  the  first  year.  And  this  despite 
the  tremendous  counter-attraction  of  your  great  World's  Fair  at  Chicago. 

The  attendance  represented  sixteen  States,  though  New  York  and  New  England 
still  furnished  the  bulk  of  students.  As  at  New  London,  a  few  non-Catholics  attended 
the  lectures,  and  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  Dr.  Veld,  from  Montreal,  followed  the  whole  course. 

The  ubiquitous  and  irrepressible  Fadladeen  criticised  the  trial  session  of  the  sum- 
mer school  on  the  ground  that  the  great  majority  of  the  students  were  young  women. 
But  even  Fadladeen  could  not  be  blind  to  a  change  (may  we  say  an  improvement?)  in 
this  respect  at  the  second  session.  It  should  be  said,  parenthetically,  in  extenuation  of 
our  too  numerous  presence,  that  we  women  are  naturally  drawn  to  any  enterprise  started 
under  religious  patronage,  though  we  are  perhaps  over-demonstrative  in  recording  our 
adhesion. 

A  young  preacher,  in  one  of  our  surburban  churches  a  few  years  ago,  was  remon- 
strating with  the  men  of  his  congregation  for  their  delay  in  attending  to  some  spiritual 
duty.  "The  means  of  salvation,"  he  said,  "  are  not  exclusively  for  women.  You,  also, 
want  to  goto  heaven.  Indeed,"  he  went  on,  warming  to  his  theme,  "  heaven  would  not 
be  heaven  if  it  were  peopled  exclusively  by " 

He  stopped  abruptly,  and  passed  to  another  aspect  of  his  subject,  but  every 
woman  in  the  church  completed  the  sentence  according  to  the  preacher's  mind,  and 
heartily  agreed  with  him. 

Similarly,  the  women  would  not,  if  they  could,  monopolize  the  advantages  of  the 
summer  school.  This  year  there  was  a  perceptible  increase  in  the  attendance  of  young 
men;  and,  even  a  better  sign,  there  were  a  number  of  family  parties— father  or  mother, 
in  a  few  cases  both,  remaining  for  a  week  with  their  young  sons  and  daughters. 

When,  in  the  last  season,  that  part  of  the  summer-school  property  not  needed  for 
the  summer-school  buildings  was  put  up  for  sale  in  lots,  twenty  were  disposed  of  within 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  109 

a  few  days.  This  means  the  speedy  erection  of  cottages,  and  a  Catholic  family  summer 
settlement  behind  the  Catholic  summer  school — one  of  the  best  possible  guarantees  of 
its  permanent  success. 

But  only  one  of  them.  If  the  summer  school  were  to  depend  for  students  on 
the  family  settlement  at  Plattsburgh,  the  scope  of  its  influence  would  be  restricted 
to  a  comparatively  small  number  of  rich  or  well-to-do  people;  and  we  should  have  as  a 
result,  not  an  increase  of  the  Catholic  community  spirit,  but  of  the  un-Christian  spirit  of 
caste.  The  Catholic  summer  school  of  America  is  for  all  the  people,  to  bring  all 
together  on  a  plane  of  high,  but  equal,  intellectual  advantage.  It  is  democratic  in  the 
best  sense.  Christian  democracy  means  leveling  up.  The  Catholic  summer  school  is 
an  outgrowth  of  the  reading  circles  which  have  been  organized  and  which  work  in  this 
Christian  democratic  spirit. 

The  family  summer  settlement  will  do  much  for  the  social  and  recreative  side; 
but,  for  students,  the  reading  circles  and  other  societies  of  like  aim,  of  which  a  word 
later — must  be  the  feeders  of  the  summer  school.  They  must  be  also  the  channels 
through  which  its  achievement  and  influence  shall  be  redistributed,  extended,  and  con- 
tinued throughout  the  year. 

As  a  long-time  reading-circle  worker  it  is  my  conviction  that  extensions  of  the 
summer-school  work  in  the  shape  of  winter  courses  mapped  out  and  disseminated 
through  the  printed  page  will  hardly  succeed  among  us.  This  method  of  inBtruction 
is  too  indirect  and  impersonal  to  suit  the  character  of  our  people.  We  are  more  easily 
drawn  by  the  spoken  word. 

There  is,  besides,  too  great  diversity  of  condition,  education,  and  environment 
among  our  Catholic  young  people  to  make  it  possible,  or  desirable,  that  the  circles 
organized  under  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Union 
should  all  follow  even  the  reading  lists  given  in  the  organs  of  each.  These  lists  must 
be  suggestive,  rather  than  prescriptive. 

National  reading  unions  can  not  be  more  than  the  loosest  of  confederations,  within 
which  every  circle  shall  enjoy,  as  Father  McMillan  puts  it,  the  largest  possible  degree 
of  home  rule.  Some  circles  devote  themselves  to  distinctly  Catholic  literature,  feeling 
that,  however  otherwise  advanced,  in  this  especial  point  the  literary  education  of  their 
members  has  been  defective.  Others  study  English  literature  in  general,  with  a 
Catholic  light  upon  it.  Still  others  have  adventured  into  French  and  Italian  literature. 
Some  are  pursuing  a  course  of  church  history  and  some  are  re-reading  the  history  of 
America  in  the  light  of  that  star  which  led  Columbus  thither.  Many  give  much  time 
to  the  biographies  of  eminent  modern  Catholics  of  Europe  and  America.  Not  a 
few  concentrate  their  study  on  points  of  controversy. 

What  shall  the  delegations  from  the  strangely  varied  circles  find,  each  for  its  special 
need,  at  the  summer  school,  and  what  chall  they  bring  back  to  the  circle  and  to  the 
community  from  which  the  circle  is  recruited?  Why  not  a  winter  lecture  course?  In 
this  way  summer-school  extension  has  been  opened.    Thus  far  we  see  no  better  way. 

The  total  of  lectures  on  the  regular  programme  of  the  summer  school  was  forty- 
two,  besides  addresses  before  the  teachers'  conferences.  These  cover  so  great  a  variety 
of  topics  that  every  reading-circle's  representatives  must  find  one  or  several  lectures  in 
line  with  its  own  special  work,  and  which  they  would  like  to  have  repeated  in  their  own 
town  or  city. 

An  immediate  reaction  of  the  summer  school  on  the  reading-circle  work  was  the 
organizing  of  courses  of  lectures  under  reading-circle  management  in  several  parts  of 
the  country.  The  lecturers  in  all  these  courses  were  chosen  wholly  or  in  part  from 
those  appearing  at  the  New  London  session  of  the  school.  In  one  city,  four  circles 
combined  for  a  course  of  four  lectures.  The  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  circle,  of  Boston,  has 
instituted  an  annual  course  of  three  lectures.  These  courses  are  on  a  business  basis. 
They  serve  a  double  purpose.  Through  them  the  circle  acts  directly  on  the  community, 
raising  the  intellectual  standard  and  fostering  the  Catholic  community  spirit.  Through 
them,  again,  the  circle  does  its  part  toward  creating  a  public  demand  for  the  lecturers 
and  literary  workers  of  our  own  faith. 

Before  the  days  of  Catholic  national  associations  and  Catholic  congresses  and 
Catholic  summer  schools,  how  little  we  10,000,000  Catholics  knew  of  our  own  eminent 
men.  The  Catholic  summer-school  movement,  especially,  has  helped  to  show  the 
world  how  rich  we  are  in  such  men.  The  secular  priesthood,  the  religious  orders, 
whether  the  Jesuits,  pioneers  in  American  religious  and  civil  life,  or  the  Pau lists,  the 
latest  of  our  native  born,  have  but  begun  to  reveal  their  resources.  What  splendidly 
gifted  men  are  building  their  very  lives  into  the  manhood  and  priesthood  of  the 
American  Catholic  body  in  our  classical  colleges  and  ecclesiastical  training  schools! 


1 10  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES 

How  the  cause  has  moved  on,  as  the  lamented  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  used  to  phrase  it, 
on  the  citizen  lines;  and  what  a  host  of  men  whose  names  have  stood  in  the  popular 
mind  for  eminence  in  statesmanship,  or  law,  or  medicine,  or  literature,  or  oratory,  or 
journalism,  have  been  shown  forth,  through  the  stress  of  this  Catholic  intellectual 
movement,  as  earnest  Catholics  also.  Truly,  it  is  not  the  least  of  the  glories  of  the 
Catholic  summer  school  to  have  shown  to  our  timid  and  self -distrustful,  by  shining 
examples,  that  the  Catholic  faith  has  not  been  an  obstacle  even  to  the  worldly  success 
of  its  professors. 

The  man  who  said,  after  the  first  Catholic  Congress,  "  For  the  first  time  in  my 
life  I  was  proud  of  being  a  Catholic,"  did  not  express  precisely  the  heroic  spirit  of 
Catholicity;  but  he  voiced,  I  fear,  a  sad  experience,  by  no  means  individual. 

Let  us  not  forget,  in  our  citadels,  the  young  and  the  weak  on  the  undefended 
marches.  It  is  easy  for  a  Catholic  to  be  brave  and  proud  in  New  York,  or  Chicago,  or 
Philadelphia,  or  Boston,  to  name  but  a  few  of  our  strongholds,  but  it  takes  something 
close  akin  to  the  spirit  of  a  martyr  to  wear  our  profession  cross  unflinchingly  under 
the  supercilious  eyes  of  the  social  despots  of  the  provincial  town  where  we  are  the 
unpopular  majority. 

It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  reading  circle  to  send  to  the  summer  school  as  large 
a  delegation  as  possible,  and  to  choose  from  among  the  lectures  at  least  one  to  be 
repeated  under  its  patronage  the  following  winter.  Remember,  there  are  now  150 
reading  circles  organized  under  the  Catholic  Educational  Union  with  an  aggregate 
membership  of  nearly  5,000,  and  100  circles  under  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  with 
5,000  aggregate  membership.  Remember  also  that  an  immediate  consequence  of  every 
summer-school  session  is  more  reading  circles.  Moreover,  a  fixed  feature  of  the  sum- 
mer school  is  the  reading-circle  convention.  The  interchange  of  experiences  as  to  local 
work  and  local  needs  may  be  not  only  mutually  suggestive  among  reading-circle, 
workers,  but  suggestive  also  to  the  board  of  studies  in  the  choosing  of  topics  and  lect- 
urers for  the  summer  school  itself. 

Already  our  leaders  have  learned  that  there  is  nothing  too  good  in  the  intellectual 
order  for  the  keen,  earnest,  and  persevering  young  men  and  women  who  have  been 
moved  to  seek  the  higher  education  on  Catholic  lines.  It  would  be  a  grave  mistake  to 
talk  down  to  these. '  They  can  appreciate  and  assimilate  the  best.  They  want  instruc- 
tion, not  diversion,  and  are  quick  to  resent  the  ill-considered,  superficial,  or  spectacular. 
There  is  only  one  basis  of  selection  for  the  instruction  of  such  students  as  are  drawn  to 
the  summer  school — well  attested  personal  fitness;  and  without  this,  sectional,  partisan, 
and  institutional  claims  should  count  for  nothing. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  reading-circle  membership  includes  a  very  large 
proportion  of  public-school  teachers.  The  religious  orders  of  teachers  are  beginning  to 
send  representatives  to  the  summer  school.  The  friendly  meeting,  with  interchange  of 
experience  and  opinion  between  these  two  bodies  of  teachers,  can  not  fail  to  be  of  advan- 
tage to  the  cause  of  education  in  general. 

But  who  shall  speak  again  for  the  teachers  and  the  schools  as  did  that  gentlest  of 
scholars  and  most  earnest  of  teachers,  Brother  Azarias,  whose  untimely  death,  the 
result  of  his  work  in  the  summer-school's  interest,  we,  in  common  with  all  Catholics, 
deplore.  He  has  left  to  the  reading  circles  the  foundation  of  a  library  of  Catholic  liter- 
ary criticism  with  especial  advertence  to  the  young  American  Catholic's  needs;  and  he 
has  not  wholly  passed  from  the  councils  of  the  summer  school,  for  the  light  of  his 
example  shines  unquenchably. 

The  reading  circles  can  further  help  the  summer  school  by  holding,  at  the  close  of 
every  season's  work,  public  meetings  in  its  interest.  This  was  done  last  June  in  New 
York  and  Boston,  and  in  result  and  students  these  two  cities,  like  a  pair  of  Abou  ben 
Adhems,  led  all  the  rest.  One  Boston  circle  proudly,  and,  we  think,  justly,  claims  thus 
to  have  sent  fifty-seven  visitors  and  students  to  Plattsburgh.  The  same  circle  sets 
another  example  in  the  summer-school  interest  which  will  doubtless  be  widely  followed 
— it  proposes  to  buy  a  lot  and  build  a  reading-circle  cottage  for  the  use  of  its  own 
members  attending  the  school. 

Mixed  membership  in  the  reading  circles  is  an  open  question.  The  Catholic  Edu- 
cational Union  seems  to  favor  it.  In  the  East  and  South,  however,  most  of  the  reading 
circles  are  composed  exclusively  of  young  women.  Our  Boston  circles  so  composed, 
however,  are  fortunate  enough  to  revolve  around  the  Catholic  Union  of  Boston,  and 
have  the  Union's  membership  to  draw  upon  for  presiding  officers  for  our  lecture  courses 
and  other  indispensable  aid.  As  between  the  attracting  and  distracting  consequences 
of  the  admission  of  young  men  to  the  study  meetings,  distraction  would  tip  the  scale. 
Moreover,  the  reading-circle  methods  are  not,  to  our  thinking,  quite  adapted  for  young 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  1 1  x 

men.  A  corresponding  plan  for  their  intellectual  advantage,  however,  is  evolving  itself 
in  the  East,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  as  the  same  condition  must  exist  at  least  in  the 
older  sections. 

The  reading  circles  aim  not  to  raise  a  crop  of  women  publicists,  disputants,  and 
debaters,  but  simply  to  increase  the  good  influence  which  we  can  exercise  on  the  normal 
womanly  lines  by  making  us  more  numerously  able  to  write,  at  need,  a  plain  statement 
of  fact  or  opinion  ;  increasing  our  resources  for  dull  and  lonely  days,  making  us  more 
tolerant  and  reasonable  and  therefore  more  companionable  in  our  home  and  social  life. 

The  reading  circle  will  act  on  the  general  community  through  its  public  lecture 
courses  and  occasional  social  gatherings  ;  but  its  plan  of  study  must  be  for  the  direct 
benefit  of  its  immediate  membership.  May  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  relation  be- 
tween our  summer  school  and  the  reading  circles,  and  their  reciprocal  action,  sets  forth 
a  relation  and  a  reciprocity  of  service  possible  and  most  desirable  between  the  summer 
school  and  the  college  and  convent  alumni  associations  and  Catholic  literary  societies 
generally.  And  this  will  be  equally  true,  in  the  day,  doubtless  near  at  hand,  when  the 
Catholic  summer  school,  at  Plattsburgh,  will  cease  to  have  the  right  to  add  "of  Amer- 
ica "  to  its  name. 

It  is  much  for  the  Catholic  summer  school  to  enter  into  the  work  of  the  Catholic 
Columbian  Congress.  It  will  be  more  for  the  school  and  for  every  Catholic  interest 
when  the  Catholic  Congress  three  years  hence  comes  in  its  increased  strength  and 
splendor  to  the  first  permanent  home  of  the  Catholic  summer  school,  at  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  to  be  its  desired  and  honored  guest. 

Meantime,  see  the  fields  and  the  harvests  for  Catholic  Endeavor.  Let  us  unite  for 
the  reaping  on  a  plane  high  above  partisanship  or  sectionalism.  Our  mission  is  to 
make  America  Catholic.  Yes;  and  we  shall  do  it  mainly  by  making  ourselves  better 
Catholics — more  intellectual,  more  refined,  more  prosperous,  united,  and  public- 
spirited  Catholics.  Thus  shall  we  become  a  leaven,  interpenetrating  and  uplifting  the 
whole  body  of  our  citizenship.  The  desire  to  advance  God's  cause  gives  a  pure  motive 
to  every  man  and  woman  for  self-advancement.  It  gives  the  greatest  impetus  to  dis- 
covery, exploration,  the  pursuit  of  science,  and  the  development  of  art  and  literature. 

We  need  faith  in  ourselves,  faith  in  our  cause.  The  word  of  faith  creates.  The 
magnet  of  faith  moves  the  mountains.  Had  Christians  kept  intact  the  faith,  the  com- 
munity spirit,  and  the  disinterestedness  of  the  apostolic  age,  the  new  world  had  been 
discovered  a  thousand  years  sooner;  the  crusades,  with  other  purpose  than  the  rescue 
of  Christ's  tomb  from  misbelievers,  had  had  the  aid  of  the  printing  press  and  the  tele- 
graph and  the  cable,  the  railroad,  the  steamboat,  and  the  electric  light;  and  the  crosses 
raised  in  pure  hands,  nerved  from  martyr  hearts,  had  drawn  the  whole  world  in  the 
unity  of  the  truth  to  God. 

Rev.  John  T.  Murphy,  president  of  Holy  Ghost  College,  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
made  a  strong  and  eloquent  plea  for  the  establishment  of  free  Catholic  high 
schools.     He  said: 

Anyone  who  considers  carefully  our  present  educational  system  in  the  light  of  our 
educational  needs  must  readily  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  great  lacuna  yet  to  be  filled 
up.  A  complete  educational  system  embraces  primary,  secondary,  and  university  edu- 
cation. It  is  not  necessary,  or  even  advisable,  that  all  should  be  initiated  into  each  part 
of  this  complete  system,  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  such  Catholic  children  as 
have  the  proper  aptitude  should  have  in  the  system  we  offer  and  partly  impose  upon 
them  the  means  for  obtaining  the  very  highest  education. 

The  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  planned  and  enjoined  a  system  of  primary 
education  which,  if  fully  carried  out  under  favorable  circumstances,  seems  to  be  all- 
sufficient  for  the  educational  sphere  for  which  it  was  intended.  Since  the  close  of  the 
council,  and  in  accordance  with  its  strongly  expressed  wishes,  important  steps  have 
been  taken  to  put  university  education  within  the  reach  of  both  Catholic  clergy  and 
laity.  But  so  far  no  corporate,  organized  measures  have  been  taken  by  the  church  in 
the  United  States  to  cover  the  very  important  ground  that  lies  between  the  primary 
school  and  the  university.  The  foundation  and  basement  of  our  educational  edifice 
have  been  built,  a  goodly  portion  of  the  roof  has  been  put  on,  but  nothing  has  been 
done  to  the  walls;  only  a  stray  pillar  here  and  there,  erected  for  the  most  part  by 
private  enterprise,  connects  the  basement  of  primary  with  the  roof  and  pinnacles  of  uni- 
versity education  and  saves  the  latter  from  being  a  palace  top  suspended  in  the  air. 
The  stray  pillars  I  refer  to  will  easily  be  recognized  as  those  private  Catholic  colleges 
and  academies  spread  throughout  the  land.    While  everyone  will  admit  the  good  which 

38 


!  i  2  WORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

these  institutions  accomplish,  serving  as  they  do  to  save  us  the  semblance  of  an  educa- 
tional system,  yet  it  must  be  avowed  that  they  do  not,  can  not  supply  the  missing  link 
of  the  chain,  the  continuous  walls  of  the  edifice. 

In  other  words,  our  present  educational  system  is  so  radically  defective  that  it  can 
not  well  claim  the  name  of  a  system.  It  takes  up  the  Catholic  child  from  its  mother's 
arms,  supplies  it  with  education,  mental  and  moral,  till  about  the  age  of  thirteen,  and 
then  'ceases  as  a  system  to  take  further  cognizance  of  its  education.  It  points  out  to 
the  young  boy,  it  is  true,  the  towers  of  the  university  looming  in  the  distance,  but  it 
supplies  him  not  with  the  means  of  reaching  them.  If  the  boy  has  money  and  time 
at  his  disposal  he  can  go  for  his  secondary  education  to  one  of  the  private  Catholic  col- 
leges ;  and  the  girl  can,  under  similar  conditions,  go  to  one  of  the  convent  schools  or 
academies.  But  the  vast  body  of  Catholic  youth  are  debarred  from  entering  these 
private  unendowed  institutions,  and  are  simply  cast  adrift  when  their  primary  school- 
ing is  over.  Withal,  they  are  expected  to  meet  in  the  battle  of  life  their  neighbors' 
children  of  a  like  station  who  have  been  trained  at  the  public  expense  in  richly-endowed 
and  well-equipped  high  schools  and  State  universities.  Of  course,  such  a  contest  is 
utterly  unequal.  It  is  a  contest  of  raw  recruits  against  disciplined  troops.  Native  valor, 
natural  genius,  indomitable  endurance  may  secure  partial  victories  for  the  former,  but 
eventually  the  random  shot  from  the  rusty  gun  must  yield  to  the  unerring  aim  of  the 
repeating  rifle,  the  straggling  onslaught  to  the  serried  ranks  of  the  square,  the  club,  the 
claymore,  or  assegai  to  the  keen  edge  in  the  hands  of  the  well-trained  swordsman.  So, 
too,  the  contest  in  life's  struggle  between  the  comparatively  raw  parochial  school  boy 
or  girl  and  the  well-trained  high-school  graduates  can  have  only  one  issue,  the  suprem- 
acy in  secular  matters  of  the  latter.  Exceptional  talent  and  character  will  occasionally 
carry  some  of  the  former  to  the  front,  in  spite  of  the  disadvantage  under  which  they 
labor,  but  the  rank  and  file  will  have  to  bite  the  dust. 

Surely  the  church  in  the  United  States,  after  having  undertaken  an  educational 
system  of  her  own,  can  not  afford  to  allow  this  stigma  of  inferiority  to  remain  branded 
upon  it.  It  would  be  an  evil  day  for  he  church  in  this  country  were  her  children  to 
realize  that  on  account  of  their  religion  they  were  precluded  from  their  just  rights  to 
the  secular  advantages  of  life.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  mind  of  the  church, 
of  her  supreme  head,  and  of  the  fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  than  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  necessity  of  any  such  inferiority.  Still,  it  exists,  as  I  have 
shown,  and  will  continue  to  exist  until  adequate,  systematic  provisions  are  made  for 
providing  secondary,  or  high-school  education  for  Catholics.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  consider  what  means  ought  and  can  be  taken  to  remedy 
this  glaring  and  grievous  defect  in  our  educational  system.  Before  proceeding  to  sug- 
gest what  I  consider  adequate  and  feasible  means,  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  some 
remedies  that  are  already  being  employed. 

The  manifest  need  that  exists  for  giving  Catholic  children  something  more  than  a 
mere  parochial-school  education  has  given  rise  to  two  practices.  The  one  is  to  tack  on 
to  or  blend  with  the  parochial  school  a  portion  of  a  high-school  course.  Thus  we  find 
many  parochial  schools  embracing  studies  that  range  from  the  first  elements  to  quite  a 
number  of  the  "ologies."  This  practice  seems  to  me  objectionable  for  this  reason, 
that  this  blending  of  two  different  courses  of  study  is  injurious  to  both.  The  proper 
work  of  the  parochial  sch  ol  is  liable  to  be  neglected,  or  glossed  over,  on  the  part  of 
both  teachers  and  pupils  in  the  eagerness  to  reach  the  higher  and  more  brilliant 
studies.  Those  exhibits  of  fancy  or  advanced  work  of  parochial  schools,  of  which  we 
so  frequently  hear,  are  usually  made  at  the  cost  of  solidity  and  thoroughness  in  the 
subjects  which  properly  belong  to  them.  Of  course  it  would  be  very  commendable  to 
have  a  real  high  school  attached  to  every  large  parochial  school,  but  it  is  scarcely 
conceivable  that  any  one  congregation  could  afford  to  carry  out  a  comp'ete  system 
of  both  primary  and  secondary  education.  And,  as  it  is  not  possible  to  have  both,  it  is 
better  to  have  the  one  thorough  than  to  have  the  two  spoiled. 

Another  practice  which  largely  prevails  is  to  have  in  the  parochial  schools  what 
is  known  as  a  high-school  class,  where  a  select  number  of  children  are  prepared  for 
the  public  high  schools.  I  think  that  this  practice  is  not  admissible  for  the  reason 
that  the  danger  to  faith  and  morals  which  are  inherent  to  the  public-school  system  are 
multiplied  for  those  children  whose  elementary  training  has  been  acquired  in  the 
parochial  schools.  The  change  of  discipline  and  method  and  the  sudden  elimination 
of  religious  teaching  can  not  but  exercise  on  children  of  that  age  a  reactionary 
influence.  To  my  mind,  it  were  better  to  frankly  accept  the  public-school  system  as  a 
whole,  and  counteract  it-;  ignoring  of  religion  by  extra  religious  training  at  ho  ae  and 
in  church,  thin  to  subject  children  to  contrary  systems  of  education  at  a  time  of  life 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  „* 

when  they  are  so  susceptible  of  impressions  and  so  incapable  of  independent  reasoning 
It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  far  less  danger  in  sending  Catholic  y  ung  men  to  non- 
Uitholic  institutions  and  professional  schools  than  in  transplanting  parochial-school 
children  to  the  public  high  schools, 

Since,  then,  neither  of  these  remedies  is  calculated  to  cure  the  great  defect  which 
exists  in  our  educational  system,  it  behooves  us  to  consider  what  right  and  feasible  rem- 
edy should  be  employed.  To  every  one  will  occur  at  once  the  rational  remedy  of  sup- 
plementing our  parochial  or  primary  school  systems  by  an  organized  system  of 
secondary  or  high  schools.  This  is  what  the  State  has  done  all  around  us ;  and,  as  long 
as  we  find  ourselves  obliged  to  recommend  Catholic  children  not  to  frequent  the  State 
schools,  we  are  bound  to  supply  them  with  schools  equally  good. 

But  how  establish  and  conduct  these  Catholic  high  schools?  The  first  question 
admits,  I  think,  of  three  solutions.  One  would  be  the  establishment  and  endowment  of 
high  schools  in  different  localities  by  private  munificence.  This  is  the  solution  arrived 
at  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  late  Mr.  Cahill  founded  and  endowed  forever  the  high 
school  which  bears  his  name.  It  is  possible  that  his  noble  example  may  be  followed 
elsewhere.  It  is  certain  that  the  greatest  benefactors  of  their  day  and  of  their  kind 
would  be  those  who  would  erect  and  endow  such  institutions  for  the  higher  education 
of  Catholic  youth.  For  knowledge  is  power.  The  earth  belongs  to  man,  that  is  to  the 
disciplined  intellect  of  man,  and  the  future  position  of  our  Catholic  people  in  this  coun- 
try will  depend  chiefly  on  the  extent  and  quality  of  their  education.  Add  to  the  moral- 
ity and  fruitfulness  of  our  people  the  cultured  intellect  and  the  disciplined  character, 
and  you  have  a  power  that  is  irresistible  and  securely  triumphant  in  spreading  the 
kingdom  of  God.  What  nobler  use  could  a  man  make  of  the  superabundance  of  his 
means  than  to  devote  it  to  achieving  such  far-reaching  results? 

As  this  solution,  depending  on  private  munificence,  can  reach  only  a  very  limited 
number  of  centers,  some  other  must  be  found  capable  of  general  application.  Such  a 
solution  would  be  to  have  all  the  Catholic  elements  of  a  given  center  unite  in  founding 
and  supporting  a  Catholic  high  school.  Building  and  equipments  might  be  m  re  or 
less  imposing,  according  to  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  body  corporate,  but  the 
teaching  should  equal,  at  least,  that  given  in  the  public  high  school  of  the  place. 

It  appears  to  me  quite  feasible  to  establish  and  support  a  free  Catholic  high  school 
in  every  important  center.  It  is  true  that  our  people  are  already  heavily  taxed,  first  to 
educate  everybody  else's  children,  and  then  taxed  again  to  educate  their  own.  But  the 
generosity  which  has  done  such  wonders  in  the  way  of  build  ng  up  churches  and 
schools  will  be  found  equal  to  the  task  of  completing  the  good  work  begun  in  the 
parochi  1  schools,  once  it  becomes  convinced  of  the  !  ecessity  of  such  sacrifices.  It  is 
difficult  to  calculate  exactly  the  expense  which  the  establishment  of  a  high  school 
would  entail  on  the  several  parishes  of  a  district.  It  would  largely  depend  on  the 
number  and  sizes  of  the  parishes.  It  may,  however,  be  safely  said  that  850  a  year  for 
e.ch  p  pil  sent  to  the  high  school' would  cover  all  expenses.  Some  understanding 
could  be  e  tered  into  between  the  several  parishes  whereby  would  be  regulated  the 
maximum  and  the  minimum"  number  of  pupils  which  each  would  be  expected  to  main- 
tain in  the  high    chool. 

We,  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  are  committed,  for  the  present  at  least,  not 
of  choice  but  of  necessity,  to  an  educational  system  of  our  own.  Duty,  honor,  and  self- 
interest  imperatively  call  on  us  to  make  our  system  as  perfect  as  possible.  Every 
instruction  on  this  subject  sent  by  the  Holy  See — from  the  celebrated  one  given  by  the 
propaganda  to  the  American  bishops  before  the  council  of  Baltimore  down  to  the  latest 
utterance  of  Leo  XIII.,  who  quotes  approvingly  the  idea  of  his  delegate,  "omni  tamen 
ratione  et  ope  connitendum  esse  ut  scholae  Catholicae  quam  plures  suit  numero  omnique 
re  ornatae  et  perf ectae"-every  instruction  from  the  Holy  See  insists  as  a  condition  of  the 
existence  of  our  schools  that  they  be  made  at  least  as  efficient  as  those  of  the  State. 
Justice  to  the  secular  interests  of  our  people  demands  this.  The  honor  of  our  olden 
church  demands  it.  And  there  is  no  reason  why  our  united  efforts  and  sacrifices  should 
not  be  equal  to  the  demand.  Our  primary  and  parochial  schools  are  already  on  a  good 
footing,  and  once  all  the  dioceses  will  have  exerted  themselves  to  carry  out  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  regarding  them  we  shall  have  our  primary 
schools  efficient  and  well  equipped — "  omni  re  perfectae  et  ornatae." 

But  we  must  not  rest  satisfied  with  this.  We  must  not  constrain  our  people  to 
delve  all  their  lives  in  the  lowlands  whilst  their  neighbors  are  carried  up  by  higher  edu- 
cation to  the  rich  and  beautiful  plateaus.  Not  only  the  material  interests  of  our 
people,  but  the  interests  of  education  itself  require  that  we  supplement  our  primary 
schools  by  well-equipped  high  schools.     The  entrance  examinations  to  high  school,  the 


I14  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

value  of  free  scholarships  therein,  the  competition  to  obtain  them,  would  be  a  most 
powerful  stimulus  to  the  lower  schools.  Again  the  high  school  would  serve  as  a  feeder 
for  seminary  and  university. 

And  what  more  suitable  occasion  could  there  be  for  considering  and  promoting 
such  a  project?  Here  in  this  Catholic  Congress  we  have  gathered  together  bishops, 
priests,  and  laity.  It  were  well  if  the  laity  took  a  more  active  part  in  the  carrying  out 
of  our  educational  system.  It  seems  to  me  that  too  much  burden  has  been  thrown  in 
the  past  on  the  shoulders  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  religious  communities.  There  is  no 
portion  of  the  church  that  can  do  so  much  for  secular  education  as  a  loyal  and  progress- 
ive laity.  The  composition  of  this  Congress  is  a  proof  that  the  church  in  America  pos- 
sesses such  a  laity,  loyal  to  the  unchangeable  teachings  of  divine  faith,  progressive 
with  the  best  progress  of  modern  times  and  civilization.  It  is  with  them  will  lie  the 
carrying  into  practical  effect  what  I  have  been  pleading  for.  And  I  trust,  in  conclusion, 
that  the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  pressing  needs  of  our  people,  the  opportuneness 
of  the  time  and  the  suitableness  of  the  occasion  will  add  in  the  minds  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  this  Congress — bishops,  priests,  and  laymen — a  thousandfold  force  to  this,  my 
poor  plea  for  free  Catholic  high  schools. 

"  Young  Men's  Societies  "  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  presented  by  War- 
ren E.  Mosher,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio.  The  reading  of  this  paper  was 
listened  to  with  marked  attention,  and  it  is  given  here  in  full  for  the  benefit 
and  enlightenment  of  the  rising  generation  of  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
States: 

In  its  battle  against  evil  the  church  to-day  is  working  without  what  should  be  its 
most  powerful  force — a  vigorous,  enthusiastic,  zealous,  and  united  young  manhood. 
How  to  win  this  support  is  one  of  the  most  important  problems  now  confronting  the 
Catholics  of  America. 

The  improvement  of  the  young  men  has  ever  been  a  vital  question  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  classes.  The  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  moral  advancement  of  young  men 
means  the  advancement  of  social  conditions  generally.  It  means  a  decrease  in  the  stat- 
istics of  crime  and  in  the  occupants  of  prisons,  and  an  increase  of  those  institutions 
beneficial  to  the  arts  and  manufactures — it  means  the  advancement  of  higher  civiliza- 
tion. It  means  happy  homes,  with  mothers  peacefully  secure  in  the  possession  of  sons 
guarded  by  the  armor  of  strong,  manly  character  and  Christian  virtues,  and  with  wives 
blessed  in  the  possession  of  husbands  conscious  of  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  with 
the  nobility  to  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  their  state. 

There  are  three  great  and  powerful  agencies  at  work  in  molding  the  character  and 
shaping  the  destiny  of  young  men — the  church,  the  home,  and  society.  The  former  is 
constantly  striving  to  rescue  them  from  the  vices  acquired  in  most  cases,  and  fostered 
by  the  licenses  granted  by  society. 

Society  indulges  the  human  passions  of  young  men,  and  gives  them  the  license  and 
opportunity  to  gratify  them.  And  finally,  when,  from  the  excess  of  indulgence,  society 
suffers  from  outrages  committed  against  her  by  the  victims  she  has  created  and  the 
vices  she  has  encouraged,  she  pays  back  the  revenue  she  has  derived  from  the  licensing 
of  necessary  evils  in  the  maintenance  of  institutions  of  correction  and  reform.  The 
home,  according  to  its  teachings,  increases  the  evils  of  society  or  the  blessings  of  the 
church.  That  these  three  great  agencies  do  not  always  work  in  harmony  and  union  is 
a  deplorable  fact. 

Among  the  many  institutions  established  and  encouraged  by  the  church  as  a  safe- 
guard for  young  men  are  young  men's  societies  having  for  their  object  their  religious, 
intellectual,  social,  physical,  and  material  improvement. 

The  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  has  ruled  on  this  question  in  a  manner  that 
leaves  it  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  organizing  young  men's  societies,  as 
follows:  "Since  the  young  men  are  exposed  to  greater  danger,  we  wish  that  special 
care  be  taken  of  them.  Hence  we  decree  that  in  every  parish  or  mission  where  a 
sufficient  number  of  them  can  be  found,  special  societies  be  established  for  them  by  the 
rector,  and  that  they  be  cherished  with  all  possible  care.  For  without  associations  of 
this  nature  the  work  begun  in  the  parochial  schools  of  saving  the  Catholic  youth  will, 
for  the  most  part,  have  been  in  vain,  and  our  young  men,  who  have  been  so  carefully 
guarded  from  their  infancy,  will  be  seduced  by  the  allurements  of  the  world,  and  will 
be  swallowed  up  in  the  vortex  of  the  forbidden  societies.  But  when  banded  together 
in  respectable  societies,  they  will,  while  pursuing  some  temporal  object,  be  readily  in- 
duced by  a  prudent  pastor  to  join  thereto  the  cultivation  of  piety."— Title  viii.,  par.  257. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  x  l5 

That  the  parish  society,  under  the  direction  of  a  zealous  priest  and  with  the 
co-operation  of  earnest,  self-sacrificing  young  men,  has  a  great  influence  for  good  is 
unquestioned.  The  methods  of  conducting  parish  societies  mav  vary  with  the  various 
conditions  of  young  men  in  the  different  parts  of  the  country,  but  the  object  is  one  and 
specific. 

That  the  parish  society  is  not  accomplishing  all  that  could  be  desired  or  all  that  it 
might  is  also  unquestioned.  The  cry  for  improvement  is  to-day  ringing  out  from  pulpit 
press,  and  convention  hall.  It  is  engaging  the  attention  of  every  thoughtful  man  anx- 
ious for  the  preservation  of  youth;  and  noble  men  have  spent  the  best  part  of  their  life 
and  brain  in  devising  means  for  saving  our  young  men.  It  is  only  necessary  to  read  the 
reports  of  our  annual  conventions  to  learn  how  much  attention  is  given  to  this  subject, 
and  how  clearly  and  eloquently  innumerable  methods  have  been  set  forth  by  all  cham- 
pions of  young  men.  There  is  no  lack  of  good  features,  no  lack  of  excellent  suggestions 
for  improvement,  but  a  great  lack  of  young  men  who  will  act  upon  the  suggestions 
proposed,  even  while  admitting  they  are  good. 

As  the  work  for  the  improvement  of  young  men  by  means  of  societies  goes  on,  it  is 
assailed  by  the  snarling  and  carping  criticism  of  some,  and  neglected  by  the  almost 
criminal  indifference  of  others,  while  comparatively  a  handful  of  young  men.  in  the  face 
of  the  most  discouraging  difficulties,  without  system  and  without  means,  are  struggling 
valiantly  in  the  cause;  and  these  young  men  are  not  the  ones  most  in  need  of  society 
influences. 

I  believe  the  existing  condition  of  affairs  can  be  improved,  and  in  submitting  the 
following  suggestions  to  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  I  also  offer  my  humble  serv- 
ices to  practically  execute  them  in  order  to  demonstrate  their  success  or  failure. 

In  order  to  create  among  existing  societies  an  intelligent  system  of  co-operation,  to 
quicken  the  feelings  of  sympathy  and  fellowship,  and  to  promote  a  friendly  and  prac- 
tical union,  I  would  suggest  that  State  organizations  be  formed,  subdivided  by  dioceses, 
and  that  in  each  State  paid  secretaries  be  appointed  by  the  bishops  of  the  State,  or 
elected  by  the  several  societies,  who  would  give  their  whole  time  to  the  work  of  young 
men's  societies.  These  men  should  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  wants  of  our  young 
men's  institutes.  They  should  be  from  among  the  very  ablest  of  our  ranks.  They 
should  visit  cities  and  towns  where  societies  are  already  established  and  infuse  new  life 
into  them,  and  awaken  the  ambition  to  achieve  their  highest  aims.  Where  no  societies 
exist,  they  should  organize  them,  always,  of  course,  with  the  approval  and,  if  possible, 
the  co-operation  of  the  clergy.  They  should  assist  in  establishing  lecture  courses,  and 
take  an  active  part  in  every  plan  for  improvement.  Ex-officio,  they  could  be  members 
of  all  societies.  These  men  would  exert  a  vivifying  influence,  they  would  be  the  link 
connecting  all  the  societies  of  the  State  into  one  strong  cohesive  chain ;  their  visits 
would  always  stimulate  activity,  bringing,  as  they  would,  fresh  ideas,  or  shedding 
brighter  luster  over  already  successful  methods. 

There  should  also  be  paid  national  secretaries  and  a  national  bureau. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  find  young  men  to  do  this  work,  even  though  the  means 
were  at  hand;  for  a  young  man  with  the  qualifications  necessary  for  such  work  can 
command  better  compensation  in  many  pursuits  offering  distinction  and  honor,  not- 
withstanding that  there  could  be  no  nobler  occupation. 

The  men  eminently  fitted  for  this  work  are  active  young  priests.  Their  edu- 
cation and  training,  and  above  all,  their  profession,  qualify  them  above  other  men. 
They  would  command  respect  and  attention  where  a  layman  would  be  ignored  or 
snubbed.  Can  our  bishops  spare  them  for  this  work?  Will  they  spare  them?  It  is 
one  of  the  most  fruitful  fields  for  missionary  labor  within  the  domain  of  the  church, 
and  I  believe  the  results  would  amply  repay  the  efforts  expended. 

1.     The  expenses  of  these  secretaries  could  be  borne  by  the  societies  of  the  State. 
One  of  the  greatest  necessities  of  the  present  day  is  the  establishment  of  a  sys- 
tem of  young  men's  institutions,  combining,  to  some  extent,  the  polytechnic,  the  lyceum, 
and  the  social  association.    Every  city  that  can  afford  such  an  institution  should  have 
one,  the  metropolitan  cities  many. 

In  a  few  places  Catholic  young  men  have  erected  their  own  homes;  there  are  many 
cities  amply  able  to  do  likewise.  To  succeed,  parish  barriers  must  be  thrown  down. 
Few  parishes  can  afford  to  maintain  alone  such  an  institution,  but  by  a  concentration 
of  forces  an  association  building  might  be  erected  for  the  Catholics  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

The  Catholic  young  men  of  to-day  must  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  coun- 
try.    The  days  of  the  back  room  and  top  story  are  past,  and  the  commodious,  centrally 


n6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGBLSSES. 

located  building,  equipped  and  adjusted  to  the  special  needs  of  young  men,  will  sup- 
plant them,  as  they  should.  .  . 

2.  The  only  saving  power  of  our  young  men  is  the  faithful  practice  of  their  religion. 
With  all  the  societies  for  the  cultivation  of  piety  among  the  laity  now  existing  within 
the  church  it  is  a  noted  fact  that  their  membership  is  composed  almost  entirely  of 
women.  There  is  not  to-day  an  auxiliary  league  of  the  church  that  appeals 
as  successfully  to  the  religious  sentiment  in  young  men  as  it  does  to 
this  sentiment  in  young  women.  It  may  not  be  possible  to  accomplish 
this  equality,  but  I  believe  the  inequality  can  be  lessened.  I  do  not  believe  the 
days  of  chivalry  died  with  the  ages  of  the  Crusades.  An  appeal  to  the  manhood  of 
young  men  would  arouse  them  in  this  age  as  it  did  in  previous  times,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose I  suggest  the  institution  of  a  league  of  young  men  to  be  known  as  the  Loyal  Cath- 
olic Legion,  or  by  some  such  significant  title,  the  members  of  which  shall  subscribe  to 
the  faithful  observance  of  the  principles  of  honor,  purity,  knightly  conduct,  and  prac- 
tical Catholicity.  There  might  be  degrees  in  this  league  and  special  indulgences.^  as  in 
the  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  other  orders,  and  leaders  and  promoters  appointed. 

This  order  would  not  conflict  with  existing  orders.  It  would  be  open  to  all  young 
men,  whether  members  of  societies  or  of  no  society.  There  need  be  no  fees,  or  simply  a 
nominal  fee  for  offerings.  Several  young  men  in  a  society  might  institute  a  branch  of 
the  league  voluntarily  for  the  observance  of  these  principles  ;  and  young  men  not  of  the 
society  could  be  members  of  the  same  local  branch.  An  independent  headquarters 
with  general  directors  might  be  established,  or  the  league  might  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  directors  of  the  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  or  some  other  established 
order. 

This  idea  of  putting  young  men  on  their  honor  by  the  institution  of  such  a  league 
occurred  to  me  several  months  ago  with  a  suddenness  that  thrilled  me.  It  has  im- 
pressed me  with  a  most  singular  power,  and  my  confidence  in  its  efficacy  is  very  great. 
I  have  consulted  my  pastor  and  several  distinguished  priests  and  laymen,  who  expressed 
their  earnest  approval  of  the  idea.  There  is  a  charm,  a  fascination  in  it  that  engenders 
an  intense,  fervent  feeling  for  manly  perfection  and  religious  piety.  It  appeals  to  the 
manhood  of  young  men. 

Let  us  resurrect  this  spirit  of  chivalry  among  young  men.  The  spirit  of  manliness 
is  not  dead  but  sleeping,  and  the  spark  of  chivalry  in  the  breasts  of  young  American 
Catholics  might  be  fanned  into  a  flame  that  would  develop  knights  as  true  as  ever 
gave  up  their  lives  in  the  cause  of  righteousness  or  for  the  possession  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

For  the  improvement  of  young  men  and  young  men's  societies,  I  therefore  urge  the 
adoption  of  these  three  movements:  (1)  Traveling  leaders  or  organizers,  who  shall,  if 
possible,  be  young,  active  priests.  (2)  The  establishment  of  special  buildings  adapted 
for  the  requirements  of  young  men,  with  salaried  secretaries.  (3)  A  league  of  Catholic 
young  men  on  the  lines  suggested  above.  The  adoption  of  the  first  suggestion  would 
ultimately  bring  the  other  two  into  practical  operation,  for  men  traveling  in  this  cause 
could  establish  such  a  society  as  the  needs  of  a  place  demanded  and  as  it  could  support, 
whether  it  be  the  parish  society  or  the  general  institute. 

Let  us  throw  open  our  young  men's  institutions  to  every  Catholic  young  man, 
whether  he  be  an  active  paying  member  or  not.  At  least  give  them  all  some  privileges, 
such  as  free  reading-rooms  and  comfortable  sitting-rooms.  Under  our  present  system 
there  is  an  exclusiveness  that  repels  rather  than  attracts  our  young  men.  We  must 
come  in  contact  with  them  and  endeavor  to  bring  them  within  a  pure  atmosphere  and 
among  pure  associations.  The  less  restraint  we  put  in  their  way  the  better.  The 
church  closes  its  doors  to  none,  whether  they  give  much  or  nothing  to  its  support. 
Then  why  not  have  a  home  for  young  men  supported  by  all  the  Catholics  of  our  com- 
munities, as  free  as  our  churches,  and  whose  doors  shall  be  open  to  a  limited  share  of 
our  privileges  without  all  the  qualifications  of  perfect  young  manhood?  This  is  a  kind 
of  institution  needed  in  our  day. 

There  is  a  barrier  growing  up  between  Catholic  young  men  and  women,  which  is 
getting  stronger  year  by  year — the  barrier  of  education  and  refinement.  The  only 
remedy  that  I  can  suggest  for  this  impediment  between  our  young  people  is  to  cultivate 
with  equal  zeal  and  in  equal  numbers  the  advantages  offered  for  the  acquirement  of 
these  accomplishments. 

There  is  an  object  lesson  for  the  young  men  here  to-day  in  the  City  of  Chicago 
that  should  appeal  to  their  better  parts  more  strongly  than  all  the  sermons  and  essays 
they  ever  heard.  Here  is  the  greatest  exhibition  of  human  skill  and  material  wealth 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  its  accomplishment  was  made  possible  by  Catholic  genius. 


REV.    PATRICK    CRONIN, 
BUFFALO. 

REV.   J     M.  CLEARY, 

MINNEAPOLIS. 

REV.    F.  Q.    LENTZ, 

BEMENT,    ILL. 


BROTHER    AMBROSE, 

CHICAGO. 

CHANCELLOR    MULDOON, 

CHICAGO. 

BROTHER    MA'JRELIAN, 

CHICAGO. 


REV.   WALTER   ELLIOTT,  C.  S.  P 
NEW    YORK. 
REV.    F.   J.    MAQUIRE, 

ALBANY. 

REV.    JOS.   L.    ANDREIS, 

BALTIMORE. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  u7 

In  conclusion,  let  me  appeal  to  this  distinguished  body  to  give  generously 
of  their  time  and  means  for  the  preservation  of  our  Catholic  youth.  Think  of  the 
energy  that  is  lost  in  the  cause  of  religion  by  the  apathy  and  indifference 
of  young  men!  Watch  a  political  campaign  and  notice  the  enthusiasm  displayed  If 
half  the  amount  were  expended  in  the  following  of  Christ  that  is  wasted  on  political 
demagogues  frequently,  what  a  reform  there  would  be  in  civil  government.  Watch  a 
baseball  game  and  reflect  on  the  result  that  would  follow  such  energy  exercised  for 
religion.  Listen  to  the  mighty  shouts  that  ascend  to  heaven  over  the  victory  of  some 
brutal  champion  of  the  prize  ring  and  see  the  indifference  shown  to  the  hero  of 
Molokai.  We  want  this  force,  this  unbounded  energy  of  young  manhood  harnessed  to 
the  chariot  of  practical  Christianity,  and  until  we  secure  it  the  race  for  the  salvation 
of  souls  will  be  run  against  tremendous  odds. 

Let  us  love  the  young  men,  encourage  them,  aid  them,  not  for  what  they  are  but 
for  the  temptations  which  are  theirs  and  for  the  glorious  manhood  that  might  be 
theirs. 

"  Working  Men's  Organizations  and  Societies  for  Young  Men,"  was  the 
subject  of  a  paper  read  by  Rev.  F.J.  McGuire,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  President 
of  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union  of  the  United  States.  This  is 
what  he  said: 

The  genius  of  our  national  being  is  peculiarly  suggestive  of  union  and  combination. 
Composed  of  many  states  and  communities,  these  made  up  of  various  people  to  whom 
is  given  a  common  adhesive  principle,  and  on  all  of  whom  it  is  impressed  that  unity  of 
purpose  a»d  of  government  is  the  chief  sec-urity  of  their  national  existence,  the  rational 
aim  of  all  who  have  part  in  the  framing  of  our  laws,  or  of  those  who  are  clothed  with 
the  dignity  of  administering  them,  should  be  to  foster  and  strengthen  a  spirit  of  union 
among  the  people. 

The  public  "  society  "  of  St.  Thomas,  wherein  "  Men  may  communicate  with  one 
another  in  the  setting  up  of  a  commonwealth,"  exists  here  in  its  fullness,  but  it  is 
enriched  and  made  doubly  lasting,  in  that  it  possesses  all  the  features  and  benefits  of 
the  more  "private  society,  wherein  a  few  may  be  conjoined  for  the  following  and  attain- 
ing of  a  common  purpose."  For,  the  first  and  ordinary  object  of  our  common  citizen 
ship  is  to  perpetuate  union  of  the  many  for  the  good  of  all;  for  we  are  all  equal  on  the 
plane  of  our  national  constitution,  and  equal  in  the  rights  of  liberty  which  it  secures  to 
us.  Hence  there  is  a  congenial  abode  in  our  country  for  that  "  propensity "  calleu 
natural  "of  man  to  live  in  society,"  which  has  its  foundation  in  the  natural  law  which 
is  sanctioned  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  in  whose  favor  our  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pope 
Leo  XIII. ,  has  addressed  the  universal  church  so  earnestly. 

From  the  first  years  of  her  existence  the  United  States  has  been  a  prolific  mother 
of  societies  of  men.  Her  great  political  parties,  which  have  aimed  at  a  balancing  of 
power,  whose  struggles,  successes,  or  failures  have  been  marked  by  the  ruling  for  a  time 
of  one,  to  be  in  turn  succeeded  by  the  other,  has  been  simply  the  organizing  of  many 
societies  into  one,  the  welding  together  of  many  for  a  common  purpose.  In  earlier 
years  she  fashioned  associations  for  military  exercise  ostensibly,  which,  being  without 
governmental  control,  for  a  long  time  were  so  many  private  or  even  social  societies  of 
free  men.  Yet,  in  her  day  of  need,  these  evolved  into  the  grandest  armies  the  world 
had  seen,  and  achieved  victories  among  the  most  valued  of  all  history. 

In  equally  gigantic  form  have  we  witnessed  the  growth  in  our  land  of  the  extensive 
railroad  and  telegraphic  combinations,  which  were  originally  fondled  by  our  govern- 
ment, as  promising  many  facilities  and  advantages  to  the  commonwealth,  but  which 
latterly  penetrating  every  corner  of  the  public  domain,  and,  absorbing  less  powerful 
enterprise,  have  again  and  again  excited  the  anxiety  or  provoked  the  condemnation  of 
many  of  the  most  sincere  friends  of  our  national  interest. 

Here,  too,  individuals  have  united  for  the  promotion  or  accomplishment  of  almost 
every  lesser  object.  The  practice  of  religious  tenets,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  pro- 
tection of  art  and  science,  the  perfection  of  varied  skill  of  the  mechanic  or  laborer,  the 
alleviation  of  the  miseries  to  which  man  is  heir,  and  security  from  the  results  which 
come  with  accident  and  death,  have  in  turn  formed  pretext  for  association  ;  and  in  this 
feature  our  country  is  said  to  be  a  leading  representative  among  the  nations. 

Such  is  the  prospect  which  greets  the  view  of  the  observer  of  to-day.  The  Catholic 
American,  enriched  with  the  birthright  of  true  citizenship,  is  especially  interested  in 
this  prospect;  and  so,  as  well  because  of  facilities  which  it  presents  to  him,  as  because 
of  his  peculiar  fitness  to  reap  rich  advantage  and  the  magnificent  consequences  to  Lis 


Ufl  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

church  and  to  mankind  which  may  result.  Our  holy  religion  teaches  us  that  the  per- 
fection of  Christian  effort  does  not  dwell  alone  in  aiming  at  the  loving  and  serving  of 
God,  but  must  reach  out  into  a  love  for  the  welfare  of  neighbor,  and  the  Catholic 
watchword  must  be  the  twofold  sentiment,  "God  and  our  neighbor."  His  duty  is  not 
alone  to  build  up  churches  which  are  to  be  the  outward  sign  of  an  inward  sacred  and 
spiritual  trust,  but  he  is  to  build  up  by  his  word,  his  example,  and  his  fidelity  to  pro- 
fession, that  holier  edifice,  the  Catholic  Faith,  which,  not  built  by  hands,  is  as  imperish- 
able as  her  Divine  Pounder. 

What  are  his  facilities  ?  Our  brethren,  guided  by  pious  promptings,  were  the  first 
of  the  civilized  world  to  tread  this  continent  and  they  offered  it  to  God  to  be  His  in  per- 
petuum.  As  the  years  revolved  others  came  upon  the  scene,  and  for  a  long  time  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  holy  faith  held  but  a  tolerated  existence  here.  It  required  the  blood  of 
some  martyrs,  the  painful  labors  of  some  of  the  most  illustrious  saints  and  scholars  of 
the  last  century  to  retrieve  the  liberty  which  Catholics  first  secured  by  the  right  of 
discovery  here. 

Meantime,  in  this  fair  field  an  enemy  hath  sown  cockle.  Here  we  find  every  species 
of  belief  or  practice  which  has  been  known  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  The 
consequence  is  a  state  of  society  not  only  detrimental  to  the  immediate  interests  of 
Christ,  but  even  menacing  to  that  destiny  of  perpetuated  greatness  to  which  the  Ameri- 
can nation  seems  to  have  been  called  by  the  Creator. 

As  friends  of  humanity  we  can  not  afford  to  belittle  the  goodness  of  life  of  many 
outside  the  Catholic  Church,  of  which  goodness  we  have  been  frequent  witnesses  ;  but 
still  we  must  not  refrain  from  proclaiming  that  the  Catholic  Church,  which  gave  to  the 
nations  of  the  earth  all  that  has  sustained  and  made  them  worthy  of  the  respect  of 
succeeding  ages,  is  still,  as  representing  her  Divine  Founder,  "  The  only  name  under 
heaven  given  to  men  whereby  they  can  be  saved."  It  is  for  us  duty  and  obligation  to 
declare  this  by  work  as  well  as  by  word.  In  conjunction  with  the  pulpit,  then,  may  we 
not  find  in  Catholic  societies  a  most  perfectly  adapted  channel  for  the  conducting  of 
this  spirit  to  the  people?  Nay,  do  we  not  perceive  with  our  Sovereign  Pontiff,  that  in 
such  associating  together  of  our  people  "there  is  cheering  hope  for  the  future  of  the 
church  "  in  America?  Associating  them  not  simply  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a 
united  front  against  those  who  may  oppose  us,  but  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  such 
a  spirit  of  Christianity  as  will  make  each  individual  Catholic  a  power  for  good  "terrible 
as  an  army  set  in  array." 

I  have  referred  to  the  peculiar  fitness  of  our  Catholics  for  society  rule  and  life.  The 
Catholic  who  knows  his  church  or  is  accustomed  to  scrutinize  her  sacred  character  has 
learned  to  love  her  for  her  unity  and  the  unity  which  she  inculcates.  Likened  to  the  myste- 
rious unity  existing  between  her  Divine  Founder  and  herself — one  in  doctrine,  in  doctors, 
and  in  pupils;  one  on  earth  and  in  heaven — in  the  midst  of  this  world's  kingdom,  which  is 
ever  and  in  all  things  divided,and  hence  ever  falling,this  solitary  claimant  of  perpetual  one- 
ness must  gladden  and  delight  the  heart  that  loves  unchanging  truth.  He  knows,  too,  that 
so  close  is  the  unity  which  must  exist,  that  in  this  family  of  God  there  can  be  no  distinc- 
tion of  any  kind.  The  poor  are  enriched  with  blessedness;  the  wayward  or  hurtful  are 
to  be  forgiven;  the  richest  possessions  of  one  are  most  precious  inasmuch  as  they  can 
alleviate  the  needs  of  another,  and  the  only  badge  of  discipleship  in  Christ  that  is  pre- 
scribed is  the  love  which  one  bears  toward  another. 

Graced  with  such  a  spirit  of  unity  and  manifesting  it  in  each  society  duty,  what  a 
magnificent  form  of  organization  is  within  the  capabilities  of  the  good  Catholic  man  ! 
How  far  superior  in  its  aims  and  in  the  actual  results  of  its  existence  as  compared  to 
societies  which  have  for  their  object  a  pretense  of  righteousness,  or  which  often  have  ex- 
pended their  best  ambition  when  they  have  destroyed  by  proselytism  the  only  dignity  or 
worth  which  their  victims  possessed.  A  truly  Catholic  society  can  be  a  bulwark  of  all 
that  is  calculated  to  subserve  the  public  good.  Morality  will  be  a  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  its  members ;  temperance  and  all  the  virtues  will  nourish  under  its  sway, 
and  the  community  in  which  it  exists  must  acknowledge  the  charity  from  which  it 
came  forth  and  the  Faith  which  sustains  it. 

But  our  Holy  Father  voices  the  actual  state  of  our  country  when  he  says  in  his 
encyclical,  "  There  is  a  good  deal  of  evidence  which  goes  to  prove  that  many  existing 
societies  are  i»  the  hands  of  invisible  leaders,  and  are  managed  on  principles  far  from 
compatible  with  Christianity  and  the  public  well-being."  In  the  presence  of  this  well- 
known  fact,  what  is  the  plain  duty  of  Christians  if  it  be  not  to  seek  desired  good 
through  societies  of  their  own  founding  and  management?  Or,  as  our  Holy  Father 
again  expresses  it,  "  Unite  their  forces  and  courageously  shake  off  the  yoke  of  unjust 
and  intolerable  oppression." 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  1 19 

Aside  from  the  essential  features  of  "  unity  of  purpose  and  harmony  of  action,"  it 
would  be  difficult  to  prescribe  detailed  formulas  or  to  set  precise  rules  for  the  regulat- 
ing of  Catholic  societies,  since  the  vastness  of  our  country  in  region,  in  disposition,  and 
needs  of  our  brethren  is  so  varied.  The  experience  and  practice  of  those  who  have  been 
prominent  in  such  works  (and  they  are  not  a  few  in  our  midst)  should  be  consulted. 
Let  us  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  Christian  family  should  be  the  foundation  of  the 
life  of  the  Catholic  society.  Here,  as  all  agree,  there  should  be  capable  supervision, 
reasonable  discipline  in  its  fullness,  unquestioning  respect,  and  obedience  and  interest 
for  the  common  good.  I  believe  to  the  absence  of  this  family  training  chiefly  mav  we 
trace  all  the  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  Catholic  society  work,  whether  in  the 
founding  or  conducting  of  such.  It  will  seldom  be  difficult  to  continue  and  develop  in 
the  society  the  work  which  has  been  nurtured  in  the  bosom  of  the  Christian  home. 
The  boy  who  enters  his  sodality  with  the  graces  of  the  first  sacraments  on  him  will 
quickly  learn  to  love  the  petty  strifes  and  contentions  by  whic  he  may  pardonably 
hope  to  evince  his  superior  gifts  or  command  the  respect  of  his  associates.  Early  will 
he  develop  the  characteristics  and  powers  which  will  make  him  useful  in  the  parish 
association,  or  in  turn  command  respect  for  the  organization  which  affords  scope  and 
opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the  gifts  of  his  maturer  years. 

After  due  consideration  of  the  matter  of  grading,  especially  as  to  age,  which 
should  be  observed  in  the  membership  of  an  association,  it  remains  to  be  said  that 
societies  whose  every  prompting  tends  to  the  seeking  of  God  and  His  justice,  to  the  end 
that  the  members  may  be  increased  in  all  lesser  things,  are  the  best.  In  other  words, 
societies  under  the  supervision  of  the  pastors.  In  these,  mental  and  physical  attain- 
ments might  be  ambitioned,  and  the  members,  while  protected  from  the  dangers  of  evil 
associations,  might  find  reasonable  recreation;  but  in  these  must  be  exercised  such 
influences  only  as  can  tend  toward  the  development  of  true  Catholic  manhood.  It  is 
an  obvious  fact  that  many  of  our  American  Catholic  men,  and,  indeed,  in  some  sections 
of  the  country,  our  women  as  well,  are  entering  societies  that  are  ruinous  to  their  best 
spiritual  interests.  Especially  is  this  true  of  our  young  men.  It  has  been  computed 
that  not  three-tenths  of  the  Catholic  young  men  of  the  United  States  are  connected 
with  any  Catholic  society.  For  the  sake  of  their  qualities  of  body  and  mind  they  are 
being  sought  after  by  those  who  have  no  desire  for  their  souls'  welfare;  or  they  are 
allured  by  tempting  immunity  given  in  return  for  their  sacrifice  of  faith.  In  these 
ways  the  interest  and  active  co-operation  of  thousands  of  her  young  men  are  being  lost 
to  the  church  annually. 

What  means  have  we  to  reach  and  use  and  save  this  portion  of  the  flock  of  Christ 
— this  multitude  so  full  of  the  vanity  and  the  pride  peculiar  to  their  years,  yet  ever  so 
dear  to  the  heart  of  Jesus — other  than  by  gathering  them  into  societies  especially 
established  for  them  ?  It  costs  effort,  but  is  there  any  work  more  worthy  the  zeal  of 
an  apostolic  man  than  is  this  ?  In  some  European  countries  it  is  said  the  children  are 
kept  in  religious  training  until  their  first  communion,  or  twelfth  year,  and  after  that 
time  they  are  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  secular  studies.  Some  have  traced  to 
this  very  cause  the  Catholic  indifference  or  defection  so  painfully  remarkable  in  Europe 
during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  We  know  from  our  sad  experience  that  in  our 
own  country  it  frequently  happens  that  the  study  of  religion  ceases  on  the  day  of  first 
communion,  to  be  resumed  no  more — not,  indeed,  because  sufficient  has  been  learned,  but 
because  of  fatigue  from  restraint,  or  because  of  joy  at  having  been  admitted  to  the  sacred 
privileges  of  their  elders,  young  people  are  loath  to  continue  a  formal  study  of  religion. 
Well  regulated  societies  in  which  the  priest  and  young  man  may  continue  to  meet,  and 
in  which  the  sacred  relation  of  pastor  and  child  may  be  perpetuated,  is  a  tried  and 
effectual  means  of  avoiding  evil  of  so  great  magnitude. 

An  oft-proposed  query  is,  what  is  the  best  form  or  rule  for  a  Catholic  society?  Some 
advocates  of  men's  societies  find  scope  for  their  zeal  in  the  admirable  institute  known 
as  the  Young  Men's  Sodality,  and  certainly  a  more  perfect  rule,  or  one  that  is  permissive 
of  more  that  can  benefit  or  enrich  manly  character,  is  not  known.  The  purely  literary 
association  with  the  athletic  feature  annexed  has  proved  its  value  by  extraordinary 
examples  of  success  in  many  portions  of  the  United  States.  The  strictly  beneficiary 
society,  with  what  is  called  social  accompaniments,  as  under  the  management  of  the 
Catholic  Benevolent  Legion  or  Catholic  Mutual  Benevolent  Association,  is  a  scheme 
that  has  been  warmly  received  by  our  people,  and  the  admirable  supervision  during  the 
past  decade  of  these  associations  has  elicited  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  public 
generally.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  societies  are  gradually  destroying  the  hurtful 
influence  which  Masonry,  Oddfellowism,  and  other  objectionable  organizations  have 
heretofore  wielded  over  careless  Catholics.     The  financial  benefits  which  they  confer 


120  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

have  done  much  to  lessen  poverty  and  to  establish  families  in  thrifty  ways,  and  their 
continued  success  is  worthy  the  deepest  attention  of  all  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
Catholic  community. 

Surely  there  is  no  dearth  of  admirable  forms  for  association.  Yet  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  account  for  the  fact  that  there  are  so  many  well-established  congregations  in 
the  United  States  in  which  there  are  no  societies  for  men.  It  Would  be  equally  difficult 
to  account  for  the  indifference  to  Catholic  associations,  especially  on  the  part  of 
our  young  men,  in  places  where  good  societies  are  established  and  where 
need  and  facilities  for  work  such  as  theirs  are  so  pronounced.  Certainly 
this  class  of  our  people,  the  future  hope  of  the  church,  ought  to  be  a  source 
of  concern  and  object  of  our  care.  Theirs  is  a  time  of  life  which  craves  for  association 
or  such  companionship  as  will  increase  the  pleasurable  occupations  of  life.  Does  it 
not  seem  that  we  should,  if  necessary,  make  sacrifices  for  them  as  we  do  for  other 
church  works  ?  S1  ould  not  the  church  afford  them  meeting  places,  or  any  facility 
which  might  induce  them  to  come  and  attract  them  to  remain  in  Catholic  societies  ? 
This  would  imply  expenditure.  We  rightly  contribute  to  convert  and  civilize  the  pagan. 
Is  there  anything  less  laudable  in  similar  effort  to  save  our  youth  from  degradation  ? 
Give  them  a  positive  rule  for  their  association  and  exact  their  observance,  but  allow 
them  such  liberty  as  is  consistent  with  propriety.  Especially  do  not  treat  them  as  in- 
fants whose  every  fault  demands  humiliating  punishment,  but  labor  to  develop  (again 
I  repeat  it)  a  character  of  dignified  manhood.  The  natural  spirit  of  young  American 
manhood  is  pride  and  independence.  Legions  of  satans,  like  roaring  lions,  are  daily 
devouring  the  youth  of  our  church  for  this  very  fact ;  but,  friends  of  Catholic  young 
men,  if  we  can  sanctify  this  spirit  by  religionizing  it,  we  will  thereby  secure  to  our 
church  generations  of  devoted  men,  and  to  our  country  a  spirit  of  intelligence  and 
patriotism  that  can  ennoble  her  institutions  or  save  her  in  her  day  of  trial. 

It  has  occurred  more  than  once  within  our  knowledge  that  men  who  have  assumed 
and  graced  most  exalted  positions  in  public  life  have  had  little  other  advantages  than 
these  which  they  had  secured  in  the  Catholic  society  room,  where,  under  the  inspiration 
of  devoted  priests,  they  have  imbibed  rich  principles  of  manhood,  and  attained  a  per- 
fection in  gracious  talent  which  have  made  them  objects  of  pride  to  their  friends  and 
of  pleasurable  envy  to  their  less-gifted  fellows. 

Brother  Azarias,  of  Manhattan  College,  died  since  preparing  his  most  elo- 
quent address  upon  "  Our  Catholic  School  System."  His  name  upon  the 
programme  was  appropriately  bordered  with  black.  The  paper  was  read  by 
his  learned  brother,  Rev.,  John  F.  Mullaney,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  As  an 
enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  Catholic  education,  Brother  Azarias  had  no  equal, 
and  when  the  paper  was  read,  touching  reference  was  made  to  the  brother's 
interest  in  the  subject  upon  which  he  wrote  substantially  as  follows: 

Our  Catholic  school  system  embraces  all  grades  of  institutions  from  the  kinder- 
garten to  the  university.  _  Each  religious  teaching  order  has  its  own  methods.  But  in 
the  midst  of  variety  a  unity  of  purpose  runs  through  all  our  educational  institutions. 
This  purpose  is  to  impart  a  thorough  Catholic  training  to  our  Catholic  children. 

That  portion  of  our  system  most  cherished  is  the  parochial  school.  It  has  been 
erected  and  it  is  maintained  at  many  sacrifices.  It  is  indispensable  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Catholic  faith  in  the  hearts  of  Catholic  children.  There  may  be  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  ways  and  means  by  which  Catholic  education  is  to  be  imparted  and 
Catholic  schools  are  to  be  supported,  but  there  can  be  none  regarding  the  self-evident 
truth  that  the  church  in  America  is  to  be  perpetuated  in  a  robust,  God-fearing  and 
God-serving  Catholicity,  it  is  only  by  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic  school  in  every 
Catholic  parish.  The  Catholic  school  is  the  nursery  of  the  Catholic  congregation,  the 
inclosed  garden  in  which  are  fostered  vocations  to  the  priesthood  and  to  religious  life; 
in  a  word,  the  hope  and  the  mainstay  of  the  church  in  the  future. 

When  we  consider  the  history  of  Catholic  education  during  the  fifty  years  that 
have  just  elapsed,  and  note  the  many  serious  obstacles  our  Catholic  schools  have  had 
to  contend  with,  and  at  the  same  time  go  over  the  roll-call  of  prominent  Catholics  who 
have  had  their  early  training  in  these  schools— archbishops  and  bishops  and  priests,  and 
religious  men  and  women  whose  vocations  have  been  fostered  in  them;  eminent  laymen 
now  filling  positions  of  trust  and  honor,  whose  consciences  were  there  formed,  and  who 
had  there  learned  to  be  proud  of  their  faith  and  to  praise  its  teachings  to  the  best  of 
their  ability— we  are  compelled  to  regard  these  schools,  even  in  their  least  efficient 
forms,  with  great  respect.    In  no  sense  are  they  failures;  in  no  sense  are  they  to  be 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


121 


abandoned  or  neglected;  rather,  in  the  very  words  of  Leo  XIII.  concerning  these  schools 
"  every  effort  should  be  made  to  multiply  Catholic  schools,  and  to  bring  them  to  per- 
fect equipment." 

Next  in  importance  to  the  parish  school  is  the  convent  school.  It  is  a  choice  gar- 
den attached  to  the  Lord's  household,  in  which  the  sweetest  flowers  of  virtue  are  ten- 
dered and  fostered  by  women  of  piety,  zeal,  and  culture.  Its  influence  extends  far  and 
wide  throughout  the  land.  Among  the  leading  social  forces  in  America  to-day,  the 
women  whose  power  for  good  is  most  far-reaching  are  pupils  of  the  convent  school.  The 
tendency  in  these  latter  days  is  to  make  woman  as  independent  as  she  possibly 
can  become. 

There  are  still  untried  possibilities  in  our  Catholic  school  system.  Why,  for 
instance,  may  we  not  have  large  commercial  schools  in  our  principal  cities?  Not  mere 
business  academies,  in  which  a  knowledg  3  of  penmanship  and  accounts  is  imparted, 
but  schools  established  on  a  broad  basis,  in  which  chemistry  and  the  sciences  as 
applied  to  the  industries  and  manufactures  would  be  taught,  in  which  political  econ- 
omy, and  common  law,  and  history,  and  literature  would  be  studied  from  the  Catholic 
point  of  view.     Such  schools  would  benefit  a  large  class  of  our  Catholic  young  men. 

Again,  there  are  Catholic  boys  who  have  been  obliged  to  quit  school  at  an  early  age 
for  the  workshop  or  the  factory,  and  who  with  riper  years  and  larger  experience  feel  the 
necessity  of  making  up  for  early  deficiencies.  What  accommodation  have  we  for  this 
class  ?  Practically  none.  Could  not  Catholic  night  schools  flourish  in  our  larger  cities  ? 
They  would  be  a  great  boon  to  our  working  boys  and  working  girls.  It  is  painful  to 
witness  in  large  cities  the  active  aggressiveness  of  those  who  misunderstand  and  mis- 
represent our  faith.  They  attract  to  their  soup-houses  and  night  schools  hordes  of  our 
Catholic  Italian  and  Bohemian  children  and  inoculate  them  with  un-Catholic  and  anti- 
Catholic  ideas,  while  little  or  nothing  is  done  to  counteract  their  machinations.  This 
is  work  for  our  Catholic  laity. 

The  more  cultured  class  of  Catholic  young  men  and  women  are  now  supplementing 
their  school  studies  by  reading  circles  and  literary  clubs.  These  are  so  many  annexes 
to  our  educational  system,  and  as  such  are  not  to  be  overlooked. 

Another  institution  that  has  grown  out  of  our  reading  circles,  and  that  bids  fair  to 
become  an  intimate  portion  of  our  Catholic  system  of  education,  is  the  Catholi?  sum- 
mer school.  In  this  manner  is  an  antidote  administered  against  the  intellectua,  and 
moral  poison  that  is  imbibed  from  the  secular  journals,  magazines,  and  reviews. 

For  the  completion  of  our  Catholic  school  system  we  look  forward  to  the  time  whei 
our  Catholic  university  shall  be  able  to  supply  our  colleges  and  academies  with  special 
ists  in  the  various  branches  taught,  and  when  we  will  have  Catholic  normal  schools  to 
supply  Catholic  teachers  to  our  parochial  schools.  The  State  normal  schools  do  not 
suffice.  They  prepare  teachers,  but  not  Catholic  teachers.  In  their  books  on  educa- 
tional methods  they  ignore  or  condemn  our  great  Catholic  educators.  Moreover,  the 
Catholic  teacher  whose  faith  during  the  whole  course  of  his  training  has  been  ignored 
in  its  historical,  literary,  and  religious  aspects,  whose  mind  has  become  imbued  directly 
or  indirectly  with  Protestant  estimates  of  men  and  events,  whose  training  has  been 
purely  negative  so  far  as  his  religion  with  all  its  glories  in  art,  in  history,  and  literature 
is  concerned — such  a  teacher  is  no  longer  fitted  to  take  charge  of  a  Catholic  school. 
He  is  lacking  in  religious  knowledge,  in  devotion,  and  in  a  robust  Catholic  spirit.  He  is 
timid  where  his  faith  is  concerned.  He  is  afraid  to  assert  his  Catholicity  lest  he  give 
offense.  He  lacks  that  delicate  sense  of  appreciation  of  the  spiritual  and  supernatural 
— that  ideal  standard  of  worth  which  prizes  the  salvation  of  a  soul  above  all  other 
things. 

There  are  exceptions  to  this  estimate.  But  those  exceptions  will  be  the  first  to  con- 
firm it,  and  to  prove  that  if  we  are  to  have  Catholic  teachers  worthy  of  the  name  to  aid 
and  strengthen  the  work  of  our  religious  teaching  orders,  they  should  be  trained  in 
Catholic  normal  schools. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  Fourth  Congress  of  Colored  Catholics  to 
prepare  an  address  to  the  clergy  and  laity  issued  the  document  contemplated 
by  its  appointment.  The  address  covers  the  points  discussed  in  the  sessions 
of  the  Congress,  and  represents  its  work  and  conclusions.     It  is  as  follows: 

COLORED     CATHOLICS      ADDRESS. 

At  this  point  a  motion  was  made  by  a  Texas  delegate  to  invite  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Colored  Catholic  Congress  and  the  other  associations  meeting  in 
the  building  to  the  floor  of  the  Congress. 


I22  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Archbishop  Ireland  came  forward  again.  "  I  beg  leave  to  express  the 
utmost  delight  of  my  heart,"  he  said,  "  that  a  proposition  was  made  to  invite 
here  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Colored  Congress.  Let  us,  the  members  of 
the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress,  show  our  thorough  Catholicity,  and  in 
God's  name  invite  them  all.  I  have  but  one  regret — that  they  are  not  one 
hundred  fold  more  numerous." 

Colored  Catholics  opened  their  Congress  in  hall  6.  Delegates  were  in  at- 
tendance from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  Ohio, 
Louisiana,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  addition 
to  these  there  was  a  large  general  attend;  nee  of  colored  communicants  of  the 
church. 

James  A.  Spencer,  of  South  Carolina,  was  the  presiding  officer,  and  Dr. 
W.  S.  Lofton,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  D.  A.  Rudd,  of  Ohio,  were  the 
secretaries.  The  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Father  Tolton. 
Then  followed  an  address  of  welcome  by  L.  C.  Valle,  to  which  an  appro- 
priate response  was  made  by  W.  Edgar  Easton,  of  Texas.  Brief  addresses 
were  also  male  by  F.  L.  McGhee,  of  St.  Paul,  and  Mr.  Reed,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.    Committees  were  then  appointed  as  follows: 

Credentials — C.  H.  Butler,  Washington,  D.  C;  S.  P.  Havis,  Arkansas  ;  L.  C.  Valle, 
Illinois ;  R  N.  Wood,  New  York. 

Permanent  organization — R.  N.  Wood,  New  York  ;  W.  J.  Smith,  Washington,  D.  C; 
S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania  ;  W.  E.  Easton,  Texas  ;  D.  A.  Rudd,  Ohio. 

Rules  and  order  of  business — S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania  ;  F.  L.  McGhee,  Minnesota ; 
D.  A.  Rudd,  Ohio. 

The  Congress  adjourned  to  this  morning  at  9  o'clock. 

J.J.  Smith,  of  Davenport,  Iowa;  J.  F.  Brown,  of  Galveston,  Texas;  T.  C. 
Driscoll,  of  Hartford,  Conn.;  David  Garrity,  of  Milwaukee,  and  Felix  McGill,, 
of  Mobile,  Ala.,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the 
Congress  in  this  respect.  Then  the  meeting  settled  down  to  listen  to  pre- 
pared papers  on  the  social  problems  of  the  day. 

The  Congress  of  Colored  Catholics  sat  with  closed  doors  most  of  the  day, 
considering  questions  relating  exclusively  to  the  interests  of  the  colored  man. 
The  invitation  to  join  the  great  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  was  accepted, 
and  the  colored  men  immediately  took  a  recess  and  visited  that  body.  In  the 
afternoon  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  address.  It  consists  of 
W.  Edgar  Easton,  Texas;  F.  L.  McGhee,  Minnesota;  C.  H.  Butler,  District 
of  Columbia;  L.  C.  Valle,  Illinois;  Daniel  A.  Rudd,  Ohio;  W.  J.  Smith, 
District  of  Columbia;  S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania;  W.  S.Lofton,  District  of 
Columbia;  S.  P.  Havis,  Arkansas.  Miss  Jessie  Schley  proposed  as  a  question 
of  discussion,  "Why  Should  Not  the  Negro  Go  Back  to  Africa?"  The 
remainder  of  the  afternoon  was  occupied  in  discussing  the  subject. 

Charles  H.  Butler,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  read  the  following  paper  on 
"The  Condition  and  Future  of  the  Negro  Race  in  the  United  States." 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE. 

The  subject  of  the  paper  that  I  have  been  invited  to  prepare  for  your  consideration, 
"  The  Condition  and  Future  of  the  Negro  Race  in  the  United  States,"  can  in  no  sense 
be  considered  a  new  one.  It  has  been  constantly  before  the  people  of  this  country  since 
the  establishment  of  the  government  itself  It  has  been  discussed  in  the  church,  on 
the  rostrum  and  in  politics.  The  negro  has  been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  our  body  pol- 
itic, and  like  the  ghost  in  Macbeth,  ;'It  will  not  down."  I  come  from  the  common 
people,  with  no  special  ability  to  produce  a  paper  with  well-set  phrases,  or  to  say  any- 
thing new  upon  an  old  and  well-worn  subject.  But  I  shall  a  plain  unvarnished  tale  de- 
liver and  leave  the  rest  to  you  and  God. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  123 

Passing  over  the  terrible  story  of  the  negro's  sufferings  in  slavery  days,  I  would 
date  his  existence  from  the  time  of  his  emancipation.  From  that  day,  by  reason  of  a 
great  war  necessity,  the  President  of  the  United  States  signed  with  his  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  placed  upon  it,  that  immortal  instrument 
which  struck  the  shackles  from  millions  of  human  beings.  I  would  mark  his  existence 
as  a  man  from  that  January  morning,  when  he  whom  God  had  created  in  His  own  image 
and  likeness  was  declared  free.  Free  without  a  dollar,  without  education.  His  best 
and  most  sincere  friends  believed  that  he  could  not  exist,  but  that  he  would  be  swept 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  in  his 
address  of  welcome  to  the  Third  Colored  Catholic  Congress  held  in  Philadelphia,  January 
1892,  said:  "  Many  trembled  at  the  proclamation  of  emancipation.  Even  the  friends 
of  the  colored  race  believed  that  the  time  had  not  come."  I  frankly  admit  that  at  that 
time  there  was  much  to  justify  the  belief.  The  greater  part  of  the  emancipated  slaves 
remained  in  the  midst  of  their  former  oppressions,  and  sought  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation  through  fear  and  trembling. 

The  history  of  their  sufferings  has  been  recorded  by  Him  who  knows  the  secrets  of 
all  hearts.  Their  sufferings  were  not  unlike  the  sufferings  of  the  Israelites  of  old,  who 
were  held  in  bondage  for  400  years.  History  oft  repeats  itself.  A  chain  of  unfortunate 
circumstances  followed  the  emancipation  in  rapid  succession  and  placed  the  negro  at  ;i 
disadvantage.  The  period  of  reconstruction  followed.  The  interests  of  the  negro  fell 
into  the  hands  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  selfish  and  unscrupulous,  who  cared  very 
little  for  his  welfare  and  valued  nothing  but  his  vote. 

It  can  not  be  said  that  during  this  period  he  made  much  progress,  mentally  or 
morally.  True,  now  and  then  a  single  man  under  favorable  circumstances  rose  up  by 
force  of  intellect  and  did  attain  a  respectable  and  commanding  position.  But  his 
eminence  served  only  to  mark  with  greater  emphasis  the  inferior  condition  of  the  race 
to  which  he  belonged. 

There  is  one  thing  that  can  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  reconstructed  party.  They 
established  schools  for  the  poor  and  illiterate,  both  white  and  black,  and  when  they  fell 
the  school  system  remained.  But  the  exit  of  this  party  left  no  kindly  feeling  toward 
the  negro.  He  was  the  visible  representative  of  antagonism.  The  white  man  held  the 
negro  responsible  for  the  unhappy  conflict  that  brought  ruin  financially  to  his  nation's 
soil.  He  was  held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  men  who  did  not  represent  him,  although 
they  used  him,  and  for  those  acts  the  negro  paid  dearly,  being  made  the  victim  of  polit- 
ical murders  and  outrages,  the  subject  of  a  bitter  ostracism  that  denied  him  any  chance 
to  improve  his  condition,  and  finally  forced  him  to  become  an  outcast  from  his  native 
soil. 

I  have  not  the  time  to  touch  upon  the  exodus  of  the  negro  race  from  the  Southern 
States,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  incidents  in  his  struggle  for  life,  liberty,  ar.d 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  I  do  not  think  I  would  be  doing  justice  to  my  subject  if  I 
did  not  here  make  mention  of  it.  That  movement  has  often  been  referred  to  as  a  polit- 
ical movement  and  passed  upon  lightly  by  our  white  fellow-citizens;  but  it  was  a  nat- 
ural operation  of  divine  law  that  moved  those  communities  of  negroes  to  turn  their 
faces  towards  the  setting  sun.  They  were  willing  to  endure  any  hardship  short  of 
death  to  reach  a  land  where,  under  their  own  vine  and  fig  trees,  they  could  enjoy  the 
life  our  Creator  intended  for  them, 

The  failure  of  that  institution  organized  and  chartered  by  the  government,  known 
as  the  Freedman's  Savings  Bank,  did  much  to  sow  the  seeds  of  distrust  among  the 
freedmen  of  the  South.  Sixty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  depositors  had 
faithfully  carried  their  wages  to  the  government  bank.  The  books  of  that  institution 
showed  that  83,000,000  had  been  placed  to  their  credit,  for  freedom  had  inspired  then:, 
and  they  were  using  its  opportunity  to  secure  a  competency  in  the  hope  of  becoming, 
some  day,  property  owners,  and  of  holding  up  their  heads  as  men  in  the  land  where 
they  had  once  been  slaves.  Because  of  the  failure  of  that  bank  they  did  not  lose  heart. 
They  tried  again,  and  to-day  own  §263,000,000  worth  of  property.  In  the  Southern 
States  it  is  said  the  negroes'  wealth  is  as  follows : 

Alabama $  4,200,125 

Florida 7,900.400 

Arkansas 8,010,315 

Georgia 10.415,330 

Kentucky 5,900,400 

Mississippi 13,490,213 

North  Carolina 11 .010,<  152 

Texas 18,010,545 


;24 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Virginia 4,900,000 

Louisiana 18,100,528 

Missouri 6,600,343 

South  Carolina 12,500,000 

Tennessee 10,400,211 

Since  history  tells  us  that  it  took  the  proud  and  mighty  Saxons  a  thousand  years  to 
emerge  from  the  thralldom  of  the  Roman  conquest  and  to  reach  a  condition  akin  to 
modern  civilization,  I  ask  all  fair-minded  persons  if  this  is  not  a  remarkable  showing? 
Let  those  who  oppose  the  negro  and  who  claim  that  he  has  made  no  progress  point  to  any 
period  of  the  world's  history  where  any  race,  even  the  most  favored  and  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions,  has  made  as  much  genuine  progress  in  thirty  years  as  has  the 
despised  one. 

In  the  struggle  of  the  negro  in  the  United  States  I  am  reminded  of  the  struggle  of 
the  Holy  Church  in  America,  when  prejudice  ran  riot  and  it  was  considered  no  crime 
to  place  the  torch  to  the  church  or  the  orphan  asylum.  But,  thank  God,  those  days 
have  passed,  and  we  live  in  an  age  when  every  man's  religious  convictions  are  respected 
and  no  one  is  persecuted  for  opinion's  sake.  The  negro  has  made  mistakes,  but  they 
should  not  be  held  against  him  with  more  force  than  against  any  other  race.  And 
what  race  has  not  made  mistakes?  Those  made  by  the  early  leaders  of  the  negro  are 
now  being  remedied  and  corrected  by  the  young,  more  advanced  generation  of  to-day, 
who  are  educating  the  race  that  they  may  develop  true  manhood  and  character. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Catholic  Church  did  not  take  earlier  steps  in  the 
missionary  work  among  the  emancipated  slaves  of  the  South.  Then  their  calling  and 
election  would  be  sure.  The  reputation  of  the  church  for  civilizing  and  educating 
nations  is  established  in  history.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  been  left  for  the  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore  to  issue  the  mandate  which  called  the  attention  of  the  Catholics  of 
this  country  to  a  sense  of  duty  in  this  matter.  That  little  mustard  seed,  planted  by 
Rev.  Father  Slattery  and  his  co-laborers  in  Baltimore,  is  bearing  fruit  that  will  have  its 
ultimate  result  in  Catholic  schools,  with  industrial  facilities,  that  will  be  a  most  power- 
ful factor  in  solving  the  negro  problem  in  the  United  States.  The  Protestant  Church 
is  greatly  in  advance  of  us,  for  their  colleges  and  industrial  schools,  supported  by  white 
philanthropists  of  the  North,  are  dotted  all  over  the  Southland. 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  future  of  the  negro  race  in  the  United  States?  His  future 
depends  upon  his  treatment  in  a  great  measure  by  the  white  man;  whether  the  proud 
Anglo-Saxon  intends  to  dispossess  himself  of  mere  race  prejudice  and  accord  his  black 
brother  simple  justice.  If  continual  warfare  is  to  be  carried  on  against  him  because  of 
the  accident  of  color,  then  all  his  efforts  are  in  vain.  But  I  am  strong  to  believe  that 
the  dust  of  American  prejudice  will  be  cleared  from  the  eyes  of  our  white  fellow-citizens, 
they  will  learn  to  discriminate,  not  by  the  color  of  a  man's  skin,  but  by  the  test  that  all 
men  should  adhere  to — character  and  ability. 

There  is  one  subject  upon  which  the  negro  has  been  greatly  misunderstood  by  his 
friends,  and  purposely  so  by  his  enemies — they  have  made  the  clear  and  definite  term 
"  civil  equality  "  synonymous  with  that  other  definite  term  of  entirely  different  signifi- 
cance, "social  equality."  If  civil  equality  and  social  equality  had  the  same  application 
there  would  be  room  for  complaint,  and  justly  so,  but  upon  a  calm  and  dispassionate 
thought  it  must  be  apparent  to  all  intelligent  men  that  such  a  thing  would  be  as  dis- 
tasteful to  the  negro  as  to  the  white  man.  Civil  equality  makes  no  such  proposal,  bears 
no  such  result.  Public  society  and  civil  society  comprise,  one  distinct  group  of  mutual 
relations  and  private  society  entirely  another,  and  it  is  evil  to  confuse  the  two.  Pro- 
fessor A.  F.  Hilyer,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  in  treating  this  subject,  said: 

"We  can  take  care  of  ourselves  in  a  social  way,  but  when  prejudice  sets  up  an 
invidious  distinction  and  discrimination  in  public  licensed  dining-halls,  hotels,  and  places 
of  amusement,  and  make  them  want  to  exclude  us  from  the  avenues  of  remunerative 
employments  of  the  commercial  world,  and  make  them  deny  to  the  most  cultured 
and  aspiring  among  us  admission  to  their  best  professional,  scientific,  and  literary 
associations,  we  think  it  is  a  hardship  which  we,  as  loyal  American  citizens,  ought  not 
to  be  compelled  to  endure." 

My  voice  has  been  lifted  upon  many  occasions  upon  this  subject  of  caste  prejudice. 
I  have  pleaded  with  all  the  earnestness  of  my  soul  that  all  the  avenues  of  human 
activity  be  opened  to  the  negro  race,  and  that  they  be  given  a  fair  and  impartial 
trial.  Will  this  be  done?  For  upon  this  rests  their  case.  I  can  not  dismiss  this  considera- 
tion without  saying  a  word  to  those  who  would  carry  their  prejudices  into  the  sacred 
confines  of  God's  holy  church,  and  relegate  the  negro  to  an  obscure  corner  of  the  church, 
and  endeavor  to  make  him  feel  that  he  is  not  as  good  as  the  rest  of  God's  creatures  for 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  125 

the  reason  of  the  accident  of  his  color.     How  long,  oh  Lord,  are  we  to  endure  this 
hardship  in  the  house  of  our  friends? 

We  celebrate  the  400th  year  of  the  discovery  of  America.    Lo,  all  the  nations 
of    the  earth  are  here  to  do  us  homage    with    their  presence.       I  here   appeal  to 
you,  first  as  American  citizens,  second  as  loyal  sons  of  our  Holy  Mother,  the  Church, 
to  assist  us  to  strike  down  that  hybrid  monster,  color  prejudice,  which  is  unworthy  of 
this  glorious  Republic.     We  ask  it  not  alone  for  charity's  sake,  but  as  a  right  that  has 
been  dearly  paid  for.     Our  labor  in  concert  with  the  other  laborers  of  the  land,  has 
made  this  World's  Columbian  Exposition  possible.     Our  valor  has  been  tested  in  all  the 
three  great  wars  of  the  Republic.     The  first  man  that  lost  his  life  in  defense  of  this 
country  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  Crispus  Attucks,  a  negro.  Let  us  quote  the  lan- 
guage of  that  immortal  bard,  the  lover  of  all  humanity,  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  : 
And  honor  to  Crispus  Attucks,  who  was  leader  and  voiee  that  day. 
The  first  to  defy,  and  the  first  to  die  with  Maverick,  Carr,  and  (iray, 
Call  it  a  riot  or  revolution,  his  hand  first  clinched  at  the  crown  ; 
His  feet  were  the  first  in  perilous  place  to  pull  the  King's  flag  down  ; 
His  breast  was  the  first  one  rent  apart  that  liberty's  stream  might  How; 
For  our  freedom  now  and  forever,  his  head  was  the  first  laid  low. 

William  F.  Markoe,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society  of  America,  read  the  following  paper  on  the  possibilities  of  the 
society  in  the  United  States: 

The  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America,  as  declared  in  its  prospectus,  is  one  of  the 
Fosults  of  the  first  American  Catholic  Congress  of  Baltimore.  It  is  highly  proper, 
therefore,  that  it  should  give  an  account  of  its  origin  and  progress  to  the  second  great 
American  Catholic  Congress  of  Chicago.  As  many  of  my  hearers  may  remember,  the 
delegates  to  that  first  remarkable  gathering  had  listened  to  the  burning  eloquence  of 
some  of  the  most  gifted  Catholic  minds  of  the  country.  They  are  reminded  in  the 
most  forcible  manner  that  the  mission  of  the  church  in  this  country  was  "To  make 
America  Catholic;"  that  the  second  century  of  American  Catholic  history  would  be 
what  they  made  it,  and  that  this  was  a  missionary  land  in  which  every  Catholic  man, 
woman,  and  child  owed  a  duty  to  his  neighbor  for  the  performance  of  which  posterity 
would  demand  a  strict  account.  Like  the  apostles  issuing  from  the  upper  chamber  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  those  delegates  returned  to  their  homes  filled  with  religious  zeal 
and  patriotic  enthusiasm.  "  Lay  action  "  became  the  motto  of  the  hour.  The  question 
w».s  how  could  the  laity  co-operate  with  the  church  in  her  glorious  work. 

As  a  result  of  the  interest  thus  awakened  in  the  matter  by  the  Congress  of  Balti- 
more, the  Catholic  Truth  Society  was  organized  on  the  evening  of  March  1,  1890,  in  the 
archepiscopal  residence  of  St'.  Paul,  Minn.,  with  nine  original  members,  and  its  avowed 
object  was  to  "  enable  Catholic  laymen  to  perform  their  share  of  the  work  in  the  dis- 
semination of  Catholic  truth,  and  the  encouragement  of  wholesome  Catholic  reading.'' 
Though  the  original  founders  of  the  American  society  possessed  at  that  time  little,  if 
any,  knowledge  of  the  work  of  a  similar  society  in  England,  it  was  discovered  later  that 
their  objects  were  identical,  and  their  methods  differed  only  in  the  greater  prominenoe 
given  to  newspaper  work  in  the  new  organization.  The  principal  means  adopted  by  the 
American  society  for  attaining  its  object  were  as  follows: 

1.  The  publication  of  short  timely  articles  in  the  secular  press  (to  be  paid  for  if 
necessary)  on  Catholic  doctrines. 

2.  The  prompt  and  systematic  correction  of  misrepresentations,  slanders,  and  libels 
against  Catholicity. 

3.  The  promulgation  of  reliable  and  edifying  Catholic  news  of  the  day,  as  church 
dedications,  opening  of  asylums  and  hospitals,  the  workings  of  Catholic  charitable  insti- 
tutions, abstracts  of  sermons,  and  anything  calculated  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the 
vast  amount  of  good  being  accomplished  by  the  Catholic  church. 

4.  The  publication  of  pamphlets,  tracts,  and  leaflets;  the  circulation  of  pamphlets, 
tracts,  leaflets,  and  Catholic  newspapers. 

5.  Occasional  public  lectures  on  subjects  of  Catholic  interest. 

6.  Supplying  jails  and  reformatories  with  good  and  wholesome  reading  matter. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  our  society  offers  a  variety  of  methods  sufficient  to  suit  the  tal- 
ents and  tastes  of  all,  yet  its  very  life  and  essence  consist  in  disseminating  Catholic 
truth  through  the  medium  of  the  press.  It  does  this  in  two  ways:  First,  it  endeavors 
to  reach  the  vast  American  reading  public  through  those  great  channels  of  popular 
information,  the  secular  dailies.  It  would  seem  as  though  Providence  had  permitted 
these  great  journals  to  attain  their  enormous  circulation  in  order  to  afford  Catholics 
an  easy  and  efficient  means  of  conveying  the  priceless  treasure  of  Christian  faith  which 


i26  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

they  possess  to  the  countless  millions  in  search  of  Divine  truth.      On  the  day  of  Pente 
cost  he  worked  a  miracle  to  enable  the  apostles  to  speak  in  all  languages  at  once  and 
thus  reach  thousands  of  hearers  in  a  moment.     In  our  days  he  puts  at  our  disposal  1  he 
modern  newspaper,  by  which  a  sermon  can  be  conveyed  in  an  hour  to  millions  of  read-_ 
ers. 

Have  you  ever  thought  of  that,  my  friends?  Can  we  shut  our  eyes  to  this  modern 
miracle  of  Pentecost?  This  use  of  the  secular  press,  which  we  are  willing  to  pay  for,  if 
necessary,  is  a  method  of  "carrying  the  war  into  Africa?  "  Of  course.no  intelligent 
Catholic  will  dispute  for  a  moment  the  power  of  the  Catholic  press,  the  importance  of 
the  field  it  occupies,  or  the  value  of  the  results  it  has  obtained.  But  what  do  non- 
Catholics  know  about  the  Catholic  press?  How  many  of  them  ever  read  a  Catholic 
journal?  With  many,  alas!  the  very  word  "  Catholic  "  is  sufficient  to  excite  suspicion 
and  thwart  the  good  thai;  is  intended;  hence,  we  are  forced  to  admit  that  "  when  the 
mountain  will  not  come  to  the  prophet,  the  prophet  must  go  to  the  mountain." 

Another  reason  makes  it  necessary  for  us  to  have  recourse  to  the  secular  rather 
than  the  Catholic  press  in  this  work.  "Mis-statements,  slanders,  and  libels  against 
Catholic  truth  "  do  not  usually  appear  in  Catholic  papers ;  hence,  that  is  hardly  the 
place  to  correct  them.  Moreover,  the  value  of  a  correction  depends  largely  upon  the 
promptness  with  which  the  truth  is  sent  traveling  on  the  heels  of  error.  This  prompt- 
ness can  never  be  secured  in  the  columns  of  the  Catholic  weeklies.  The  damage  is  done 
in  the  secular  dailies,  and  they  are  the  ones  that  must  repair  it.  Nor  is  this  an  unreason- 
able demand  to  make  on  the  secular  press.  Newspapers  do  not,  as  a  rule,  willfully  or 
knowingly,  slander  their  readers.  They  aim  to  give  the  news  impartially  and  correctly, 
and  are  always  glad  to  receive  it  from  reliable  sources. 

To  guard,  however,  against  the  danger  of  incompetent  persons  attempting  too 
much,  ample  provision  is  made  in  the  constitution  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society 
directing  how  such  newspaper  work  shall  be  done ;  yet,  as  all  can  not  write,  we  follow 
in  this  the  motto  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  England  :  "For  ten  who  can  write 
10,000  can  subscribe  and  100,000  can  scatter  the  seed." 

Hence,  the  second  way  in  which  we  work  through  the  press  is  by  furnishing  all 
•  ut  members  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  new,  cheap,  and  original  literature, 
efcoeoially  designed  for  our  work,  and  presumably  the  most  useful,  suitable,  and  appro- 
;..  tate  for  the  purpose  that  can  possibly  be  produced.  Our  plan  of  publication,  briefly 
stated,  is  as  follows : 

Pamphlets,  tracts,  and  leaflets  are  solicited  without  remuneration  from  the  ablest 
ecclesiastics  and  laymen  whom  the  society  can  interest  in  its  work,  and  furnished  to  all 
its  members  and  affiliated  branches  at  a  nominal  price,  based  on  the  cost  of  an  electro- 
type edition  of  not  less  than  10,000  copies.  We  trust  to  the  annual  initiation  fee  of  our 
members  and  the  energy  of  our  local  branches  throughout  the  country  to  meet  the 
necessary  pecuniary  outlay  and  to  dispose  of  our  publications.  The  slight  profit  thai 
may  then  remain  is  used  in  distributing  our  literature  gratis  among  non-Catholics, 
where  it  will  do  the  most  good.  Thus  it  is  evident  that  with  100,000  members  we  could 
flood  the  land  with  Catholic  literature  almost  gratis. 

The  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  has  not  failed  to  win  during  its  short  career 
the  hearty  approval  of  the  American  hierarchy  and  of  our  Holy  Father,  the  Pope  him- 
self. We  have  received  earnest  letters  of  approval  from  his  eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
from  four  archbishops,  and  thirteen  bishops.  On  March  10th  we  received  the  special 
blessing  of  our  Holy  Father  by  cable,  and  on  March  10, 1893,  we  received  a  papal  indult, 
dated  February  19th,  granting  special  plenary  and  partial  indulgences  for  five  years  to 
the  members,  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America,  and  all  who  write,  publish,  or 
promote  the  spread  of  the  society's  literature.     What  more  can  we  ask? 

As  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  and  its  work  becomes  better  known,  it  would  seem  a 
difficult  matter  for  any  earnest  Catholic,  who  loves  his  church  and  his  country,  to  find 
an  excuse  for  not  joining  it.  As  its  affairs  are  conducted  by  a  board  of  directors,  who 
hold  monthly  meetings  for  the  transaction  of  all  its  business  without  pecuniary  com- 
pensation, membership  involves  no  irksome  duties;  there  are  no  compulsory  meetings; 
no  fines  or  penalties,  and  the  annual  jubscription  is  only  nominal;  it  interferes  with  no 
other  society  in  existence,  for  its  ultimate  object  being  to  "Bring  other  sheep  into  the 
fold,"  its  ultimate  effect  must  naturally  be  to  strengthen  and  increase  the  membership 
of  all  other  Catholic  societies. 

The  individual  member  has  full  liberty  to  work  according  to  his  ability  and  oppor- 
tunities in  the  manner  his  judgment  and  inclination  may  suggest.  He  may  write  for 
1 1  e  press,  disseminating  Catholic  truth,  correcting  misstatements  and  furnishing  edify- 
ing Catholic  sews,  always,  however,  taking  care  not  to  compromise  the  society;  or  if 


WORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES.  l  2  - 

he  can  not  write,  at  least  he  can  distribute  an  occasional  tract,  attend  the  lectures,  and 
bring  a  non-Catholic  friend,  cany  tin-  literature  furnished  by  the  secretary  to  the  im- 
prisoned, secure  new  members,  and  aid  the  good  cause  in  count!  ways  as 
occasion  offers. 

So  much  for  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America.    Of  its  possi- 
bilities in  the  United  States,  time  will  permit  of  a  few  words  only.    Never,  perhaps,  in 
the  history  of  the  church  was  field  of  labor  more  glorious,  open  to  the  efforts  of  her  chil- 
dre  n  than  in  our  own  age  and  land.     This  country  owes  its  very  discovery  tot! 
fai  th  of  a  devout  son  of  the  church  who  undertook  the  search  for  a  new  world  thai  he 
might  sow  therein  the  seeds  of  divine  faith— the  immortal  Christopher  Columbus.    Nor 
is  this  soil  unfriendly  to  the  Christian  religion.    The  United  States  governmenl 
never,  like  so  many  European  governments,  made  war  on  the  Pope,  or  cast  off 
authority  of  the  church.     This  nation  since  its  birth  has  never  performed  one  act  of 
hostility  to  the  Catholic  religion,  martyred  or  persecuted  a  single  Catholic,  and  its  firsl 
act  on  winning  independence  was  to  repair  the  injustice  of  the  mother  countrv  and  to 
place  Catholicity  on  an  equal  footing  with  Protestantism. 

Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  natural  affinity  between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the 
American  Republic.  In  the  language  of  Chief  Justice  Shea,  of  the  Marine  Court  of  New 
/oik,  "Our  own  government  and  the  laws  which  administer  it,  like  those  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  are  in  every  part— legislative,  judicial,  and  executive— Christian  in  nature,  form, 
and  purpose." 

In  the  still  plainer  words  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  Brownson,  than  whom  America  has 
produced  no  deeper  thinker,  "  the  American  State  recognizes  only  the  Catholic  religion. 
It  eschews  all  sectarianism,  and  none  of  the  sects  have  been  able  to  get  their  peculiar- 
ities incorporated  into  its  constitution  or  its  laws.  The  State  conforms  to  what  each 
holds  that  is  Catholic — that  is  always  and  everywhere  religion;  and  whatever  is  not 
Catholic  it  leaves  as  outside  of  its  province,  to  live  or  die  according  to  its  own  inherent 
vitality  or  want  of  vitality." 

Thus,  wrhere  Columbus  and  our  Catholic  ancestors  have  sown  the  seed  it  is  ours  to 
reap  the  harvest.  Amid  the  universal  crumbling  of  creeds  and  wreck  of  religions,  the 
ship  of  Peter  alone  sails  majestically  onward  and  upward,  and  it  is  for  us  who  are  on 
board  of  her  to  cast  the  nets  in  which  the  souls  of  men  must  be  saved  from  religious 
shipwreck. 

The  opportunity  is  before  us.  The  Catholic  Truth  Society  supplies  the  means.  Let 
us  not  be  recreant  to  a  duty  so  noble.  A  nation  whose  mottoes  are  "  In  God  we  trust.*' 
and  "  E  pluribus  unum,"  must  soon  recognize  the  necessity' of  unity  in  religion,  and 
that  religion  alone  can  safeguard  it.  When  that  day  comes,  Catholicity  will  dawn  liks 
a  new  revelation  on  the  American  mind,  Then  may  be  realized  these  prophetic  wordi. 
of  John  Bright:  "  I  see  another  and  a  brighter  vision  before  my  gaze.  It  may  be  only  a 
vision,  but  I  cherish  it.  I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the  frozen  North 
to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  calmer  waters  of 
the  Pacific  main;  and  I  see  one  people,  one  language,  one  law,  and  one  faith;  and  all 
over  that  wide  continent,  the  home  of  freedom,  and  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  every 
race  and  clime." 

Richard  R.  Elliott,  of  Detroit,  contributed  a  paper  on  "Public  and  Private 
Charities,"  in  which  he  considered  the  question  from  the  Catholic  as  well  as 
from  a  practical  standpoint.     The  substance  of  his  paper  follows: 

It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  the  evil  tendencies  and  results  of  public  outdoor  relief 
in  a  Catholic  parish  in  connection  with  the  work  of  a  pastor,  who  is  aided  in  caring  for 
the  poor  by  such  auxiliary  charitable  societies  as  may  be  established  in  his  parish.  The 
pastor  of  a  city  parish,  having  a  census  of  the  members  of  his  congregation,  will  most 
probably  know7  the  status  of  the  religious  and  temporal  condition  of  each  family  or 
member.  He  knows  the  location  of  the  homes  of  the  wealthy,  of  the  well-to-do,  of  the 
self-supporting,  as  also  the  abodes  of  those  who  may  be  classed  as  poor  families.  He 
has  either  a  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  conference  or  a  parochial  relief  society  to  aid  him  in 
such  charitable  work  as  may  be  found  necessary.  His  attention  is  called  to  a  family  in 
distress,  whose  condition  is  investigated  and  found  to  be  worthy,  and  its  care  is  relegated 
to  the  Vincentian  conference  or  some  other  organization.  If  there  be  children  old 
enough  to  go  to  school  and  they  are  not  attending  the  parish  school  this  will  be  changed, 
and  such  other  remedies  applied  as  may  be  necessary  to  ward  off  poverty  and  its  conse- 
quences if  possible. 

The  condition  of  such  families  when  first  discovered  differ  greatly.  Often,  indeed, 
is  the  widowed  or  deserted  mother  in  charge  found  to  be  a  heroine  deserving  the 
39 


i28  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

warmest  sympathy  for  her  efforts  to  keep  her  little  ones  together,  to  shelter  them  from 
the  cold,  to  feed  and  to  clothe  them,  and  to  shield  them  from  contaminating  influence 
by  companionship  or  from  vicious  surroundings.  She  has  to  do  this  by  her  individual 
efforts.  Whatever  may  have  brought  this  family  to  a  state  of  poverty  is  immaterial. 
There  it  is  found  existing  in  this  parish.  Assistance  by  Vincentian  methods  continue; 
as  the  children  grow  in  years  they  are  educated  and  instructed  in  their  religion,  in  time 
they  receive  the  sacraments,  and  one  or  more  may  then  be  found  employment,  by  which 
the  burden  of  the  heroic  mother  is  lightened  more  and  more  as  her  children  mature. 
Such  is  the  experience  of  many  devoted  pastors  who  have  worked  for  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  the  poor  within  their  parochial  limits.  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
result,  but  if  it  were  so  it  would  nevertheless  console  that  pastor  for  other  bitter  disap- 
pointments. 

Very  much  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  mother.  Her  neighbors  in  similar 
condition,  of  the  same  faith,  may  be  lazy,  indifferent,  and  intemperate.  They  will 
ridicule  the  heroic  efforts  of  this  honest  Christian  mother,  ridicule  the  practice  of  her 
religious  duties  and  her  obedience  to  pastoral  advice.  They  will  say  to  her,  "  You  are 
so  foolish  to  work  so  hard  day  after  day;  do  as  we  do;  go  to  the  office  of  the  director  of 
the  poor  and  demand  assistance,  as  thousands  of  others  do;  he  can't  refuse  you,  for  you 
have  children,  and  he  will  supply  you  with  coal  and  give  you  an  order  for  provisions 
once  a  week." 

It  would  be  a  sore  temptation  to  this  inexperienced  soul.  Half  a  ton  of  coal  a 
month  and  $5  or  $6  worth  of  provisions  would  be  equal  to  the  proceeds  of  two  or  more 
days'  work  each  week,  which  she  was  not  always  certain  to  obtain.  This  would  add  so 
much  to  the  comfort  of  herself  and  her  children,  and  she  would  not  be  obliged  to  ask 
so  much  aid  from  the  priest. 

Should  she  yield  to  the  temptation,  what  would  be  the  result?  She  goes  to  the 
office  of  the  secretary  of  the  poor  and  enters  an  anteroom  whose  atmosphere  is  sickening, 
and  finds  herself  one  among  hundreds  of  filthy -looking  and  degraded-appearing  people, 
who  are  waiting  their  turn  to  approach  the  official  window  from  which  outdoor  munic- 
ipal relief  is  given.  She  becomes  disheartened,  sick;  but  her  courage  nerves  her,  and 
she  consoles  herself  with  the  reflection  that  she  is  there  for  her  children,  not  for  herself. 
Her  turn  comes;  she  goes  to  the  official  window  and  makes  her  demand;  her  appearance 
is  favorable,  she  receives  an  order  for  provisions  and  a  promise  for  coal  if,  upon  investi- 
gation, her  statements  are  found  to  be  correct.  These  prove  favorable,  she  receives  a 
load  of  coal,  and  once  each  week  she  goes  through  the  same  ordeal  during  the  winter 
season  and  receives  an  order  for  provisions  and,  when  necessary,  coal. 

This  is  the  practical  method  of  outdoor  municipal  relief.  What  are  its  conse- 
quences? The  recipient  of  this  charity  has,  in  fact,  become  what  is  legally  termed  a 
pauper.  She  has  fallen  an  immeasurable  distance  below  the  Christian  mother  she 
was  in  her  respectable  poverty,  because,  in  obtaining  this  relief  in  the  manner  she  did, 
she  lost  her  self-respect.  She  and  her  children  are  to  be  nourished  with  pauper  food, 
and  warmed  with  pauper  coal.  Can  she  conceal  this  fact  from  her  children;  can  she 
conceal  it  from  others?  Unfortunately,  she  can  not;  and  it  remains  for  the  future  a 
stigma  upon  herself  and  her  children. 

But  there  are  other  consequences.  The  fact  that  she  receives  public  outdoor  relief 
may  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  her  pastor;  when,  therefore,  he  finds  the  object  of 
his  solicitude  less  docile,  he  is  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  cause.  But  it  will  soon  be 
developed  that  this  deserving  mother  has  become  in  a  measure  independent  of  his  con- 
trol. She  may  still  be  saved  from  the  consequences,  but  it  is  doubtful;  her  self-respect 
gone,  she  can  only  weep  at  the  degradation  she  has  brought  upon  herself  and  her  chil- 
dren. Were  there  no  system  of  outdoor  aid,  had  a  mother  who  could  get  along  during 
the  summer  season  fairly  well  by  her  own  labor,  but  who  required  assistance  during  the 
winter  season,  no  recourse  to  outdoor  aid,  she  would  be  guided  by  the  advice  of  her 
pastor  or  of  other  private  charitable  agencies,  who  would  render  her  temporary  assist- 
ance from  time  to  time,  and  tide  her  over  an  inclement  season  or  a  period  of  stagnation 
when  work  would  be  scarce;  she  would  be  saved  from  the  disgrace  of  pauperism,  her 
children  would  be  properly  educated  and  instructed  in  their  religious  duties,  and  in 
time  this  family  would  become  self-supporting. 

There  is  a  brighter  side  to  the  administration  of  public  outdoor  aid.  It  may  be 
temporarily  given,  and  the  home  and  status  of  the  applicant  is  then  pretty  fairly  inves- 
tigated, for  an  excellent  system  of  investigation  has  been  the  rule  for  some  years.  If 
the  official  visitor's  report  be  favorable  the  aid  may  be  continued  until  poverty  no 
longer  exists  in  the  family  aided,  or  the  director  may  contribute  indefinitely  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  supplement  the  means  of  support  the  family  may  have  been  deprived  of, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  12g 

and  in  most  cases  this  is  a  worthy  bestowal  of  public  aid;  but  even  in  such  cases  it 
operates  unfavorably  to  the  recipient,  for,  unfortunately,  the  records  of  the  relieving 
officer  disclose  the  fact  that  the  names  of  nearly  all  recipients  of  such  aid  recur  year 
after  year  until  death,  some  fortunate  event,  or  removal  from  the  city  brings  the  account 
to  a  close. 

But  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  in  all  American  cities  the  poor  or  dependent 
classes,  as  they  may  become  so,  can  and  should  be  properly  cared  for  by  charitable 
methods  independent  of  official  outdoor  relief.  As  this  system  interferes  with  the  efforts 
of  private  charities  to  restore  these  dependent  classes  to  self-support,  as  it  interferes  to 
thwart  organized  effort  for  their  religious  and  temporal  improvement,  as  it  encourages 
begging,  imposition,  and  laziness,  and  breeds  pauperism,  it  may  be  claimed  that  public 
and  private  charities  would  become  more  effective  by  the  general  abolition  of  the  sys- 
tem of  outdoor  relief  as  heretofore  administered  in  cities. 

"  The  only  really  perfect  way  of  caring  for  the  poor,"  said  Bishop  Chatard,  "  is 
where,  to  prudence  in  dispensing  through  organized  effort,  is  added  the  presiding 
influence  of  religion,  for  the  needs  of  the  soul  are  more  important  than  those  of  the 
body.  What  is  noble  of  man  is  his  soul;  the  body  is  to  perish.  As  the  man  who 
destroys  another's  faith  in  Christianity  is  the  most  of  all  wanting  in  charity,  so  he  who 
helps  a  man  to  be  a  Christian  shows  himself  to  be  truly  charitable." 

Among  the  lay  associations,  numerous  in  every  time,  in  this  day  stands  prominent 
the  Society  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  which  has  made  the  name  of  its  founder,  Oza- 
nam,  famous  throughout  the  world.  The  system  they  follow  is  one  in  which  out-door 
relief  is  especially  looked  to,  and  every  kind  of  distress  it  is  their  object  to  meet.  "And 
the  reason  why  their  work  is  so  thorough,  and  so  permanent,  and  so  persevering,"  Dr. 
Chatard  concludes,  "  is  because  it  is  material  aid  bestowed  by  charity  enlightened  by 
religion." 

But  the  social  problem,  how  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor  and  prevent 
pauperism,  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  fruitlessly  discussed  in  this  country,  has 
been  solved  in  Europe,  and  by  methods  based  on  the  principles  as  explained  by  Bishop 
Chatard.  Where?  Was  it  solved  in  London,  distinguished  of  all  other  cities  for  the 
extent  and  debased  condition  of  its  poorer  classes?  No.  It  was  solved  in  Vienna, 
whose  population  is  about  one-fourth  that  of  the  capital  of  the  British  Empire,  whose 
Empress,  figuratively  speaking,  rules  a  free  people;  while  the  Emperor  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary rules  as  a  paternal  autocrat. 

But  once  each  year  the  Austrian  monarch  teaches  the  sublime  lesson  of  charity  by 
publicly  washing  the  feet  of  twelve  of  the  poorest  subjects  of  his  great  empire.  Fancy 
Queen  Victoria  washing  the  feet  of  twelve  poor  wretches  from  a  London  workhouse,  or 
President  Cleveland  those  of  twelve  of  the  poorest  negroes  in  the  American  capital! 
But  when  a  Catholic  monarch,  before  the  highest  dignitaries  of  church  and  state,  and 
with  all  the  eclat  a  brilliant  court  can  add  to  the  surroundings,  offers  this  example  of 
Christian  charity  to  his  subjects,  the  time-honored  scene  is  not  without  its  effect.  And 
behind  this  ceremony  there  exists  probably  the  only  successful  practical  method  known 
in  Christendom,  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  poor  from  the  foundling  waif  to  the 
last  age  of  man  under  religious  direction. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  chivalrous  impulse  which  adds  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  conferences  of  the  society  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  from  the  highest  classes 
in  Europe  does  not  exist  to  the  same  extent  in  this  country.  Time  may  develop  a 
change,  and  it  would  be  well  if  the  ordinaries  publicly  encouraged  the  formation  of 
conferences  in  city  parishes.  To  make  such  a  conference  effective  there  should  be  one 
master  spirit  to  lead,  either  the  president  or  secretary;  for  much  depends  upon  a 
prudent,  zealous,  and  active  leader.  Thorough  investigation  should  be  the  rule,  and 
information  sought  from  all  relieving  agencies;  for  without  diligent  scrutiny  it  is  im- 
possible to  avoid  imposition.  All  reports  should  be  in  writing,  to  enable  the  secretary 
to  comply  with  the  manual,  by  having  the  record  of  existing  cases  of  relief  written  up 
each  week.  It  is  all  important  that  conference  meetings  be  held  on  week  day  instead 
of  on  Sunday  mornings,  when  members  would  perhaps  prefer  to  be  eating  breakfast. 
At  an  evening  meeting  time  will  permit  a  free  discussion  of  the  merits  of  each 
beneficiary,  and  consultation  of  the  vital  subject  of  obtaining  employment  for  such  as 
are  in  need  of  work,  and  the  spiritual  exercises  and  reading.  It  is  impossible  to 
accomplish  the  requirements  of  the  manual  in  a  morning  session  of  an  hour.  It  is 
probable  that  no  conference  work  in  a  city  can  be  satisfactorily  done  at  Sunday  morn- 
ing meetings. 

Auxiliary  assistance  may  be  provided  by  a  pastor  of  a  city  parish  for  Vincentian 
work  by  a  ladies'   society,  to  visit  the  poor  in  their  homes;  for  such  visitors  are  more 


I3o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

observing  than  men,  and  can  discover  defects  and  wants  which  a  man  can  not,  but  the 
most  important  auxiliary  aid  a  conference  can  have  is  a  temperance  society,  for  perhaps 
50" per  cent  of  the  cause  of  poverty  arises  from  intemperance,  and  such  a  great  factor  of 
misery  should  be  counteracted  in  every  parish.  A  very  simple  arrangement  may 
provide  a  labor  intelligence  office  in  each  parish  by  providing  a  register  in  some  office  or 
store,  nearest  the  church,  where  those  in  need  of  work  could  leave  their  names,  occu- 
pations, and  address,  and  those  needing  servants  or  others  for  work  could  avail  them- 
selves of  this  method. 

Knowing  what  I  do  of  the  imposition  practiced  by  applicants  for  aid,  and  the  neces- 
sity existing  for  educating  members  to  detect  such  fraud,  if  I  were  the  president  of  a  con- 
ference, I  would  have  read  once  a  month,  at  least,  a  chapter  from  Dr.  S.  Humphrey 
Gurteen's  "Handbook  of  Charity,"  which  contains  much  valuable  information  and  many 
useful  suggestions  in  connection  with  the  treatment  of  the  poor  in  American  cities. 

"Pauperism.  The  Cause  and  the  Remedy,"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper 
read  by  Thomas  D wight,  M.  D.,  of  Boston,  which  follows: 

Those  who  would  honor  God  by  serving  His  poor  must,  if  they  would  do  their  whole 
duty,  bring  all  that  they  have  to  that  service.  It  is  to  be  undertaken  deliberately, 
seriously.  Not  only  the  force  of  the  body,  but  the  powers  of  the  soul  must  be  brought  to 
bear.  As  rational  beings,  undertaking  a  serious  work,  it  is  for  us  first  deliberately  to 
apply  our  reason  to  the  matter,  to  study  it  as  we  should  study  any  commercial  enter- 
prise in  which  we  were  about  to  embark,  any  scientific  question  which  we  hoped  to 
solve.  Instinctive  charity  is  good.  We  have  a  kindly  feeling  for  Goldsmith's  village 
preacher  in  his  dealings  with  the  poor  : 

Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan, 
His  pity  gave  ere  charity  began. 

But  charity  guided  by  reason  is  something  higher. 

Pauperism  and  poverty  are  not  the  same.  Every  poor  man  is  not  a  pauper.  The 
pauper  is  one  who  habitually  lives  in  a  state  of  destitution,  without  recognized  means 
of  support,  without  purpose  or  hope  of  bettering  his  condition.  Of  course  there  are 
paupers  of  all  grades.  Of  course  this  species  is  not  always  easily  recognized.  There 
are  transitional  forms.  The  poor  man,  falling  under  discouragement,  is  not  far  re- 
moved from  the  pauper  who,  as  yet,  is  not  quite  hopeless.  At  the  other  extreme  the 
pilfering  pauper  merges  by  degrees  into  the  habitual  criminal.  I  should  hesitate  to  class 
as  paupers  those  who,  near  the  close  of  an  industrious  life,  fall  into  destitution.  But  in 
spite  of  uncommon  instances,  the  pauper  is,  on  the  whole,  a  fairly  distinct  type. 

Let  us  try  to  see  him  as  he  is,  without  Pharisaical  condemnation  on  the  one  hand  or 
sentimental  gush  on  the  other.  Like  other  people,  he  may  be  married  or  single.  The  married 
pauper  is  the  one  we  are  most  concerned  with  in  large  cities,  for  the  unmarried  speedily 
become  something  else.  If  caught  and  saved  early  he  may  rise  to  something  better, 
otherwise  he  becomes  a  tramp  in  summer,  an  inmate  of  a  penal  or  charitable  institu- 
tion  in  winter,  or  too  often  an  habitual  criminal.  Though  the  more  picturesque  type 
of  the  two,  let  us  leave  him  to  attend  chiefly  to  the  one,  who,  if  not  more  to  be  pitied, 
seems  at  least  more  deserving  of  pity.  He  has  a  wife  and  many  children.  They  live 
crowded  together  in  a  dirty  tenement.  One  shudders  to  think  of  the  well-nigh  inevita- 
ble want  of  all  the  most  elementary  decencies  of  civilized  life.  The  room  is  foul,  the  air 
is  foul  from  want  of  ventilation  and  drainage,  the  bodies  are  foul  from  want  of  water, 
and  often  from  disease.  Think  not  that  I  lay  this  dirt  to  their  charge.  How  could  it 
be  otherwise?  If  the  family  have  fallen  to  this  from  something  higher,  we  may  be  sure 
that  it  was  by  degrees  that  one  sign  of  self-respect  fled  after  another.  The  man  is 
lazy.  Perhaps  he  was  not  so  always.  He  may  have  worked  well  and  willingly  once,  but 
hard  times,  improvidence,  sickness,  dissipation  (perhaps  even  a  casual,  almost  an  inno- 
cent, deviation  may  have  cost  him  a  place),  misfortune,  in  short,  of  many  kinds  may  have 
brought  him  low,  until,  by  degrees,  hope  has  changed  to  despair.  He  drinks,  of  -course. 
There  is  at  least  a  temporary  comfort  in  it.  Many  in  other  stations  drink  more  with 
far  less  excess.  But  bad  liquor  in  vile  surroundings  does  not  make  glad  the  heart  of 
man.  The  lowest  passions,  the  violence,  the  brutality  in  the  depths  of  the  rough  nature 
are  brought  to  the  surface.  His  wife  drinks,  too.  Why  should  she  not?  she  says  to 
herself  If  he  is  to  come  home  drunk  and  brutal,  why  should  he  find  her  sober?  It 
will  be  easier  to  bear  if  she  is  drunk,  too.  It  is  needless  to  complete  the  picture, 
for  we  can  read  the  sequel  any  day  in  the  police  reports. 

And  the  children!  No  prophet  is  needed  to  foretell  their  future.  Happily  the 
mortality  below  five  years  is  very  large.  But  this  speedy  release  is  not  for  all.  Who 
teaches  their  prayers  to  the  little  ones?    What  do  they  know  of  God  but  as  a  name  to 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  131 

swear  with?  Even  if  of  a  Sunday  they  occasionally  pass  an  hour  in  the  crowded  base- 
ment of  a  church,  they  may  grow  up  without  understanding  how  to  make  even  an  act  >f 
contrition.  How  will  they  resist  the  temptations  around  them  at  their  very  d 
The  father  may  have  been  originally  a  fairly  well-living  man,  but  as  he  went  di 
into  the  mire  of  pauperism  he  had  to  take  such  neighbors  as  he  found.  The  drunken, 
the  riotous,  the  lewd  swarm  on  the  same  staircase,  perhaps  on  the  same  rloor.  What 
future  is  before  his  little  girls  there!  It  is  enough  to  make  him  drink  the  deeper  if,  in  a 
lucid  moment,  he  thinks  of  it. 

How  does  he  live?  Of  course  he  must  have  food,  and  he  must,  at  times,  at  least, 
have  money  to  pay  for  his  liquor.  How  he  does  it  is  a  mysterv;  a  question  which  1 
incline  to  think  very  few  but  those  living  on  the  spot  can  answer  fully.  He  does  o.  Id 
jobs  when  he  gets  them  andfeels  like  it.  He  is  helped  very  often  by  municipal  or  pri- 
vate charity,  but  to  eke  his  living  out  he  must  have  occult  ways  of  which  we  know  lit 
tie.  A  common  one  is  the  illegal  sale  of  liquor;  another  is  receiving  night  lodgers  in 
his  crowded  tenement.  When  charitable  visitors  come  he  sometimes  lawns  and  some- 
times snarls;  this  is  according  to  the  nature  of  the  man.  his  degree  of  degradation  and 
his  idea  of  his  own  interest;  but  he,  practically,  always  lies.  Let  us  not  blame  him  too 
much  for  this.  Why  should  he  feel  called  upon  to  tell  all  his  secrets?  They  cannot 
be  bought  by  an  order  for  groceries,  still  less  by  a  system  of  taking  notes  and  giving 
good  advice.  He  may  well  be  excused  for  declining  to  expose  to  public  scrutiny  a  life 
ill-titted  for  close  inspection. 

Such  is  the  condition  of  the  typical  married  pauper  in  a  great  city.  I  believe  it  is 
a  fair  average  specimen.  There  are  both  better  and  worse.  It  is  certainly  a  ghastly 
picture.  Too  many  of  the  rich  turn  away  from  it  as  too  repulsive.  What  feelings  of 
brotherhood  have  they  with  this  dirty,  drunken,  shiftless,  lying  pauper?  Each  epithet 
is  but  too  well  deserved,  but  what  has  made  him  all  this?  Is  it  wholly  his  own  fault? 
Is  it  wholly  our  own  virtue  that  has  made  us  something  else?  Have  we  any 
reason  to  believe  that  in  his  place  we  should  have  been  less  dirty,  drunken, 
shiftless,  and  debauched  than  he?  It  is  humiliating  to  think  how  Pharisaical 
one  is.  How  we  feel  that  the  poor  man  should  be  resigned,  cheerful,  industrious, 
temperate,  neat  in  dress,  polite  in  speech,  and,  above  all,  candid  to  our  questions. 
This  is  a  part  of  the  system  of  weighing  with  an  unjust  balance,  which  the  Lord 
hateth.  "  Clear  your  mind  from  cant,"  was  the  advice  of  Dr.  Johnson.  It  is  an  excel- 
lent preliminary  to  the  study  of  these  questions. 

Many  paupers  have  been  such  from  their  childhood  up.  They  have  been  bred 
literally  in  the  slum  and  gutter.  Their  bodies  bear  in  their  most  intimate  tissues  the 
inheritance  of  vice.  Unnatural  and  debased  cravings  are  inherited  also.  Such  a  one 
can  not  remember  the  time  when  his  body  was  sound  and  his  mind  pure.  He  is  a  pauper 
both  in  soul  and  body.  To  those  ignorant  of  these  matters  it  were  as  easy  to  conceive 
the  physical  conditions  of  life  on  a  planet  circling  round  a  red  sun  with  a  blue  com- 
panion, as  to  grasp  the  feelings  toward  society  of  such  a  young  pauper,  who  does  not 
know  God,  and  knows  man,  that  is,  the  man  of  his  world,  only  too  well.  Kindness  is 
unknown,  justice  incomprehensible.  Who  ever  made  a  bargain  with  him  who  did  not 
exact  the  most  work  for  the  least  pay  ?  If  ever  a  man  gave  him  alms,  it  was  as  to  a  dog 
or  with  a  sneer.  Gratitude  could  go  no  further  than  to  thank  fortune  for  putting  a 
fool  in  his  path. 

What  good  has  he  ever  received  from  his  fellows  ?  Wrongs  and  insults  he  can  re- 
call by  the  score  ;  but  what  good  ?  How  many  civil,  not  to  say  kindly,  words  have  ever 
been  spoken  to  him  ?  He  knows  that  there  is  no  love  given  with  the  food  which  society 
feels  forced  to  supply  to  him.      What  has  he  to  be  grateful  for  ? 

Grown  familiar  with  disfavor, 
Grown  familiar  with  the  savor 
Of  the  bread  by  which  men  die- 
he  has  an  instinctive  distrust  of  society  which  needs  but  little  to  become  hatred.    Or 
granting  that  occasionally  he  has  fallen  in  with  charitable  persons,  the  distorting 
medium  through  which  impressions  reach  him  makes  it  all  incomprehensible  to  him. 
We  can  guess  at  his  temptations,  but  not  at  his  idea  of  duty  or  at  his  accountability. 

There  isa  very  suggestive  passage  in  Dickens'  novel  "Great  Expectations,"  where 
the  convict  gives  some  account  of  his  early  years.  He  remembers  himself  first  in  the 
country  stealing  turnips  for  a  living. 

"  I  know'd  my  name  to  be  Magwitch,  chrisen'd  Abel.  How  did  I  know  it?  Much 
as  I  know'd  the  birds'  names  in  the  hedges  to  be  chaffinch,  sparrer,  thrush.  I  might 
have  thought  it  was  all  lies  together,only  as  the  birds'  names  come  out  true,  I  supposed 
mine  did. 


132 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


"  So  far  as  I  could  find,  there  warn't  a  soul  that  see  young  Abel  Magwitch,  with  as 
little  on  him  as  in  hirn,  but  wot  caught  fright  at  him  and  either  drove  him  off  or  took 
him  up.  I  was  took  up,  took  up,  took  up  to  that  extent  that  I  reg'larly  grow'd  up 
took  up. 

"  This  is  the  way  it  was  that  when  I  was  a  ragged  little  creetur,  as  much  to  be 
pitied  as  ever  I  see—  not  that  I  looked  in  the  glass,  for  there  warn't  many  insides  of 
furnished  houses  known  to  me — I  got  the  name  of  being  hardened.  '  This  is  a  terrible 
hardened  one,'  they  says  to  prison  visitors,  picking  me  out.  '  May  be  said  to  live  in 
jails,  this  boy.'  Then  they  looked  at  me,  and  I  looked  at  them,  and  they  measured  my 
head,  some  on  'em — they  had  better  measured  my  stomach — and  others  on  'em  give  me 
tracts  what  I  couldn't  read  and  made  me  speeches  what  I  couldn't  understand.  They 
always  went  on  agen  me  about  the  devil,  but  what  the  devil  was  I  to  do?  I  must  put 
something  into  my  stomach,  musn't  I? 

"  Tramping,  begging,  thieving,  working  sometimes,  when  I  could — though  that 
warn't  as  often  as  you  may  think,  till  you  put  the  question  whether  you  would  ha'  been 
over  ready  to  give  me  work  yourselves — a  bit  of  a  poacher,  a  bit  of  a  laborer,  a  bit  of  a 
waggoner,  a  bit  of  a  haymaker,  a  bit  of  a  hawker,  a  bit  of  most  things  that  don't  pay 
and  lead  to  trouble,  I  got  to  be  a  man." 

Thus  the  pauper,  as  a  rule,  is  one  morally  as  well  as  physically.  He  is  only  moder- 
ately dangerous  to  the  State  just  so  long  as  he  does  not  think.  But  thought  is  now  in 
the  air;  it  is  everywhere,  for  good  and  for  evil.  Wise  men  now  appreciate  that  the  old 
saying,  one  half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the  other  half  lives,  cannot  hold  true 
much  longer.  The  under  half  is  determined,  and  rightly,  that  the  other  half  shall 
know  it.  How  long  will  the  pauper  stand  his  misery  when  the  horrible  inequality  of 
this  world  is  brought  home  to  him,  without  the  explanation  which  religion  alone  offers? 
His  hand  is  ready  for  the  dynamite  which  the  infamous  anarchist  will  put  into  it. 
Against  such  society  protects  herself  with  the  Gatling  gun  and  the  gallows.  All  honor 
to  the  commonwealth  that  does  not  shrink  from  their  use  when  the  crisis  comes!  But 
let  no  one  flatter  himself  that  such  measures  are  any  cure  for  the  evil.  They  are 
dread  necessities  for  the  putting  down  of  violence;  that  is  all.  They  do  not  remove  the 
deep  sense  of  wrong  which  is  at  the  root. 

What  reason  is  there  that  the  pauper  should  bear  his  sufferings  patiently?  The 
more  he  thinks  of  them  the  worse  they  seem.  This  is  not  due  only  to  the  effect  of  self- 
love  in  distorting  his  vision.  It  is  because  in  very  truth  these  evils  will  not  bear  think- 
ing of.  Thought  reveals  only  the  more  clearly  the  monstrous  injustice  of  his  position, 
seen  from  the  natural  standpoint  alone. 

Such  being  the  evil,  what  is  the  remedy? 

It  is  to  make  the  pauper  a  Christian.  With  a  Catholic  audience,  it  is  superfluous  to 
prove  this  point.  We  have  the  great  advantage  over  others  that  we  bring  to  the  study 
of  great  questions  certain  fundamental  truths  as  starting  points  which  to  them  are  still 
objects  of  speculation.  We  are  not  to  be  deceived  by  tha  shallow  fallacies  that  crime 
is  a  form  of  physical  disease;  that  learning  without  religion  deters  from  vice;  that  to 
accumulate  money  only  is  to  become  respectable. 

We  have  learned  also  to  look  at  questions  from  a  supernatural  standpoint.  Were  I 
an  atheist  I  should  emphatically  deny  that  there  is  any  reason  for  loving  one's  neighbor. 
As  Catholics,  we  know  that  there  are  great  ones.  There  is  first  our  Lord's  command; 
then  we  know  that  every  one  of  the  human  race  was  created  for  an  eternity  of  glory 
which  it  has  not  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  and  finally  that  the  soul  of 
the  lowest  is  of  such  value  that  the  Son  of  God  died  to  save  it.  But  these  are  all 
supernatural  reasons  which  we  hold  as  Christians.  Mere  humanitarianism  without 
faith  has  no  logical  basis. 

Hence  we  reach  at  once  our  conclusion  that  the  pauper  is  to  be  made  a  Christian 
to  be  raised  from  his  degradation  of  soul  and  body.  Hence  comes  also  the  corollary, 
that  it  is  for  us  Catholics  to  do  it.  We  may  thankfully  accept  all  help  that  the  State 
and  our  friends  outside  the  church  will  give  us,  but  we  must  entrust  this  work  to 
none. 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  the  pauper  must  be  made  a  Christian.  So  easy  to  say  and  so 
hard  to  do  that  it  sounds  like  cant.  But  let  it  sound  as  it  may,  this  is  the  problem 
before  us.    Let  us  then  discuss  the  means. 

The  pauper  is  essentially  a  degraded  type.  If  the  degradation  could  be  stopped  the 
type  would  die  out.  It  is  far  easier  to  save  a  man,  still  more  to  save  a  child  from  be- 
coming a  pauper  than  to  reform  the  deformed  individual.  We  must,  therefore,  consider 
both  prevention  and  cure.  Practically,  as  will  soon  appear,  the  two  processes  are 
hardly  distinct.    The  difference  is  only  in  the  greater  difficulty,  humanly  speaking,  in 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  133 

the  hopelessness  of  saving  the  confirmed  pauper.      The  latter  has  no  correct  notions 
about  anything.     Society  seems  in  league  against  him.     Law   is  but  an   engiin 
oppression.      Nothing  but  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  can  give  him  light  on  the  in- 
equality of  things  here  below.    That  his  burdens  should  become  bearable  1  hoy  must  be 
seen  in  the  light  of  the  supernatural.     He  must  learn  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

But  how  is  he  to  learn  it  if  there  is  none  to  teach  ?  Moreover,  it  is  a  branch  of 
knowledge  that  must  be  taught  by  object  lessons.  What  he  needs  is  a  friend.  One 
who  will  do  more  than  say  a  kind  word  as  he  leaves  an  order  for  relief,  one  who  will  take 
a  true  interest  in  his  concerns,  who  will  spend  hours,  if  nerd  be,  in  his  company,  who 
by  weeks  and  months  of  patience  will  find  time  to  speak  to  him  of  his  soul,  and  above 
all  shall  show  him  that  he  does  it  for  the  love  of  God.  This  is  the  work  done  by  the 
Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  among  poor  and  paupers  alike.  If  in  practice  it  too 
often  falls  short  of  this  ideal,  instances  of  surpassing  it  are  not  wanting. 

The  sick  poor  should  be  cared  for  at  their  homes,  when  practicable,  as  is  done  by 
the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Assumption.  It  is  needless  to  enumerate,  in  great  detail,  the 
auxiliary  works  that  are  called  for.  They  suggest  themselves  readily  enough  to  all 
who  have  thought  on  the  subject.  There  must  be  night  asylums  for  the  homeless. 
Wayfarers'  lodges,  giving  a  bed  and  breakfast  in  exchange  for  moderate  work.  There 
should  be  institutions  for  savings,  there  should  be  plans  for  rational  amusement. 

All  these  should  be  distinctly  Catholic.  That  is  to  say,  under  Catholic  manage- 
ment, but  open  to  all.  While  religion  should  be  forced  upon  none,  its  consolations 
should  be  offered  to  all  who  will  have  them.  The  ground  principle  that  the  love  of 
man  comes  from  the  love  of  God  should  appear.  All  this  would  cut  off  one  source  of 
pauperism  by  preventing  those  on  its  verge  from  falling  in.  It  would  go  far  to  remove 
discontent  by  doing  away  with  the  rankling  feeling  of  wrong.  The  effect  will  go 
beyond  the  poor  thus  helped  to  confirmed  paupers  themselves.  Even  if  they  rejected 
these  advances,  they  will  know  that  they  have  been  made.  Their  wives  and  children 
may  have  profited  by  them. 

The  children,  indeed,  must  not  be  forgotten,  not  only  on  account  of  their  intrinsic 
value,  but  because  by  saving  them  we  choke  up  another,  probably  the  greatest,  source 
of  pauperism.  There  must  be  sewing  schools  for  the  girls,  and  clubs  for  the  boys,  all 
tending  to  the  same  end,  to  keep  them  out  of  mischief,  to  give  them  instruction,  and, 
above  all,  to  make  them  good  Catholics.  These  are  for  the  children  of  the  poor,  and  of 
paupers  also,  but  in  the  case  of  very  many  of  the  latter,  more  will  be  needed.  They 
can  not  be  left  in  their  tainted  homes.  They  must  be  placed  in  institutions  for  a  time 
at  least.  In  this  matter  above  all  we  must  see  to  it  that  the  institution,  be  it  refuge  or 
reform  school,  must  be  Catholic.  True,  as  American  citizens,  we  can  demand  that  in 
public  institutions  nothing  hostile  to  our  religion  shall  be  taught.  The  sense  of  justice 
of  our  fellow-countrymen  gives  more  and  more  freely  the  right  of  religious  instruction 
by  ministers  of  our  own  religion  in  such  institutions.  Still,  when  the  whole  bringing 
up  of  the  neglected  child  is  at  stake,  it  is  clear  that  nothing  should  be  left  undone  to 
have  it  carried  on  under  Catholic  influences. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  our  task.  Now  comes  the  most  practical  question  of  all — 
how  is  it  to  be  done?  Have  we  the  means  ready  at  our  hands  or  must  we  seek  new 
ones?  The  answer  is  not  quite  clear,  but  this  much  is  certain,  that  our  present  means 
are  ample  for  great  good.  When  they  have  been  exhausted,  or  when  it  is  certain  that 
others  are  needed,  new  ones  will  doubtless  be  found. 

First,  then,  it  is  essential  that  Catholics  should  be  brought  thoroughly  to  under- 
stand the  vastness  of  the  issue,  and  that  the  cure  is  in  their  hands.  Let  this  great 
truth  be  brought  home  to  them  in  season  and  out  of  season,  till  it  is  accepted  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  This  being  once  accomplished  they  will  spare  nothing  to  strengthen  the 
societies  and  charitable  associations  by  which  the  actual  work  is  to  be  done.  We  shall 
then  no  longer  hear  presidents  of  conferences  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
complain,  that,  as  the  members  grow  old  and  fall  off,  young  men,  and  especially  young 
men  of  education,  do  not  come  forward  to  take  their  places.  This  is  a  crying  need,  for 
this  society  is  the  one  that  alone  should  do  a  large  share  of  the  work.  Let  all  remem- 
ber that  no  man  can  bring  to  this  society  anything  to  equal  the  advantages  he  himself 
receives  from  it. 

Societies  of  women  are  needed,  also.  It  would  be  well  that  these  should  be  asso- 
ciated, as  much  as  possible,  with  religious  orders.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  Little 
Sisters  of  the  Assumption,  young  women  might  go  further  than  were  otherwise  pru- 
dent. The  work  will  not  stop  here.  Everything  will  be  done  to  support  asylums, 
training  schools,  and  all  necessary  institutions.  But,  above  all,  if  real  good  is  to  come 
out  of  this,  we  must  frankly  realize  that  works  of  bodily  mercy  alone  are  inadequate. 


*34 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


The  evil  is  of  soul  as  well  as  of  body;  we  attack  it  from  supernatural  motives.  0u\ 
means,  in  part  at  least,  must  be  supernatural  also. 

As  has  been  said  before,  the  pauper  is  such  both  in  soul  and  body.  While  we  must 
not  mock  him  with  "  tracts  which  he  cannot  read  and  speeches  which  he  cannot  under- 
stand" when  what  he  wants  is  food  and  clothing,  neither  must  we  think  that  when  he 
is  rilled  and  warmed  the  evil  spirit  of  pauperism  has  been  exorcised.  Our  warfare  is 
not  with  want  and  dirt  and  ignorance  only,  but  "  with  principalities  and  powers." 
The  old  tendencies  to  evil,  to  say  nothing  of  shiftless  ways,  are  not  so  easily  overcome. 
Till  they  shall  be,  till  the  man  shall  begin  to  understand  Christian  charity,  to  see  things, 
though  confusedly,  in  the  light  of  God's  will,  all  improvement  will  be  skin-deep.  Phys- 
ical help  must  indeed  come  first,  but  our  supernatural  motives  for  giving  that  help 
should  be  made  apparent. 

At  first  the  pauper  will  care  little  wnether  our  motives  are  from  above  or  from  be- 
low, so  long  as  the  help  is  his,  but  their  effect  may  come  in  time.  By  degrees 
his  Catholic  instincts  will  revive.  The  little  picture  of  "Our  Lady  of 
Good  Counsel,"  which  we  have  placed  on  his  wall,  may  say  more  to  him 
than  we  know  of.  Above  all  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  still  practical  Catholics 
some  fellowship  in  worship  between  the  helpers  and  helped  is  to  be  greatly 
wished  for.  The  wonderful  spectacle  which  we  have  lately  seen  of  an  Eucharistic  Con- 
gress at  Jerusalem  is  but  another  proof  that  the  great  devotion  of  the  coming  century 
is  to  be  the  adoration  of  the  most  Blessed  Sacrament.  Let  everything  be  done  to  encour- 
age its  practice  among  the  poor.  Nowhere  do  we  feel  the  love  of  our  neighbor  so 
strongly  as  at  the  foot  of  the  altar. 

These  are  the  lines  which  we  must  x'ollow.  As  we  go  on,  the  needs  will  become 
clearer.  It  may  be  that  in  time  one  or  m -re  serni-religious  associations  may  arise  for 
this^work;  but  that  time  is  not  yet.  The  firet  and  most  important  step  is  to  rouse  Cath- 
olics to  the  conviction  that  the  need  is  pressing.  The  good  of  society,  as  well  as  Chris- 
tian charity,  demands  that  the  remedy  be  found  and  found  speedily.  Next,  we  must 
feel  that  the  work  is  ours,  and,  lastly,  that  it  is  a  supernatural  work  far  more  than  a 
physical  one.    We  need  to  have  preached  a  crusade  against  pauperism. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  underrate  one's  task,  nor  that  of  honesty  to  raise 
enthusiasm  by  concealing  difficulties.  This  is  not  the  work  of  a  year  nor  of  a  genera- 
tion. There  are  those,  unfortunately,  who  refuse  to  be  saved.  While  they  live,  they 
will  be  what  they  are.  Neither  can  their  children  always  free  themselves  so  fully  from 
inherited  trammels  as  to  be  quite  like  others.  The  prospect  for  the  grandchildren  ia 
brighter.  But  the  struggle  is  to  end  only  with  the  world.  The  poor  will  always  be  with 
us,  and  while  human  nature  is  what  it  is,  there  will  be  paupers  among  them.  What  the 
proportion  of  them  is  to  be  depends  in  part  upon  us.  Each  generation  is  the  trustee  of 
the  succeeding  one.  The  child,  moreover,  is  the  father  of  the  man.  In  bringing  up  a 
generation  of  good  Catholics  and  good  citizens  out  of  what  else  would  have  been  paup- 
ers we  exercise  an  influence  which  may  be  felt  through  centuries. 

The  subject  of  the  address  delivered  by  H.  C.  Semple,  of  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  was  "  Pope  Leo  XIII.  on  The  Condition  of  Labor."     He  said: 

The  platform  of  Catholics  on  the  condition  of  labor  was  announced  by  Leo  XIII.  in 
the  encyclical  "  Rerum  Novarum."  This  paper  seeks  to  gather  a  syllabus  of  leading 
social  principles  from  that  immortal  document  which  called  forth  letters  of  thanks 
from  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  and  which 
shows  the  head  of  the  church  as  the  reverend  counsellor  of  states,  the  father  of  Chris- 
tians, and  the  friend  of  the  people. 

What  task  more  arduous  than  to  define  the  rights  and  the  duties  of  the  rich  and 
of  the  poor,  of  capital  and  of  labor?  What  more  perilous  than  to  discuss  the  founda- 
tions of  society  when  every  word  is  scanned  by  crafty  agitators,  enemies  of  peace  and 
order?  Yet  what  more  humane  than  to  extinguish  the  embers  of  the  mighty  conflict 
which  threatens  the  very  foundations  of  society,  than  to  alleviate  the  hardships  suf- 
fered by  the  defenseless  victims  of  un-Christian  laws,  greedy  competition,  rapacious 
usury  and  despotic  monopolies  and  trusts? 

All  agree,  and  no  one  can  deny,  that  some  remedy  must  be  found,  and  quickly 
found,  for  the  misery  and  wretchedness  which  press  so  heavily  at  this  moment  on  the 
large  majority  of  the  very  poor.     But  where  is  it  to  be  found? 

Socialism  steps  forward  and  answers:  I  have  found  it :  I  am  the  redeemer  of 
society.  I  will  invest  all  property  in  the  State,  I  will  give  it  the  sole  administration,  and 
it  shall  distribute  to  each  according  to  his  needs.  Thus  I  will  abolish  poverty  and  bring. 
back  the  golden  age  of  universal  equality. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


S3 


No,  replies  the  Holy  Father.  Your  project  is  at  once  futile,  unjust  and  pernicious. 
It  is  futile,  for  if  all  goods  must  forever  remain  common,  where  is  the  workinguians 
hope  of  bettering  his  condition  by  industry  and  economy?  Where  is  his  liberty,  his 
inalienable  right  to  invest  his  wages  permanently  and  profitably,  to  dispose  freely  of  the 
fruit  of  his  sweat  ? 

But,  above  all,  it  is  emphatically  unjust.  Centralization  of  property  in  the  State 
violates  natural  rights.  The  State  cannot  take  away  the  right  to  acquire  property,  for 
this  right  is  from  God,  who  made  man  in  His  own  image  and  likeness,  and  said,  "Let  him 
have  dominion  over  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  beasts,  and 
the  whole  earth,  and  every  creeping  thing."  We  see  this  natural  right  by  the  light  of 
pure  reason,  and  see  it  in  our  ever-recurring  necessities,  and  in  nature's  first  law  of 
self-preservation.  We  see  it  in  our  intelligence,  which  surveys  the  vast  outward  world 
of  countless  objects  necessary  and  useful  for  the  support  of  life,  and  which  joins  the 
future  to  the  present.  We  see  it  in  our  free  will,  which  directs  and  guides  us  under 
Providence,  and  which  enables  us  to  select  from  the  multitude  of  earthly  goods  those 
things  best  suited  to  each  of  us.  And  no  matter  how  primitive  a  condition  of  man 
be  conceived,  even  though  no  state  existed,  yet  if  a  man  occupy  for  his  exclusive  use 
any  of  the  goods  of  earth  or  any  spot  on  its  surface  which  no  other  has  occupied,  it 
becomes  his,  and  if  besides  occupying  it,  he  expends  on  it  the  labor  of  his  hand  or  his 
mind,  he  stamps  it  with  his  own  personality,  and  to  dispossess  him  would  be  to  rob  him 
of  his  labor. 

This  natural  right  to  acquire  and  hold  property  is  manifested  more  clearly  still  in 
the  rights  and  duties  of  the  father  of  the  family.  What  right  more  clear,  what  duty 
more  sacred  for  the  father  than  to  provide  for  his  offspring  against  the  wretchedness  of 
want  in  this  mortal  life?  Yet  by  what  other  means  can  this  sacred  duty  be  fulfilled 
than  by  the  acquisition  and  ownership  of  permanent  property,  to  be  transmitted  by 
inheritance? 

True,  the  State  may  regulate  the  exercise  of  these  natural  rights.  And  in  the  e  r 
cise  of  this  power  to  regulate  the  transmission  of  property  by  inheritance,  or  testament- 
ary gift,  may  it  not  correct  to  some  extent  the  great  evil  of  our  times,  the  accumulation 
of  millions  on  millions  by  single  individuals  or  families,  by  the  imposition  of  such 
inheritance  taxes  as  will  not  only  provide  some  relief  to  the  suffering  poor  from  the 
heavy  burdens  of  taxation,  but  secure  a  fund  for  the  merely  frugal  support  of 
industrious  workingmen  in  times  of  hardship.  The  State  may  even  enter  the  domestic 
circle  to  protect  the  members  of  the  family,  but  the  State  cannot  usurp  or  absorb  the 
parental  authority,  or  destroy  its  very  life,  by  assuming  the  control  of  all  property. 

But  has  not  God  given  the  earth  to  all  men?  He  has  given  to  each  man  the  right 
to  live,  and  sustenance  necessarily  comes  from  the  land.  But  we  may  procure  itsfruits 
by  our  labor,  without  all  becoming  proprietors.  God  has  given  to  each  man  the  right 
to  acquire  property  in  land,  but  he  has  left  the  limits  of  property  to  be  determine; !  by 
the  industry  of  individuals  and  the  laws  of  states.  He  has  not  vested  the  property  of 
the  earth  in  the  human  race  promiscuously,  nor  in  the  organized  state. 

It  is  asked:  "Did  not  God  make  all  men  equal? '"  Yes;  and  no.  He  made  all  equal 
in  the  possession  of  human  bodies  and  immortal  souls,  equal  in  origin  from  God,  in  des- 
tiny for  heaven,  in  the  right  to  live  and  to  save  their  souls,  but  he  made  them  unequal 
in  strength  of  body,  in  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  in  energy  of  purpose.  And  these 
inequalities  of  nature  have  always  produced  inequalities  of  fortune,  absolutely  insepar- 
able from  our  very  nature. 

Socialism  would  introduce  discord  and  confusion,  dry  up  the  very  sources  of  pro- 
duction, and  destroy  the  chief  spur  of  genius,  and  its  boasted  equality  would  be  an 
equality  in  wretchedness  and  misery  and  of  universal  enslavement  to  t  he  State.  Nothing 
could  be  more  unjust  or  more  disastrous  than  thus  to  deny  man's  natural  rights,  so 
manifest  to  our  reason  and  so  strongly  confirmed  by  the  morally  universal  consent  of 
mankind,  by  the  practice  of  all  ages,  by  the  sanction  of  positive  human  laws,  by  the 
divine  law  itself,  which  forbids  us  even  to  cast  a  covetous  look  on  our  neighbours 
house,  or  his  field,  or  anything  that  is  his.  Therefore  socialism  is  manifestly  futile, 
Unjust,  and  pernicious,  and  cannot  be  the  remedy  which  we  seek. 

How,  then,  shall  we  soften  the  asperities  arising  from  the  friction  of  labor  and 
capital?    For  they  are  not  naturally  hostile,  but  friends. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  declares  that  this  blessed  result  demands  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  all  the  agencies  involved,  of  the  laborer  and  the  capitalist, 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  State  and  private  societies.  But,  he  adds,  that  all  their 
efforts  will  be  vain  without  the  aid  of  religion,  with  the  principles  which  she  brings 
forth  from  the  gospel.     For,  in  the  first  place,  religion,  as  the  herald  of  God.  teaches 


136  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  their  duties  of  justice.  It  says  to  the  workingman:  "Perform  faithfully  and 
scrupulously  the  labor  which  you  have  freely  and  fairly  promised.  Respect  the  person 
and  property  of  your  employer.  Never  resort  to  violence,  even  in  representing  your 
just  rights.  Above  all,  shun  the  company  of  men  of  evil  principles,  of  men  who  delude 
you  with  vain  hopes  and  lead  you  to  disaster,  denying  the  necessity  of  that  painfui 
labor  which  was  imposed  by  our  Maker  and  not  done  away  with  by  our  blessed 
Redeemer,  but  only  sweetened  by  His  example,  and  grace,  and  promises." 

To  the  capitalist  religion  cries  out  in  warning,  "  Beware  of  regarding  and  treating 
the  laborer  as  a  slave,  or  mere  muscle,  as  a  tool  for  making  money.  He  is  of  the  same 
blood  ;  the  same  divine  origin — the  same  destiny  for  heaven.  Your  fellow-image  and 
likeness  of  God,  your  fellow-Christian  and  your  brother. 

It  is  your  duty  to  see  that  he  has  rest  and  leisure  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  his 
soul.  It  is  your  duty  to  ward  off  from  him  the  allurements  to  vice  and  temptations  to 
neglect  home  life.  Beware  of  overtaxing  age,  or  sex,  or  tender  youth,  and  above  all  re- 
member that  to  defraud  him  of  his  honest  hire  or  unfairly  to  cut  down  his  wages  is 
a  sin  which  cries  to  heaven  for  vengeance." 

Such  are  the  duties  of  justice,  but  where  justice  ends  charity  begins,  which 
though  not  enforced  by  the  State,  is  most  binding  in  the  eternal  law.  For  there  is  a 
future  life,  of  wdiich  the  present  is  only  the  beginning,  where  wealth  and  luxury  here 
below  do  not  insure  beatitude,  but  rather  endanger  it. 

The  Son  of  God  was  Himself  a  poor  man  and  a  carpenter,  and  he  made  it  plain  to 
all  ages  by  His  example  that  dignity  is  in  worth  and  not  in  wealth,  and  He  taught  us 
that  the  only  path  to  heaven  is  that  stained  by  His  bloody  footprints. 

Religion  says  to  the  rich,  "  Your  wealth  is  yours, to  possess,  but  not  to  use  as  you 
please;  it  is  a  talent  of  which  you  are  only  the  steward,  and  a  rigid  account  awaits  you 
not  only  for  its  just  but  its  charitable  use."  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  religion  is  so 
engrossed  by  the  care  of  man's  spiritual  welfare  as  to  neglect  his  material  wants. 
While  consoling  us,  under  the  wretchedness  of  poverty,  and  pointing  to  the  compen- 
sation of  the  blessed  future,  she  earnestly  desires  and  actively  strives  to  help  all  to  rise 
above  the  pressure  of  want  and  acquire  property  as  an  instrument  of  virtue.  And  what 
can  be  more  conducive  to  this  than  the  practice  of  Christian  morality,  which  at  once 
merits  and  enjoys  the  blessings  of  Providence,  restrains  inordinate  lust  of  gain  and  lust 
of  pleasure,  and  represses  those  vices  which  destroy  honest  industry  and  eat  up  so 
many  goodly  inheritances.  She  not  only  does  this  by  her  teachings  but  by  active  inter- 
vention for  the  help  of  the  poor.  So  active  was  this  charity  among  the  early  Christians 
that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  record  that  "  neither  was  there  any  poor  among  them." 

St.  Paul,  though  burdened  with  the  care  of  all  the  churches,  made  long  journeys 
to  distribute  alms  of  the  charitable  to  the  needy.  The  order  of  deacons  was  instituted 
to  administer  the  patrimony  of  the  church,  which  has  been  ever  guarded  by  her  as  the 
sacred  heritage  of  the  poor.  The  heroism  of  Christian  charity  has  founded  religious 
orders  for  the  relief  of  nearly  every  description  of  poverty  and  human  misery,  and  some 
of  the  heathen,  and  even  some  in  our  time,  have  reproached  the  church  for  her  charity, 
but  there  can  be  found  no  adequate  substitute  in  any  State  organization  for  that  divine 
charity  which  springs  from  the  heart  of  Jesus. 

Such  are  the  doctrines  and  practices  which  the  Holy  Church,  through  her  bishops 
and  priests,  has  diffused  far  and  wide  throughout  the  world.  Through  agencies  insti- 
tuted and assisted  by  God,  she  applies  them  to  the  mind,  the  conscience,  and  the  heart 
of  the  individual,  and  makes  them  a  part  of  his  daily  life;  and  he  learns  to  act  from  a 
motive  of  duty  to  resist  his  evil  appetites  and  passions,  and  history  records  that  the 
teachings  of  the  church  and  the  example  of  the  life  of  Christ  subdued  in  a  great  meas 
ure  the  pride  of  wealth  and  impregnated  all  races  and  nations  which  came  under  their 
influences,  exalted  the  human  character,  and  elevated  a  debased  and  degenerated 
society. 

How,  then,  can  society  be  cured  in  our  day?  By  a  return  to  a  pure  Christianity  and 
submission  to  its  health-giving  precepts  and  practices.  What  are  the  counsels  of  the 
Holy  Father  to  the  State  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  labor?  The  State  is 
reminded  that  while  it  exists  for  the  common  good,  it  has  a  special  duty  to  workingmen 
and  to  the  poor.  For  they  are  the  most  numerous  class,  and  are  so  engrossed  by  their 
daily  necessities  as  to  have  little  leisure  or  capacity  for  the  thoughtful  and  prudent  con- 
sideration of  their  own  special  interests;  while  the  capitalists  and  employers,  fewer  in 
number,  strong  in  wealth,  and  with  an  abundance  of  leisure,  may  spend  their  days  and 
nights  in  scheming  to  add  more  and  more  to  their  gain;  and  striving  to  diminish  yet 
more  the  share  of  the  workman  in  the  product  of  his  labor.  The  power  of  the  State 
should  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  weak  to  lighten  their  burdens  by  wise  and  whole- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


lZ7 


some  administration  and  by  striving  to  secure  to  them  a  reasonable  subsistence  as  the 
price  of  their  toil  and  some  provision  for  their  necessities  in  times  of  hardship.  This  it 
may  well  do  without  suspicion  of  undue  partiality,  for  it  comes  to  the  help  of  the  weak. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  State  should  not  intervene  except  in  the  case  of 
the  tumultuous  refusal  of  the  workman  to  do  his  promised  work,  or  of  the  employer  tc 
pay  the  promised  wages ;  for  labor  is  not  only  personal,  as  belonging  to  him  who  exerts 
his  powers,  but  it  is  also  necessary  for  his  support.  It  is  true  that  wages  should  generally 
be  determined  by  contract,  but  it  is  a  dictate  of  nature  more  ancient  and  imperious  than 
any  bargain  of  men  that  the  remuneration  of  the  workn inn  must  be  sufficient  for  his 
reasonable  and  frugal  support,  for  he  has  the  right  to  live  and  all  property  is  held  sub- 
ject to  this  right.  True,  he  may  not  enforce  it  by  violence ;  he  must  exhaust  ev  rj 
other  means  of  redress  and  must  appeal  to  boards  and  societies ;  he  must  cry  out  for 
the  intervention  of  some  great  and  good  man,  like  the  late  Cardinal  Manning,  for 
his  mighty  assistance,  and  finally  appeal  to  the  State  for  approval  and  protection.  And 
if  through  necessity,  and  because  the  employer  will  go  no  farther,  he  has  accepted  hard 
and  unreasonable  conditions,  he  is,  in  fact,  a  victim  of  injustice,  which  it  will  be  wise 
for  the  State  to  correct. 

The  State  may  regulate  the  natural  right  to  acquire  property,  but  it  has  no  author- 
ity to  abolish  it  by  the  drain  and  exhaustion  of  excessive  taxation.  At  present  one  of 
the  greatest  evils  we  endure  is  that  society  is  too  nearly  divided  into  classes  of  the  very 
rich  and  the  very  poor.  One  of  these  exercises  the  great  power  of  wealth.  It  grasps 
all  labor  and  all  trade,  it  manipulates  for  its  own  profit  all  the  sources  of  supply,  and 
is  always  powerfully  represented  in  the  councils  of  the  State,  On  the  other  side  stand 
the  sore  and  suffering  multitude,  always  ready  in  their  distress  to  listen  to  the  extrav- 
agant promises  of  irresponsible  advisers,  and  prone  to  violence. 

The  working  man  should  be  encouraged  to  look  forward  to  obtaining,  and  the  law- 
should  facilitate  the  ready  acquisition  of,  parcels  of  land.  Thus  a  class  will  be  estab- 
lished which  will  be  the  best  defenders  of  the  order  and  the  bulwark  of  the  Stale. 
The  providence  of  the  State  should  foresee  and  endeavor  to  remove  all  grievances 
which  paralyze  labor  by  strikes,  often  the  result  of  injustice  and  the  fruitful  cause  of 
strife  and  violence.  It  should  not  be  indifferent,  but  sternly  interfere  when  greedy 
contractors  impose  burdens  which  exceed  human  strength,  stupefy  the  mind,  and  are 
incompatible  with  human  dignity,  which  blight  the  buds  of  childish  promise,  expose 
the  modesty  of  woman,  and  detain  the  mother  from  her  sphere  of  domestic  duty  and 
the  care  and  training  of  her  children. 

It  is  also  incumbent  on  the  State  to  protect  the  workingman's  enjoyment  of  the 
Sunday  rest;  not  to  be  devoted  to  vicious  excess,  but  that  he  may  forget,  at  least  for 
one  day  in  the  week,  mere  worldly  cares,  and  turn  his  face  and  his  thoughts  upward  to 
his  Maker.  For  nothing  is  more  conducive  to  the  strength  of  the  State  than  the 
morality  of  her  citizens,  and  true  morality  is  always  founded  on  religion.  The  work- 
man himself  can  not  agree  to  the  servitude  of  his  soul,  and  no  one  has  a, right  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  his  enjoyment  of  that  higher  life  which  prepares  him  for  the  joys  of 
Heaven. 

The  various  religious  orders  founded  and  directed  by  the  heroic  spirit  of  super- 
natural charity,  have,  in  all  ages,  wrought  wonders  for  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity. 
Each  devoted  to  its  own  special  object,  moved  by  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  self- 
denial,  they  have  astounded  the  world  by  their  achievements,  and  brought  thousands 
to  the  faith  from  the  contemplation  of  the  fruits  of  their  labors.  Yet  the  veneration 
of  the  faithful  for  these  orders  has  too  often  aroused  the  jealousy  of  States  and  caused 
them  to  suppress  rather  than  encourage  them.  And  sometimes  they  have  ruthlessly 
grasped  the  property  which  the  piety  and  charity  of  good  men  had  bestowed  for  the 
furtherance  of  their  sacred  ends,  and  thus  robbed  at  once  the  founders  of  their  bene- 
factions and  the  poor  of  that  which  was  so  wisely  administered  for  their  relief. 

The  last  element  treated  by  the  Holy  Father  is  the  association  of  individuals  in 
private  societies  for  mutual  protection,  which  he  commends.  He  reminds  us  of  the 
benefits  of  association,  which  appeal  to  each  individual  from  his  consciousness  of  his 
weakness  in  standing  alone,  as  compared  with  the  strength  of  organization.  He  refers 
to  the  history  of  the  ancient  Catholic  guilds,  so  full  of  instruction  as  to  the  advantages 
of  association;  he  contrasts  their  benefits  with  tho  dangers  of  those  fierce  and  turbu- 
lent societies,  often  bound  by  secret  oaths,  which  seek  to  persuade  the  workingmen 
that  there  is  no  hope  for  them,  but  in  tho  terror  of  capitalists  at  revolution;  that  Chris- 
tian morality  is  a  mere  fable  of  their  enemies,  invented  to  delude,  ensnare,  and  enslave 
them,  and  which,  while  holding  out  to  them  the  horrors  of  this  slavery,  binds  them  in 
their  own  chains,  yet  more  galling.    And  now,  concluding: 


138  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

"  As  far  as  regards  the  church,  its  assistance  will  never  be  wanting,  be  the  time  or 
the  occasion  what  it  may,  and  it  will  intervene  with  the  greater  effect  in  proportion  as 
its  liberty  of  action  is  the  more  unfettered;  let  this  be  noted 'by  those  whose  office  it  is 
to  provide  for  the  public  welfare." 

These  words  of  solemn  warning  are  addressed  to  those  countries  and  those  rulers 
who  presume  to  fetter  the  freedom  of  the  church,  but  in  our  own  country  she  is  abso- 
lutely free,  and,  therefore,  happily,  more  powerful  in  her  intervention  in  behalf  of  the 
weak  and  wretched  multitude,  and  more  efficient  as  a  shield  to  the  rich  against  the 
revolutionary  and  socialistic  violence  of  turbulent  secret  societies,  the  great  foes  of 
peace  and  order. 

One  of  the  strongest  papers  of  the  Congress  was  read  by  Dr.  August 
Kaiser,  of  Detroit,  on  "Immigration  and  Colonization,"  with  special  reference 
to  German  Catholic  immigration.     He  said: 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  a  large  family,  a  family  not  confined  to  one  spot 
on  the  earth,  nor  to  any  single  country,  but  embracing  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  not  composed  of  a  few  individuals,  is  not  made  up  of  a 
single  nation,  but  clasps  all  people  of  the  earth  with  equal  love  to  her  maternal  bosom. 
All  the  races  of  mankind,  Caucasians  and  Mongolians,  Ethiopians  and  Indians,  she 
treats  with  equal  and  discriminating  care.  With  the  same  hand  she  pours  forth  bless- 
ings upon  every  nation,  upon  every  land.  All  languages  of  the  earth  are  heard  from 
her  lips,  but,  above  all,  that  loving  language  of  the  heart  understood  by  all  men.  All 
her  efforts  tend  to  the  one  object,  to  make  men  Christians  and  to  secure  heirs  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.    ■ 

Now  there  is  no  land  on  earth  which  puts  so  manifestly  before  us  the  truly  Catholic 
character  of  the  church  as  this  land  of  the  United  States.  All  races  are  here  repre- 
sented, and  the  Church  counts  her  children  among  them  all.  In  all  the  principal 
languages  prayers  are  blessed  and  fostered  by  the  Catholic  Church.  Four  nations 
especially  have,  since  the  discovery  of  America,  gathered  before  the  cross  and  the 
altar — the  chivalrous  Spaniard,  the  vivacious  Frenchman,  the  Irishman,  with  his  pro- 
found faith,  and  the  cosmopolitan  German.  All,  all  have  found  in  the  land  an  asylum, 
and  each  one  in  his  own  way  has  contributed  to  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
to  the  development  and  strengthening  of  Catholic  life  and  labor. 

German  Catholics,  without  exaggeration  I  may  say  it,  have  not  been  behindhand 
in  this  work  of  emulation.  By  their  numbers  alone  they  have  always  been  a  moment- 
ous element  in  our  population,  and  already  number  the  fourth  part  of  the  Catholic 
Church  inthe  Union.  Of  almost  9,000  priests  of  this  country,  2,700  are  of  German  birth 
or  descent.'  The  influence  of  such  a  proportion  must  be  felt  throughout  the  land,  must 
be  felt  in  every  domain  of  the  life  of  the  church.  Already  in  family-life  the  German 
Catholic  is  characterized  by  his  zealous  and  persistent  endeavor  to  bring  the  principles 
and  doctrines  of  his  faith  into  his  daily  actions.  He  has  the  manly  courage  of  his  con- 
victions, and  endeavors  to  be  in  his  daily  life  that  which  his  principles  require;  and  if, 
unfortunately,  he  ever  comes  to  the  point  of  not  practicing  his  religion,  then  he  ceases 
to  profess  himself  a  Catholic.  The  German  Catholic  distinguishes  especially. by  his 
industry,  economy,  and  by  hastening  to  gain  as  soon  as  possible  a  home  for  himself.  In 
his  family  rule  Christian  discipline  and  Christian  spirit;  the  correlative  obligations  and 
duties  imposed  by  the  fourth  commandment  have  not  yet  grown  obsolete  for  him;  con- 
jugal fidelity  is  tenderly  guarded  and  heaven  is  thanked  for  the  blessings  which  it  gives 
to  the  conjugal  state.  His  olive  branches  grow  up  around  him  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
give  earnest  promise  of  becoming  good  Christians  and  upright,  law-abiding  citizens. 

The  German  Catholic  approaches  the  holy  table  at  stated  intervals;  he  is  faithful 
in  frequenting  Divine  worship,  contributes  joyfully  and  willingly  to  the  support  of  his 
clergy,  to  the  church,  to  the  parochial  school,  the  orphan  asylum,  and  other  institutions 
of  charity;  but,  above  all  things,  he  is  conscious  of  that  most  momentous  of  all  obliga- 
tions, to  educate  his  children  in  sound  Christian  principles,  and,  if  possible,  to  intrust 
them  to  none  other  than  to  the  parochial  school. 

With  a  special  zeal  the  German  Catholics  of  our  Union  cherish  the  principle  and 
practice  of  associations,  so  eminently  manifested  in  the  German  Roman  Catholic  Central 
Verein.  The  Central  Union  embraces  something  like  500  branches  of  benevolent  asso- 
ciations, with  a  membership  of  50,000  in  nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  Central 
Union  has  paid  out  thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  for  charitable  purposes,  and 
thereby  brought  consolation  and  help  to  hundreds  of  afflicted  homes. 

The  German-American  secular  and  regular  clergy  are  distinguished  by  the  zeal 
which  they  display  in   their  calling,   by  their  exemplary  lives,  by  their  earnest  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  130 

unceasing  care   for  the  young,  and  by  untiring  efforts  to  attain  to  a  greater  develop 
ment  of  culture  and  knowledge,  according  to  their  state.    Though  the  majority  of  tin  se 
priests  have  crossed  the  Atlantic,  yet  every  fibre  of  their  nature  has  taken  root  is 
land  of  their  adoption,  and  by  none  are  they  surpassed  in  patriotic  enthusiasm.     For- 
eigners, it  is  true,  but  received  with  open  arms  by  bishop  and  people, they  have  c 
hither  with  no  other  object  in  view  than  to  labor  as  missionaries  in  the  young  church 
of  this  land,  to  work  unceasingly  for  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls,  sacrificing 'tl 
solves  in  the  painful  service  of  young,  still  undeveloped  communities.    Their  teaching 
and  example  have  animated  hundreds  of  young  men  to  embrace  the  priestlj  state  of 
so  that  at  the  very  present  moment  more  than  Too  native  clergymen  of  German  descenl 
are  employed  on  our  American  missions.      Bishops  of  highest  meril  have  come  forth 
from  the  ranks  of  this  clergy,  renowned  for  their  zeal,  immortal  in    their  labors,  labors 
which  will  be  commemorated  forever  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 

Those  sublime  figures,  to  name  but  a  few  of  our  deceased  prelates,  those  pillars  of 
light,  Archbishops Henni  and  Heiss,of  Milwaukee;  Bishops  Junker  and  Baltes,  of  Alton; 
Luers  and  Dwenger,  of  Fort  Wayne;  Borgess,  of  Detroit;  Melchers  and  Krautbauer, 
•of  Green  Bay;  Flasch,  of  La  Crosse,  and  Neumann,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  beatifica 
tion  is  pending  in  Rome;  all  these  belong  to  us,  are  our  kinsmen  by  blood  and 
language. 

Not  inferior  in  merit  to  the  German  secular  clergy  of  this  country  aro  their  brethren 
of  the  religious  orders.  The  first  to  enter  this  land  (1832)  were  the  Sons  of  St.  Alphon- 
sus  Liguori,  who  gathered  together  their  fellow-country  men  in  the  growing  cities  of  the 
United  States  and  developed  their  many-sided  activity  among  them.  Twelve  years 
later  they  were  followed  by  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis,  from  Tyrol,  and  in  1858  from  West- 
phalia. In  1846  that  zealous  fisher  of  souls,  Rev.  Boniface  Wimmer.  of  Bavaria,  landed 
in  this  country  to  lead  into  our  missionary  territory  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  and  to 
extend  their  teaching  activity  in  every  direction  throughout  the  land.  The  Benedic- 
tines were  followed  by  the  Carmelites,  Priests  of  the  Precious  Blood,  Jesuits,  Capu- 
chins, Resurrectionists,  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Passionists,  all  of  whom  set  all  their 
forces  to  work  to  extend  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  country  and  to  give  an  impulse  to 
true  civilization. 

The  female  orders  also,  which  have  been  transplanted  from  Germany  to  America, 
have  achieved  great  things,  especially  the  poor  Franciscan  Sisters  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
by  their  charitable  activity  in  the  hospitals;  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  of  Mil- 
waukee, originally  from  Bavaria,  who,  under  the  direction  of  Mother  Caroline,  lately 
deceased,  that  true  Christian  heroine,  have  rendered  eminent  services  by  their  labors  in 
the  education  of  youth,  and  the  Sisters  of  Christian  Charity  of  Westphalia,  who  like- 
wise have  done  great  things  in  the  same  field  of  labor. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  home  of  all  true  education;  her  history  for  the  last  two 
thousand  years  proves  that,  no  sooner  has  she  firmly  planted  her  foot  in  any  land,  than 
she  immediately  displayed  her  activity  in  this  field  which  is  so  truly  her  own.  Her 
vanguard — the  religious  orders —  began  here  also  without  delay  this  work  of  hers.  St. 
Vincent's  in  Pennsylvania — the  name  sounds  bright  and  clear  from  ocean  to  ocean — 
was  the  most  important  nursery  of  higher  education  (for  the  Germans)  for  many  a 
year.  St.  Meinrad's,  Indiana;  St.  John's,  Minnesota,  with  a  number  of  local  institutions, 
have  added  new  lustre  in  the  New  World  to  the  ancient  and  venerable  name  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Benedict.  The  Franciscans  have  had  for  many  years  excellent  colleges  in 
Cincinnati,  Quincy,  and  Teutopolis,  111.;  the  Capuchins  at  Calvary,  Wis.,  and  Herman, 
Penn.;  the  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pittsburg,  the  Jesuits  in  Buffalo  and  Cleve- 
land; the  Fathers  of  the  Resurrection  at  Berlin,  Ont.,  and  St.  Mary's,  Ky. 

The  secular  clergy  are  not  behind  their  brethren  of  the  religious  orders.  Their 
greatest,  noblest,  and  most  successful  creation  is  the  Salesianum,  Milwaukee,  which  has 
sent  forth  hundreds  of  the  ablest  priests,  and  can  boast  of  having  admitted  so  far  not  a 
single  Judas  into  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

The  foregoing  statements  regarding  the  labors  of  German  Catholics  within  the 
domain  of  the  stars  and  stripes,  are  well  calculated  to  prove  that  the  German  Catholics 
of  America  rank  with  all  their  co-religionists.  I  go  a  step  further  and  maintain  that 
they  have  acquired  particular  merit  and  deserve  a  special  praise.  The  Germans  are 
the  only  Catholics  in  this  land.  who.  for  years,  have  had  a  training  school  for  teachers,  a 
creation  of  that  most  deserving  clergyman,  Dr.  Joseph  Salzman,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Salesianum,  near  Milwaukee. 

This  Catholic  Normal  School  at  St.  Francis  has  contributed  much  to  relieve  the 
pressing  need  of  competent  teachers,  and  it   is  at  the  same  time  the   principal  nur 
of  true  eccWi-istical  chants  which  has  been  most  zealously  cultivated  by  that  distin- 


140  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES, 

guished  musician  and  composer,  Professor  John  B.  Singenberger,  and  which  from  St. 
Francis  is  diffused  more  and  more  throughout  the  land.  German  Catholics  alone  in 
this  Union  can  show  a  Catholic  daily  press,  since  besides  some  thirty  excellent  weekly 
papers  they  possess  four  thorough  dailies  (St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  Buffalo,  Pittsburg), 
which  energetically  enter  the  lists  for  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  exercise 
great  influence. 

The  greatest  merit  of  German-American  Catholics  has  been  gained  undoubtedly  by 
their  zeal  for  parochial  schools,  which  they  have  erected  at  great  sacrifice  wherever  it 
was  possible,  and  for  whose  preservation  and  improvement  they  make  every  effort  in 
their  power.  Wherever  the  cross  was  planted  among  the  German  Catholic  immigrants, 
a  school  was  erected  near  the  church;  nay,  often,  a  school  existed  before  the  church. 
German  Catholics  were  well  acquainted  with  the  principle:  "  Who  possesses  the  youth 
is  master  of  the  future."  They  were  convinced  that  the  parochial  school  was  the  only 
sure  bulwark  against  the  fearful  loss  suffered  by  the  church  in  this  country.  Freedom 
and  independence  permeate  the  air  of  our  Republic  so  thoroughly  that  the  rising  genera- 
tion are  but  too  much  inclined  to  extend  these  privileges  to  the  domain  of  faith  and 
morals.  All  Sunday  schools  are  hero  impotent;  that  school  alone,  which  is  grounded 
on  religious  principles,  in  which  all  subjects  of  instruction  are  saturated  with  religion, 
can  guard  the  tender  germ  of  faith  from  the  frost  and  wind  of  error,  that  it  may  be- 
come strong  and  capable  of  bidding  defiance  to  all  the  storms  of  life,  and  of  growing 
up  to  be  a  strong  and  vigorous  tree. 

German  Catholics  have  given  the  example  in  the  erection  of  parochial  schools,  and 
by  their  great  success  in  this  respect  have  led  our  co-religionists  of  other  nationalities 
to  follow  in  their  footsteps.  All  Christian  denominations  in  our  land  will  have  to  imi- 
tate us  if  they  wish  to  prevent  Christianity  from  disappearing  and  infidelity  from 
taking  its  place. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  such  is,  in  concise  terms,  a  faint  image  of  the  action  and  of 
the  fulfilment  of  that  mission  of  civilization  intrusted  by  a  wise  Providence  to  the 
German  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  What  I  have  said  will  surely  suffice  to  con- 
vince this  illustrious  assembly  that  the  German  Catholics  of  this  country  stand  on  an 
equal  footing  with  their  brethren  in  faith  of  other  nationalities,  and  have  a  right  to 
claim  their  place  as  true  children  in  the  house  of  our  mother  and  to  be  treated  as  such. 
Let  us  Catholics  of  this  great  and  mighty  Republic,  a  Republic  so  favorable  to  the  free 
development  of  Catholicity,  hold  together  irrespective  of  language  and  nationality, 
and,  viribus  unitis,  struggle  manfully  for  the  preservation  of  our  highest  blessings,  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Catholic  Faith  which  we  have  inherited  from  our  forefathers,  as  well 
as  for  the  rights  which  are  solemnly  guaranteed  to  us  in  the  glorious  Constitution  of 
the  United  States!  Let  our  war-cry  be  now  and  forever:  "For  God, for  our  Church, 
for  liberty,  and  for  our  mighty  Union,  which  gives  happiness  within  the  shadow  of  its 
lofty  flag  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

Following  is  an  abstract  of  Rev.  Michael  Callaghan's  contribution  to  the 

symposium  on  "  Immigration  and  Colonization." 

When  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  directed  to  the  fitting  celebration  of  the  discovery 
of  America  by  Columbus,  it  is  appropriate  that  the  Catholics  of  this  great  Republic  in 
congress  assembled,  should  discuss  questions  of  serious  importance,  and  it  seems 
eminently  in  place  to  consider  some  of  the  causes  that  have  led  to  this  nation's  growth 
and  prosperity. 

Apart  from  the  liberty  and  patriotic  spirit  of  our  institutions  there  are  no  more 
potent  factors  in  our  country's  greatness  than  immigration  and  colonization.  True,  the 
genius  of  Columbus  opened  a  pathway  across  the  Atlantic  to  this  great  continent,  but 
what  position  would  this  country  occupy  to-day  if  there  had  not  followed  in  his  foot- 
steps the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  immigrants  to  people  and  develop  its 
resources?  Immigration  and  colonization  are  subjects  capable  of  very  extensive  treat- 
ment. We  might  go  back  to  the  infant  years  of  America  and  speak  of  the  numerous 
adventurers  who  sought  these  shores,  but  these  people  left  no  impression  on  the 
country  and  need  not  be  considered  in  reference  to  the  building  up  of  the  Republic.  It 
is  better  to  begin  at  a  time  when  the  country  had  actually  settled  down  to  that 
internal  development  which  has  produced  the  America  of  to-day.  Indeed,  official 
statistics  of  immigration  are  not  to  be  found  further  back  than  1830,  but  from  various 
sources  we  can  arrive  at  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  volume  of  immigration  previous  to  that 
date,  and  also  of  the  nationalities  whence  they  came. 

During  the  first  century  of  the  settlement  of  the  country  some  few  immigrants 
from  Europe  found  their  way  into  the  New  World,  but  scarcely  as  many  in  five  years  as 


MARY    J.    ONAHAN 
CHICAGO. 


ANNA    T.    SADLIER, 
NEW    YORK. 


ELIZA    ALLEN   STARR, 

CHICACO. 


LOUISE    IMOGEN    GUINEY; 

BOSTON. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


141 


now  arrive  in  one  day  at  the  port  of  New  York.  Ireland  and  Germany  were  the  principa, 
countries  which  furnished  immigration  in  the  early  days  of  the  colonies.  Under  Dutch 
rule,  from  about  1725,  some  Germans  were  induced  to  immigrate  to  America  by  promise 
of  land  grants  and  other  inducements.  These  people  settled  chiefly  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley;  others  were  induced  to  come  by  free  or  reduced  passages,  but  these  did  not 
exceed  over  a  few  thousand.  The  English  government  did  little  or  nothing  to  encourage 
European  immigration.  The  first  attempt  was  made  about  1710,  when  3,000  Swabians 
and  Palatines,  driven  from  their  country  by  famine  and  religious  persecution,  threw 
themselves  on  the  mercy  and  sympathy  of  the  English  government.  England  sent 
these  people  to  New  Fork,  then  a  colony,  presided  over  by  Governor  Hunter,  who  pro- 
posed to  settle  them  along  the  Hudson  River,  where  he  intended  to  employ  them  in 
making  naval  stores,  etc.  This  colonizing  experiment  failed,  because  the  English 
government  intended  its  proteges  to  become  subjects  and  servants,  while  the 
immigrants  wanted  to  be  free  and  independent;  hence  a  conflict,  with  victory  on  the 
side  of  the  immigrants.  After  this,  all  those  who  came  to  the  colonies  had  to  do  so  on 
their  own  responsibility  or  by  arrangements  made  by  themselves. 

An  Irish  colony  was  planted  in  the  Carolinas  in  1739  and  an  extensive  tract  of  land 
was  assigned  it.  In  fact,  it  might  be  said  that  the  Carolinas  were  settled  almost  exclu- 
sively by  immigrants  from  the  North  of  Ireland.  Among  those  people  were  the  fathers 
of  Jackson,  Calhoun,  and  Pickens.  Ramsey,  the  historian  of  South  Carolina,  says,  "Of 
all  other  countries  none  has  furnished  the  province  with  so  many  inhabitants  as  Ire- 
land. Scarcely  a  ship  sailed  from  any  of  its  ports  to  Charleston  that  was  not  crowded 
with  men,  women,  and  children."  North  Carolina  received  an  Irish  governor  in  James 
Moore,  who  headed  the  Revolution  there  in  1775.  In  Georgia,  we  find  the  Irish  as  far 
back  as  1773,  and  at  the  first  public  meeting  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  held  in  Savannah, 
July  14,  1774,  John  Glenn  was  chairman,  and  among  those  present  were  S.  Farley,  J. 
Bryan,  W.  Gibbons,  J.  Winn,  E.  Butler,  and  a  number  of  others  bearing  equally  Irish 
names.  The  immigration  to  America  during  the  years  1771, 1772,  and  1773  from  the 
North  of  Ireland  exceeded  alKformer  precedents.  Marmion's  "  History  of  the  Maritime 
Ports  of  Ireland,"  page  333,  states:  "  From  Belfast  there  sailed  during  the  three  years 
mentioned  thirty  ships  filled  with  immigrants;  from  Londonderry,  thirty-six,  and  from 
Newry,  twenty-two,"  and  estimates  the  number  of  their  passengers  at  over  25,000, 
"  More  than  one  Irishman,"  remarks  the  historian,  "  was  naturalized  in  the  forest,  like 
Stark  and  Houston,  and  obeyed  as  chiefs.  Of  the  number  was  the  strange  character 
known  as  '  Tiger '  Roche,  at  one  time  the  friend  of  Chesterfield,  the  idol  of  Dublin  draw- 
ing-rooms, and  at  another  time  the  leader  of  an  Iroquois  war  party."  Dougherty,  from 
Donegal,  we  find  as  a  leader  with  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  1690.  From  Donegal  also 
came  Robert  and  Magdalen  Pollock,  with  their  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  settled 
in  Maryland.  The  name  was  afterward  abbreviated  to  Polk,  and  among  the  numerous 
descendants  of  this  immigrant  family  from  Donegal  was  President  Polk.  Major  Cald- 
well, whose  daughter  was  the  mother  of  Vice-President  Calhoun,  also  came  from  Don- 
egal, while  President  Andrew  Jackson,  as  all  the  world  knows,  "  was  born  somewhere 
between  Carrickfergus  and  the  United  States."  Presidents  James  Monroe  and  James 
Buchanan  also  came  from  Irish  stock. 

Sir  William  Johnson  was  another  remarkable  Irishman  who  settled  Johnstown,  in 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  in  1738.  He  had  brought  with  him  from  Ireland,  Lafferty,  his 
lawyer;  Flood,  his  gardener,  and  Daily,  his  physician.  Twenty  years  later  the  Irish 
settled  Manchester,  N.  H,  and  John  Stark,  who  led  300  New  Hampshire  men,  chiefly 
Irish,  at  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  was  born  in  Londonderry,  Ireland,  his  family  name 
being  originally  Starkey.  We  can,  therefore,  safely  accept  the  testimony  of  Galloway, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  before  a  committee  of  the  English 
Commons,  June  16,  1779,  who  said  that  "  the  names  and  daces  of  nativity  having  been 
taken  down,  he  could  state  with  precision  that  scarcely  one-quarter  of  the  men  in  the 
Revolutionary  armies  were  natives  of  America,  about  one-half  were  Irish  and  the  other 
fourth  English  and  Scotch." 

Curtis,  the  adopted  son  of  Washington,  speaking  of  the  soldiers  in  the  War  of 
Independence,  declares  that,  "  Up  to  the  coming  of  the  French,  Ireland  had  furnished 
in  the  ratio  of  about  100  to  1  to  any  other  nation  whatever.  Then,"  he  exclaims  with 
enthusiasm,  "  honored  be  the  old  and  good  service  of  the  sons  of  Erin  in  the  War  of 
Independence;  let  the  shamrock  be  entwined  with  the  laurels  of  the  Revolution,  and 
truth,  and  justice,  guiding  the  pen  of  history,  inscribe  on  the  tablets  of  America's 
remembrance  eternal  gratitude  to  Irishmen!  "  We  may  also  believe  the  declaration  of 
Lord  Mountjoy,  in  the  English  House  of  Lords,  that  "  England  lost  America  through 
Ireland."    The  testimony  of  Rev.  Hugh  Henry  Breckenridge,  a  chaplain  in  Washing- 


r  42  11  ORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ton's  army,  is  remarkable  but  no  less  valuable.  In  his  political  satire  on  "Modern 
Chivalry,"  published  in  Pittsburg  in  1794,  he  apologizes  for  making  the  clown  an  Irish- 
man, and  gives  his  reason  thus: 

"The  character  of  the  English  clown  I  do  not  well  understand,  nor  could  I  imitate 
his  manner  of  speaking;  that  of  the  Scotch  I  have  tried  and  found  it  in  my  hands 
rather  insipid;  the  American,  as  yet,  has  no  character,  so  that  I  can  not  take  one  from 
my  own  country,  winch  I  would  rather  have  done  as  the  scene  lies  here,  lint  the  mid- 
land States  of  America  and  the  Western  parts  in  general,  being  half  Irish,  the  character 
of  the  Irish  clown  will  not  be  misunderstood.  This  was  much  known  among  the 
immigrants  or  their  descendants,  so  that  it  will  not  be  thrown  aw  ay." 

The  total  population  of  the  United  States  in  1870  was  38,500,000.  Careful  statis- 
ticians have  found  that  at  this  date  the  joint  product  of  the  Irish  colonial  element  and 
the  subsequent  Irish  immigration,  including  that  through  ( ianada,  was  1 1,325,000.  The 
joint  English  product  was  4,522,000,  and  the  joint  products  of  all  other  colonial  ele- 
ments and  all  subsequent  immigration,  including  the  colored  population,  was  19,61 
Irish  immigration  since  1870,  while  not  so  proportionately  heavy  as  it  was  previous  to 
that  date,  had  brought,  us  over  1,300,(XM),  and  if  we  add  these  ami  their  product  to  the 
product  of  the  14,325,000  people  of  [rish  blood  in  the  United  States  in  1870,  it  would 
be  but  a  conservative  statement  to  make  that,  of  the  65,000,000  who  form  our  popula- 
tion now,  20,000,000  of  them  have  Irish  blood  in  their  veins. 

At  this  point  reference  may  be  made  to  a  private  letter  written  last  year  by  Vere 
Foster  to  the  Immigration  Commissioners  at  the  port  of  New  Fork,  in  which  that  gen- 
tleman states  that  he  and  his  brother  alone  had  in  forty-four  years  enabled  ±>,<KX) 
young  girls  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-two  years  to  go  from  Ireland  to 
the  United  States. 

This  brief  review  of  early  Irish  immigrnl  i"ii  and  the  benefits  it  has  conferred  upon 
the  country  is  not  given  in  any  spirit  of  boast  fulness,  but  simply  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that,  until  the  strong  current  of  German  immigration  began  to  set  in,  about 
1840,  nearly  all  the  immigrants  were  h  ish  From  1820  to  1830  Germany  sent  6,761;  during 
same  period  Ireland  sent  50,724,  This,  as  a  matter  of  tardy  just  ice  to  the  Irish  people, 
should  be  stated,  because  in  the  ea  1 1\  days  immigrants  from  Ireland  were  credited  as 
coming  from  the  United  Kingdom,  without  specifying  their  particular  nationality. 

From  a  report  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  at  Washington,  correct  informs 
tion  as  to  immigration  and  nationality,  subsequent  to  1820,  is  obtainable.  The  total  of 
immigrants  arriving  in  the  United  States  from  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  to 
June  30, 1892,  was  16,750,000.  Of  these  Germany  supplied  1,748,440;  Inland.  3,952,247; 
and  the  other  countries  in  lesser  proportions.  To  the  number  officially  credited  to 
Ireland  there  should  be  three-quarters  of  a  million  added  to  make  up  for  those  who 
came  here  by  way  of  Canada  and  who  were  recorded  as  from  "  British  North  American 
provinces."  The  excess  of  the  German  over  the  Irish  immigration  lias  been  made  up 
only  of  late  years,  and  the  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  the  Irish  in  the 
earlier  periods  who  so  very  materially  aided  in  laying  the  foundations  of  our  splendid 
Republic.  While  manyof  the  Germans  have  remained  in  the  Eastern  States  and  become 
good,  steady  citizens,  their  greater  number  proceeded  to  the  West  and  settled  dow  c  on 
the  fertile  lands  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  the  Dakotas.  The  Irish  have  chiefly 
spread  over  the  New  England  and  Middle  States.  Of  late  years  the  Italian,  Swedish, 
Austro-Hungarian,  and  Prussian  immigration  has  grown  very  considerably.  For 
example,  the  Italian  immigration  for  the  decade  ending  1860  was  only  0.231.  while  the 
decade  extending  from  1880  to  1890  registered  307,309.  This  proportion  is  likewise  true 
o*  the  other  nations. 

There  is  a  common  belief  that  in  this  immigration  from  the  Continent  of  Europe 
there  is  a  certain  element  injurious  to  the  social  institutions  of  the  country.  This  has 
given  excuse  to  some  people,  claiming  to  be  the  only  true  Americans,  to  raise  a  cry 
against  immigration  in  general;  but  all  intelligent  people,  unbiased  by  prejudice,  agree 
that  this  cry  is  neither  wise  nor  politic. 

The  present  restrictive  immigration  laws,  as  now  interpreted  by  the  Treasury 
Department  at  Washington,  i.e.,  applied  to  cabin  as  well  as  steerage  passengers,  to  pro- 
tect us  from  the  morally  and  physically  undesirable,  from  the  importation  of  paupers, 
criminals,  and  contract  labor,  are,  if  properly  and  fully  enforced,  fairly  adequate  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  situation.  I  believe,  however,  that  if  the  restrictions  could 
be  enforced  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  the  results  would  be  still  better  than  we 
get  now.  The  administration  of  the  law  would  also  be  more  humane.  If  prevented 
from  embarking  at  an  European  port,  the  immigrant  who  had  barely  enough  money  to 
purchase  a  passage   to   America  would  thus  be  saved  that  sum,  and  also  from  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


r43 


greater  misfortune  of   chagrin,  humiliation,  and    even  despair,  that  seize  him  when 
turned  away  from  our  shores  and  sent  back  once  more  to  his  wretched  lot. 

The  question  of  disposing  of  this  crude  mass  of  foreigners  and  absorbing  them  into 
our  industrial,  political,  and  social  life  is  certainly  a  grave  one.  It  is  one  in  which  all 
philanthropists,  good  citizens,  and  lovers  of  humanity  should  take  a  living  interest.  The 
question  is,  indeed,  one  as  much  for  them  as  for  legislatures,  State  or  Federal;  and  this 
brings  up  the  question  of  colonization  as  it  presents  itself  to-day.  The  public  press 
of  New  York  of  a  recent  date  contained  two  very  striking  dispatches.  One  was 
from  Denver,  Col.,  telling  how  men  were  starving  from  hunger  for  want  of  employ- 
ment, and  were  threatening  depredations  under  the  pressure  of  physical  suffering  from 
want  of  food  aud  shelter.  The  other  dispatch  was  from  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  told 
how  difficult,  even  impossible,  it  was  for  the  farmers  of  that  State  to  procure  hired 
labor  to  harvest  their  teeming  crops.  These  dispatches,  published  side  by  side,  on  the 
same  day,  clearly  indicate  that  it  is  not  immigration,  but  peculiar  social  conditions 
that  are  to  be  dreaded.  If  the  American  laboring  man,  native  or  naturalized,  could 
be  taught  that  cultivating  the  soil  is  the  most  noble  toil  that  a  man  can  engage  in, 
as  by  it  he  more  closely  than  at  any  other  work  obeys  the  intentions  of  God,  a 
mighty  change  for  the  better  would  be  effected.  If  he  could  be  brought  to  see  that 
health  and  happiness,  a  quiet,  peaceful,  and  long  life — God's  gifts  to  the  tillers  of  the 
soil — are  enjoyed  in  the  retired  rural  communities  where,  free  from  nervous  strain, 
mental  worry,  and  the  excessively  laborious  work  of  the  business  and  professional 
man,  the  speculator,  the  mechanic,  and  the  day  laborer  in  the  grinding  cities,  his  life 
would  be  better  and  happier.  The  rural  community  affords  a  life  that  God  intended 
for  man;  the  city  life  is  artificial,  controlled  by  the  ambitions  of  men.  The  farmers 
increase  comes  by  the  beneficent  laws  of  nature,  even  while  he  himself  may  rest  in 
sleep.  The  toiler  in  the  city  must  pay  in  brain  and  muscle  for  every  mouthful  of 
bread  that  keeps  together  soul  and  body  in  himself  and  family. 

Colonization,  to  be  successful,  must  have  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  philanthropy 
in' it,  as  well  as  a  view  to  financial  returns  to  the  men  who  supply  the  funds.  When  a 
colony  is  to  be  established,  the  utmost  care  should  be  taken  that  those  placed  in  charge 
should  be  men  suitable  for  the  work,  and  who  would  not  turn  their  management  to 
aims  of  personal  aggrandizement.  Nor  should  the  persons  selected  as  members  of  the 
colony  be  taken  indiscriminately  and  at  random.  Their  character  should  be  carefully 
judged  and  their  capabilities  for  leading  the  industrious,  sober,  and  honest  lives  that 
would  be  likely  to  make  a  colony  successful,  should  be  ascertained.  Some  time  ago  a 
reverend  friend  in  a  Western  State  wrote  to  me  that  there  were  excellent  chances  in  a 
certain  section  of  the  West  for  young  women  to  obtain  large  wages,  steady  employment, 
and,  he  added  somewhat  jocosely,  alluring  prospects  of  early  and  successful  marriages. 
A  newspaper  man,  by  some  means  known  only  to  journalistic  enterprise,  got  hold  of  the 
letter  and  published  it.  It  was  copied  all  over  the  Eastern  States,  and  a  great  number 
of  applications  came  from  young  women  offering  to  proceed  at  once  to  this  Western 
paradise  if  their  expenses  for  transportation  were  provided.  In  the  whole  shower  of 
letters  there  were  not  twenty-five,  judging  from  their  contents,  whose  writers  I  would 
select  for  the  work  required.  The  girls  were  needed  for  general  housework,  but  the 
applicants  all  wanted  to  be  governesses,  matrons,  ladies'  maids,  music  teachers,  nurses, 
etc. — all  very  good  in  their  places,  but  unsuitable  for  the  positions  to  be  filled  in  the 
modern  Eden  of  our  reverend  friend. 

In  the  same  way  a  man  may  be  capable  of  even  excelling  in  certain  departments  of 
life,  but  may  not  have  the  requisites  of  a  successful  colonizer.  Thus,  much  care  should 
be  exercised  in  selecting  candidates. 

Just  ten  years  ago  another  Catholic  Congress  was  assembled  in  the  city  of  Chicago, 
at  which  were  present  many  dignitaries  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  prominent  laymen. 
The  secretary  of  that  Congress,  William  J.  Onahan,  who,  by  a  happy  coincidence,  per- 
forms the  same  services  to  the  present  and  more  important  Congress,  called  attention 
to  the  dangers  and  abuses  which  immigrants,  had  to  encounter  on  their  entrance  to 
America.  Reports  were  frequent  in  the  public  press  of  wrongs,  some  of  them  irrepara- 
ble, inflicted  on  immigrants  landing  at  New  York,  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  the 
Castle  Garden  establishment.  These  reports  clearly  showed  the  necessity  for  a  mission 
at  Castle  Garden  to  look  after  the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  the  immigrants. 

Some  forty-six  years  ago  a  number  of  philanthropic  and  charitable  men,  aware  of 
the  sufferings  and  dangers  to  which  the  poor  immigrants  were  exposed,  organized  a  so- 
ciety called  the  State  Board  of  Immigration.  Its  purpose  was  twofold,  namely,  to  protect 
immigrants  landing  at  the  port  of  New  York  from  those  who  sought  to  prey  upon  them, 
and  also  to  care  for  the  sick  and  helpless  among  them.  The  second  object  was  tc  afford 
40 


i44  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  several  cities  and  counties  of  tin-  state  protection  from  the  importation  of  paupers 
and  criminals.    In  this  year  (1847)  the  Board  of  Commissioner!  of  immigration 
Castle  Garden,  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  devoted  to  purposes  of  amusement. 

Its  gates  were  thrown  open  to  immigrants  of  every  clime,  ami  through  them  |  I 

many  men  who  subsequently  became  famous  in  history  for  many  and  great  achieve- 
ments. The  immigrants  here  had  a  place  of  refuge  where,  while  waiting  for  friends  <>r 
employment  to  come,  they  were  sheltered,  not  only  from  the  designs  of  evil  men.  but  f]  m 
the  biting  frosts  of  the  winter's  night  and  the  scorching  rays  of  the  midsummer's  sun, 
and  here  also  their  hunger  was  appeased.  Of  course  the  accommodations  were  nol 
comfortable,  and  often  even  inadequate,  but  the  inmates  were  protected  from  robbery 
and  assault.  Even  after  arriving  at  Castle  Garden  and  passing  through  the  hands  of 
the  registration  clerks,  the  immigrants  were  not  safe.  They  went  to  the  labor  bureau 
to  wait  for  employment  or  the  arrival  of  friends  to  take  them  away.  Bui  where  were 
they  to  go  at  night  if  no  employer  or  friend  turned  up  during  the  day?    They  hi 

alternative  but  to  go  with  the  tirst   lodging-house  keeper  or  ru >r  who  got  hold  of 

them.  For  anyone  acquainted  with  life  in  a  great  city  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the 
dangers  to  which  virtuous  young  girls  and  im  ted  young  men  were  thus  exposed. 

These  dangers  it  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate.  .Many  a  young  woman  was  ruined 
for  life,  and  many  a  young  man  had  his  whole  career  wrecked  at  the  outset  by  the 
associations  and  circumstances  among  which  they  were  thrown. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Castle  Garden 
officials,  when  the  Colonization  Society  had  Its  attention  attracted  by  Mr.  Onahan  to 
the  evils  prevailing.  After  discussion  in  the  Congress,  Bishop  Ryan,  of  Buffalo,  one 
of  the  members,  was  requested  to  lay  before  the  late  Cardinal  McCloskey  the  opinion  of 
the  society  that  a  bureau  for  the  protection  of  immigrants  should  be  established  at 
Castle  Garden.  The  cardinal  warmly  approved  of  the  BUggestion,  and  Kev.  John 
Joseph  Riordan,  of  happy  memory,  was  selected  for  the  work.  June  1,  1884,  Father 
Riordan  regularly  took  his  post  at  Castle  (  farden.  Be  soon  saw  the  necessity  of  a  home 
where  immigrant  girls  would  remain  until  such  time  as  they  obtained  employment, 
proceeded  on  their  journey,  or  met  their  friends.  .\  house  was  leased  at  7  1 '.roadway,  and 
a  temporary  home  established.  The  following  year,  1885,  the  property  at  7  State  Street 
was  purchased,  and  here  the  woik  has  since  been  carried  on.  Since  its  establishment 
fully  40,000  young  girls  have  experienced  its  protection  and  benefits.  This  building  was 
constructed  long  ago,  and  was  first  occupied  as  a  private  mansion  and  afterward  used 
for  commercial  business,  and  is  consequently  but  poorly  adapted  for  the  purposes  of 
the  mission;  but,  as  soon  as  funds  can  be  raised,  a  new  building  will  be  erected  more 
suitable  for  the  work,  and  at  the  same  time  be  a  worthy  memorial  to  the  founder  of  the 
mission,  Rev.  John  Joseph  Riordan. 

The  mission,  it  may  be  stated,  is  American  as  well  as  Catholic,  and  extends  its 
hospitality  to  all  immigrant  girls  regardless  of  their  religious  beliefs.  Nbn-Catholic 
young  women  are  expressly  informed  that  they  are  nol  obliged  to  attend  the  religious 
exercises  given  in  the  chapel  of  the  home.  The  good  resulting  from  the  work  done  at 
the  mission  flows  into  American  society,  and  will  be  felt  in  future  generations.  The 
mission  should,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  an  American  institution  as  well  as  a  religious 
agency.  Such  a  work  needs  no  commendation  here,  and  if  it  did,  anything  we  could 
say  would  but  feebly  set  forth  its  merits  when  compared  with  the  eloquent  words  of 
Cardinal  Gibbons  wThen  speaking  about  it  on  a  recent  occasion. 

"  The  Mission  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Rosary,"  said  his  eminence,  "  has  been  doing  a 
magnificent  work  in  throwing  a  mantle  of  protection  around  these  girls.  And  I  am 
only  too  glad  to  lend  my  presence  to  any  enterprise  which  is  designed  to  help  this  noble 
work.  These  maidens,  after  escaping  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  landing  on  our  shores, 
become  the  prey  of  the  landsharks  that  infest  your  city  and  seek  to  rob  them  of  that 
which  is  more  precious  than  life  itself — their  faith  andthe  jewel  of  purity." 

Martin  F.  Morris,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  spoke  at  some  length  on  "  The 
Independence  of  the  Holy  See;  Its  Origin,  and  the  Necessity  for  Its  Con- 
tinuance in  the  Cause  of  Civilization."     He  said: 

On  the  morning  of  October  27,  A.  D.  312,  two  great  armies  confronted  each  other 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  River  Tiber,  about  nine  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Rome.  Not 
often  before  in  its  wonderful  history  had  the  din  of  battle  come  so  close  to  the  eternal 
city.  Armies  had  often  marched  out  from  its  gates  to  conquer.  Armies  had  often 
marched  back  into  its  gates  triumphant  from  the  scene  of  distant  wars.  Now,  for  the 
first  time  since  Breunus  the  Gaul,  in  the  time  of  its  infancy,  had  marched  upon  the 
capital,  the  fate  of  Rome  and  of  the  world  was  to  be  decided  by  the  arbitrament  of 
arms  at  the  very  walls  of  Rome  itself. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  145 

Maxentius,  a  resolute  soldier  of  fortune,  led  one  of  these  two  hosts,  and  his 
garrison  held  the  city.  At  the  head  of  the  other  army,  which  had  come  down  from 
the  North  and  had  drawn  its  recruits  mainly  from  Gaul  and  Britain,  was  one  of  those 
mighty  men  of  destiny  of  whom  the  world  has  known  but  seven  in  all,  who,  as  we  read 
their  history,  impress  us  with  the  profound  conviction  of  their  ability  to  bear  down  all 
opposition  and  to  reach  the  destiny  assigned  to  them  by  heaven  in  spite  of  all 
obstacles. 

Whether  it  be  true  or  not  that  when  upon  that  eventful  morning  Constantine 
the  Great  marshaled  his  legions  for  the  fray  his  own  imperial  banner  bore  upon  it 
the  symbol  of  the  cross  and  the  legend  "  In  hoc  signo  vinces,"  as  some  of  the  chron- 
iclers tell  us,  certain  it  is  that  the  result  of  this  conflict  was  to  disclose  to  the  Roman 
world  what  the  Rornan  world  had  scarcely  suspected  before — that  it  was  no  longer 
pagan,  but  Christian.  For  three  centuries  of  merciless  persecution  Christianity  had 
found  a  refuge  in  the  catacombs;  now  it  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Caasars.  The 
transition  perhaps  was  not  as  sudden  as  it  seems  to  us  to-day  to  have  been.  For,  day 
by  day  during  all  these  centuries,  in  spite  of  persecution,  and  even  by  reason  of  the 
persecution,  Christianity  had  gained  converts,  not  merely  in  the  cottages  of  the  lowly, 
but  even  in  the  palaces  of  the  Caesars  themselves.  The  noblest  names  of  Rome  are 
found  in  the  long  roll  of  the  Christian  martyrology;  and  no  doubt  close  observers  of 
the  course  of  events,  if  such  observers  existed  at  the  time,  may  have  anticipated  the 
result.  But,  as  frequently  happens,  the  result  came  at  last  as  the  sequel  of  a  sharp 
and  bitter  civil  war;  and  when  Maxentius,  in  his  flight  from  the  field  of  battle,  was 
drowned  in  the  Tiber,  paganism  went  down  with  him,  though  it  struggled  desperately 
for  a  time  against  the  overwhelming  waters  of  the  new  civilization.  The  contest  had 
not  been  in  name  a  contest  between  paganism  and  Christianity.  There  had  been  no 
outward  semblance,  whatever,  of  a  struggle  between  the  rival  forces  then  at  work  in 
the  Roman  Empire.  Two  rival  contestants  for  the  imperial  throne  had  simply  arrayed 
their  forces  against  each  other  as  similar  contestants  had  often  done  before.  But  out 
of  their  struggle  was  evolved  the  triumph  of  Christianity  and  of  the  new  civilization 
which  Christianity  represented. 

It  has  always  been  a  curious  subject  of  historical  inquiry  and  critical  conjecture 
why  Constantine  the  Great,  as  soon  as  he  had  secured  the  fruits  of  his  victory  and 
finally  consolidated  his  power,  removed  the  seat  of  government  from  the  City  of  Rome 
to  the  City  of  Byzantium  on  the  Thracian  Bosphorus,  ever  since  called  from  him  by  the 
name  of  Constantinople.  But  assuredly  there  was  a  purpose  of  profound  statesman- 
ship, as  well  as  a  providential  dispensation  to  prepare  Rome  to  become  the  religious 
capital  of  the  world,  while  it  ceased  to  be  the  center  of  political  and  governmental  ad- 
ministration. It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  indulge  in  conjecture  as  to  the  political 
motives  which  may  have  induced  Constantine  to  regard  Byzantium  as  preferable  to 
Rome  for  the  capital  of  the  empire.  But  the  fact  that  this  movement  distinctly  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  conversion  of  Rome  to  be  the  ecclesiastical,  instead  of  the  politi- 
cal, capital  of  the  world,  without  even  the  shadow  of  solicitation  to  that  effect  on  the 
part  of  the  Pope,  is  a  circumstance  that  has  not  received  from  historians  the  considera- 
tion which  it  merits. 

Caasarean  Rome  was  destined  to  become  the  Rome  of  the  Pontiffs.  Out  of  thirty - 
ttiree  popes  who  had  sustained  and  guided  the  infant  church  during  the  three  centuries 
of  struggle  and  persecution,  twenty-four  had  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  and  had 
shed  their  blood  for  the  faith.  The  ground  which  they  had  contributed  so  copiously  to 
fertilize  deserved  to  become  their  own. 

We  attach  no  credit,  however,  to  the  story  of  the  grant  of  Rome  by  Constantine  to 
the  popes.  In  the  nature  of  things  neither  Constantine  or  any  of  his  successors  could 
have  dissociated  the  City  of  Romulus  and  of  the  Scipiosfrom  the  mighty  empire  which 
it  had  established,  and  upon  which  it  had  impressed  its  name  and  its  governmental 
institutions.  But  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  political  authority  from  Rome  to  Byzan- 
tium naturally  relegated  Rome  to  the  condition  of  local  self-government,  which  it  was 
always  the  policy  of  Roman  administration  to  foster  in  all  the  cities  of  the  great 
empire.  By  this  removal  Rome  became  practically  a  free  city,  with  the  power  of  the 
native  senate  restored  to  the  management  of  all  its  local  affairs,  and  with  the  super- 
added influence  of  the  presence  within  it  of  the  chief  of  the  Christian  religion  to 
moderate  its  course  of  action  and  to  protect  it  from  the  violence  of  external  assault. 
Even  when,  under  the  sons  of  Theodosius,  the  Roman  Empire  was  broken  up  into  the 
Empire  of  the  East  and  the  Empire  of  the  West,  and  Italy  again  became  a  center  of 
political  activity  as  the  stronghold  of  the  Western  empire,  it  was  not  Rome,  but  first 
Milan  and  afterward  Ravenna,  that  became  the  seat  of  imperial  government.    Either 


146  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

studiously  and  by  design,  or  through  an  unconscious  sense  of  the  propriety  of  things, 
Rome  was  left  to  itself  and  to  the  popes.  And  when  the  empire  fell,  neither  Visigoths, 
nor  Ostrogoths,  nor  Lombards,  nor  Franks,  nor  Germans,  ever  interfered  with  this  tacit 
arrangement.  Never  again  was  it  sought  by  anyone  to  make  Rome  the  seal  of  temporal 
government.  The  Ostrogothic  capital  was  established  at  Verona;  thai  of  the  Lombards 
at  Pavia. 

When  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West  was  restored  in  name,  and  almost  in  fact,  for 
Charlemagne  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  in  A.  D.  800,  the  restored  sovereignty  of  the  Caesars 
was  evidenced  by  the  coronation  of  tho  Prankish  monarch  at  Rome,  and  his  successors 
in  the  dignity  who  claimed  or  bore  the  title  of  Kaiser  of  the  holy  Roman  Empire  were 
never  regarded  as  fully  entitled  to  the  honor  except  as  the  consequence  of  a  similar 
coronation  by  the  hands  of  the  holy  Roman  Pontiff  in  the  City  of  Rome.  And  yet, 
never  to  any  of  them  did  it  occur  to  attempt  to  transfer  the  seat  of  government  from 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  or  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  or  Nuremburg,  or  Vienna,  to  its  old  loca- 
tion on  the  Palatine  hill.  The  public  sentiment  of  Europe  would  have  been  opposed 
to  any  such  attempt.  That  public  sentiment,  silently,  unconsciously,  but  for  that 
reason  all  the  more  potently,  had  decreed  that  Rome  should  be  a  free  city,  free  from 
the  control  of  the  great  feudal  monarchy,  free  from  all  external  control  of  every 
kind. 

And  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  never,  except  upon  rare  occasions,  did  any  of  the 
feudal  monarchies  of  Europe  seek  to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  City  of 
Rome.  Theoretically,  the  sovereign  of  the  German  Empire  was  required  to  goto  Rome 
for  his  coronation,  but  with  his  coronation  his  functions  within  the  eternal  city  were 
at  an  end.  Henry  IV.  and  Frederick  Barbarosa  sought  to  break  through  this  rule  of 
international  and  Christian  law,  and  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe,  stronger  than  even 
the  arms  of  the  great  Countess  Matilda  or  of  Robert  Guiscard,  drove  them  both  in  dis- 
grace from  Rome.  Within  the  walls  of  Rome  tho  only  power  recognized  by  the  public 
sentiment  of  Rome,  was  that  of  the  Roman  senate,  the  Roman  people,  and  the  Roman 
Pontiff.  And  down  to  the  year  1870  this  public  sentiment  was  strong  enough  to  pre- 
serve unimpaired  the  institutions  that  had  thus  been  so  quietly  evolved  and  estab- 
lished. For  we  may  unhesitatingly  assert  that  the  temporal  power,  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  authority,  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  was  the  result  of  gradual  evolution. 

We  presume  that  no  one  will  pretend  that  the  mass  of  dogma,  and  of  doctrine,  and 
of  religious  practice  that  now  obtains  among  us  was  knowa  in  its  fullness  to  th  •  a'  os 
ties  or  to  their  immediate  successors.  The  germ  of  it  all  they  undoubtedly  had;  but  it 
was  unnecessary,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  they  should  have  had  it  in  alt  the  plenti- 
tude  of  its  manifestations.  The  truth  has  been  unfolded  as  occasion  demanded,  each 
subsequent  declaration  of  it  being  the  legitimate  consequence  of  the  original  revela- 
tion. 

So  it  was  likewise  with  the  temporal  power.  Who  can  assume  to  place  his  finger 
on  the  precise  point  of  time  when  the  Roman  pontiffs  became  temporal  rulers?  We 
know  when,  and  how,  and  by  whom  the  monarchies  of  France  and  England  and  Ger- 
many were  founded.  We  know  when  the  Swiss  Republic  was  born.  We  know  the 
years  whence  Florence,  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Venice  severally  became  independent  powers. 
The  great  landmarks  of  the  world's  history  are  the  catastrophes  out  of  which  nation ■•. 
are  born  and  dynasties  reared.  But  who  can  say  when  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes  began? 

We  are  told  of  a  grant  by  Constantine  the  Great  to  which  we  have  already  referred; 
and  we  ara  told  of  a  grant  by  Theodosius,  and  by  Bepin,  and  by  Charlemagne.  But  all 
these  are  undoubtedly  apocryphal.  We  have  more  accurate  knowledge  of  a  grant  by 
the  great  Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany;  but  the  power  of  the  popes  had  then  been 
firmly  established.  And  authentic  history  tells  us,  with  circumstantial  detail,  how  the 
feudal  rulers  of  Urbino,  Carrara,  Bologna,  and  Benevento  gave  way  to  the  milder  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Roman  pontiffs. 

But  neither  to  Constantine,  nor  to  Theodosius,  nor  to  Pepin,  nor  to  Charlemagne, 
nor  to  the  Countess  Matilda  is  due  the  establishment  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes.  The  silly  imbecility  of  partisan  bigotry  has  sometimes  set  down  Pope  Gregory 
VII.,  better  known,  perhaps,  as  Hildebrand  of  Sienna,  as  the  founder  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  papacy,  and  the  latter  end  of  the  11th  century  as  the  period  of  its  es- 
tablishment. But  only  the  most  intense  bigotry  or  the  most  willful  ignorance  can  be 
blind  to  the  fact  that  Hildebrand  of  Sienna  exercised  no  more  power  in  Rome  than  his 
predecessors  had  done  before  him.  History  fails  to  disclose  any  change  in  his 
time  in  the  government  of  the  eternal  city.  The  grant  which  was  undoubtedly  made 
by  Matilda,  of  the  Tuscan  territory,  subsequently  known  as  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  147 

enlarged  the  dominion  of  the  popes,  but  it  did  not  create  or  originate  it.  The  Roman 
territory  was  no  part  of  this  grant,  and  in  the  Roman  territory  the  power  of  the  popes 
had  already  been  established  for  several  centuries. 

In  subordination,  of  course,  to  the  divine  ordination  from  which  all  power  origin- 
ates, to  the  will  of  the  Roman  people  is  immediately  due  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes.  To  the  spiritual  chiefs,  in  whose  honor,  integrity  and  patriotism  they  had  confi- 
dence, the  Roman  people  deemed  themselves  justified  in  remitting,  from  time  to  time, 
the  conduct  of  their  temporal  affairs.  When  Alaric  the  Visigoth,  angered  at  the  imbe- 
cility of  the  rulers  of  Ravenna,  plundered  the  eternal  city  and  looked  from  the  Pintian 
hill  over  a  scene  of  indiscriminate  slaughter  and  carnage,  it  was  Pope  Innocent  I.  to 
whom  the  people  turned  in  their  despair,  and  who  induced  the  fierce  barbarian  to  with- 
draw. When,  soon  after,  the  terrible  Atilla  came  down  upon  Italy  with  his  savage  Mon- 
golian horde  and  spread  desolation  over  the  land,  it  was  to  the  Pope  again  that  the  peo- 
ple turned,  and  it  was  Saint  Leo  and  not  a  Roman  general  or  an  officer  or  army  of  the 
tottering  empire  that  encountered  the  savage  chief  under  the  walls  of  Aquileia,  turned 
him  back  from  his  purpose  and  saved  Rome  and  Italy  from  the  horror  of  Mongolian  con- 
quest. When  Ostrogoths,  and  Lombards,  and  Saracens,  and  Normands,  swarmed  over 
the  peninsula  to  ravage  and  plunder  it  was  reserved  to  the  popes  to  check  their  ravages 
and  to  mitigate  the  horrors  of  their  invasion.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  people  of  Rome 
remitted  the  temporal  power  in  their  State  to  those  who  alone  could  save  them  from 
destruction? 

For  a  thousand  years  before  it  assumed  definite  shape,  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes  in  the  city  of  Rome  existed  and  was  recognized  by  the  tacit  acknowledgment  of 
the  Christian  world.  Never  before  and  never  since  in  the  history  of  the  world  has 
power  been  established  so  quietly  and  so  greatly  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  peo- 
ple over  whom  it  was  exercised.  The  power,  in  fact,  was  the  gradual  development  of 
the  people's  will — so  gradual,  that,  as  we  have  said,  no  one  can  point  to  the  actual 
time  of  its  origin;  for  it  had  no  such  origin  as  other  governments  of  the  world  have 
had. 

It  is  very  true,  however,  that,  to  the  pontificate  of  Hildebrand  of  Sienna,  or  Pope 
Gregory  VII.,  we  are  to  refer  the  formal  establishment  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes,  inasmuch  as  to  that  time  we  are  to  refer  the  culmination  of  the  feudal  system 
in  Europe,  and  the  first  great  victory  of  Christian  civilization  over  it  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  The  contest  between  feudalism  and  civilization,  beginning  with 
the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West,  in  A.  D.  472,  was  a  long  and  bitter 
one.  It  had  lasted  over  a  thousand  years  when  the  discovery  of  America  enabled  the 
world  to  insure  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  the  system.  But  the  contest  is  not  even  yet 
sntirely  at  an  end.  In  that  contest  the  feudal  classes  of  Europe  were  banded  against 
v.he  people  and  the  Christian  Church.  The  Roman  pontiffs  were  ever  the  most  consist- 
ent opponents  of  feudalism;  and  it  was  the  unceasing  effort  of  the  popes  to  restrain  the 
rapacity  of  the  "robber  barons,"  and  the  arbitrary  licentiousness  of  the  feudal 
monarchs. 

The  feudal  system  was  at  its  height  when  Hildebrand  became  Pope,  in  A.  D.  1073. 
Henry  IV.  of  the  house  of  Franconia,  an  able  and  up-principled  man,  was  then  Em- 
peror of  Germany  (A.  D.  1056-1106),  and  as  such  the  virtual  head  of  the  system.  A 
violent  contest  broke  out  between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.  Henry  sought  to  deter- 
mine it  by  an  appeal  to  the  brute  force  of  arms.  He  crossed  the  Alps,  invaded  Italy, 
and  marched  upon  Rome  with  a  view  of  deposing  the  Pope  and  procuring  the  election 
of  a  Pontiff  more  in  accord  with  his  wishes.  Suddenly  Matilda,  Countess  of  Tuscany, 
appeared  in  arms  against  him  and  resisted  his  advance.  Robert  Guiscard  hastened 
from  Naples  with  his  Normans  to  protect  the  City  of  Rome.  Europe  was  aroused  to  a 
sense  of  danger.  Rebellions  broke  out  in  Germany  itself.  Henry's  army  melted  away. 
Matilda  skilfully  foiled  all  his  movements,  and  the  discomfited  and  baffled  monarch  at 
last  was  compelled  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Pontiff.  In  their  famous  interview  at  the 
Castle  of  Canossa,  in  A.  D.  1079,  the  independence  of  the  Church  from  feudal  restraint 
and  the  triumph  <  f  Christian  civilization  over  feudal  barbarism  were  definitely  secured. 
And  although  feudalism  survived  for  many  a  day,  the  result  of  that  interview  was  to 
secure  the  church  ever  afterward  from  the  encroachments  of  the  Northern  powers.  It 
was  further  to  insure  that  result  that  the  Countess  Matilda,  either  immediately  after- 
ward or  at  her  death  in  1115,  donated  to  the  popes  the  territory  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  between  the  Tiber  and  the  lake  of  Bolsona,  known  in  subsequent  times 
by  the  name  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  what  is  known  as  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes. 
Assuredly  no  temporal  power  was  ever  more  justly  acquired;  no  temporal  sovereignty 


14S  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ever  had  more  just  or  more  legitimate  foundations.  The  free  will  of  the  Roman  people 
und  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe  made  of  Rome  what  a  similar  sentiment,  cirystal- 
izing  itself  in  organic  law,  has  made  of  the  City  of  Washington  ami  the  District  of 
Columbia  for  the  purposes  of  our  Federal  Union.  The  government  of  the  Union  might, 
perhaps,  have  curried  on  successfully  within  the  territorial  limits  of  some  one  1 
States  of  the  Union,  as  indeed  was  done  temporarily  in  the  beginning,  \\  hen  the  capital 
was  located  first  at  New  York  and  afterwards  at  Philadelphia.  Bui  the  better  to  secure 
the  freedom  of  that  government  aud  its  independent  action,  the  founders  of  our  consti- 
tutional system  most  wisely  deemed  it  proper,  and  i\  en  necessary,  to  seg  regate  the  small 
territory  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  to  devote  it  for  all  time  to  tbat  purpose.  1 1 
was  not  their  idea  to  create  for  the  government  which  they  established  any  imperial 
domain,  but  simply  to  insure  its  independence  of  action.  By  the  divine  ordination, 
and  by  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe  acting  in  accordance  therewith.  Rome  was 
intended  to  serve  for  the  Christian  world  a  purpose  similar  to  thai  which  the  Citj  of 
Washington  serves  for  our  Federal  Union — as  a  place  where  all  may  meet  on  terms  of 
equal  freedom  and  independence. 

The  parallel  may  be  even  farther  extended.  We  have  said  that  it  was  not  the 
intention  of  the  founders  of  our  Federal  system  to  provide  a  large  domain  for  our  cen- 
tral government,  although  the  powers  of  that  government  were  to  be  co-extensive  with 
the  territorial  limits  of  the  union,  and  its  influence  was  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  habit 
able  globe.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  their  express  purpose  to  make  that  domain  no  larger 
than  would  be  absolutely  required  to  secure  the  independence  of  the  government,  and 
a  small  district,  containing  not  more  than  100  square  miles  of  territory,  was  deemed 
amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  The  Christian  Church  was  established  as  a  power  on 
earth  independent  of  the  nations,  but  to  act  upon  all  the  nations,  to  pervade  them  with 
its  influence,  to  weld  them  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  fraternity.  Out  with  a  purpose  and 
a  sphere  of  action  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from  that  of  the  nations,  "Give  unto 
Caasar  the  things  that  are  Caesars,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,"  was  the 
mandate  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  the  church.  And  this  mandate,  as  did  our  Federal 
constitution  with  the  Union  and  States  of  the  Union,  established  distinctly  the  co-or- 
dination of  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  power.  The  founder  of  Christianity  no  more 
contemplated  the  subjection  of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power,  as  in  the  Moham- 
medan system,  than  he  did  the  subjection  of  the  spiritual  to  the  temporal  power  which 
it  is  the  boast  of  Protestantism  to  have  accomplisiH-d  \,\  a  1  istoration  of  the  infamous 
system  of  State  religions,  characteristic  of  the  old  pagan  world,  and  winch  it  was  the 
mission  of  Christianity  to  destroy.  By  the  separation  and  co-ordination  of  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  powers  the  freedom  of  both  were  to  be  secured.  And  we  may  add  that  an 
alliance  between  the  two  was  no  more  contemplated  than  the  subjection  of  the  one  to 
the  other. 

.  Now,  while  it  necessarily  follows  that  the  possession  of  temporal  power  as  such  by 
the  church  is  not  only  not  necessary  to  it,  but  is,  in  its  nature,  injurious  to  the  purit) 
of  its  existence;  the  possession  of  a  locus  for  the  free  and  independent  exercise  of  iti 
governmental  functions  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  A  place  for  a  meeting  of  its 
councils  outside  of  the  territorial  limits  of  any  State  or  nation,  and  therefore,  presum- 
ably free  from  the  undue  influence  which  would  be  natural  within  the  limits  of  a  State 
or  nation — a  place  for  the  transaction  of  the  executive  business  of  the  church — a  place 
for  the  sessions  of  its  general  tribunals,  for  there  is  legislative,  executive  and  judicial 
business  to  be  transacted  by  the  church  as  well  as  by  the  State,  is  just  as  much  a 
necessity  for  the  church  as  it  is  for  the  State,  with  this  distinction,  perhaps,  that  the 
exercise  of  temporal  power  is  the  primary  purpose  of  the  State,  while  to  the  church  it  is 
merely  an  incident,  a  convenient  and  proper  incident  to  the  exercise  of  its  spiritual 
power,  but  yet  never  more  than  an  incident. 

The  church  may  exist  without  the  temporal  powrer  of  the  popes.  It  existed  without 
it  in  the  catacombs;  it  existed  without  it  through  all  the  ages  of  persecution.  Popes 
may  die  in  exile  or  in  prison,  as  they  have  died.  Godless  conspirators  against  the  cause 
of  truth  may  raise  again  the  banners  of  hell  over  the  altars  of  religion,  as  they  have 
frequently  done  in  the  past.  They  may  slay  the  priest  at  the  altar,  scatter  the  wor- 
shipers and  defile  the  sanctuary,  and  yet  the  spirit  of  religion  will  survive  and  the 
church  will  come  forth  again  triumphant,  as  it  came  forth  from  the  catacombs.  Free 
or  enslaved,  in  favor  with  princes  or  incurring  their  deadliest  enmity,  we  have  no  appre- 
hension for  the  church;  her  cause  is  the  cause  of  God  and  it  will  survive.  So  many 
tyrants  rage  against  the  cause  of  human  liberty;  but  the  spirit  of  liberty  can  not  be 
destroyed  by  tyrants.  Assuredly  it  can  not  seriously  be  claimed  that,  because  human 
liberty  can  survive  the  assaults  of  tyranny,  therefore  it  should  continue  to  be  subject 
to  them. 


HON.   C.    C     BONNEY, 
CHICAGO 

JOHN  QiBB   iNS,    LL.D. 

CHICAGO. 
THOMAS  F.    RING, 

BOSTON. 


DR.   AUGUST   KAISER, 

DETROIT. 


MAURICE   F.   EGAN,   LL.D., 

CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY,   WASHINGTON,    D.  C. 


COL.   R.   M.   DOUGLAS,   LL.D. 

GREENBOSO. 

HENRY  C.  SEMPLE, 

MONTGOMERY. 

E.   O.   BROWN, 

CHIC    GO. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


[49 


Is  it  any  more  reasonable  to  hold  that  because  the  church  will  undoubtedly  survive 
persecution  and  the  loss  of  its  independence,  therefore  it  ought  to  be  subjected  to  per- 
secution and  deprived  of  the  small  allotment  of  temporal  dominion  that  constitutes  the 
guarantee  of  its  freedom  and  independence? 

Man  is  by  nature  entitled  to  be  free;  therefore  is  he  entitled  to  free  institutions. 
Man  is  entitled  to  freedom  in  his  spiritual  relations;  therefore  is  the  church,  the  organ 
of  his  religion,  entitled  to  such  measures  of  temporal  authority  as  will  secure  its  inde- 
pendence and  its  freedom  of  action.  More  than  this  there  is  not  claimed  for  it;  more 
than  this  it  would  not  be  wise  for  it  to  possess. 

No  dispassionate  and  impartial  student  of  history  can  now  fail  to  recognize  the 
benefit  that  accrued  to  our  civilization  from  the  existence  of  the  papacy.  It  was  the 
papacy,  and  the  papacy  alone,  that  saved  Europe  from  the  grinding  despotism  of  the 
feudal  system.  From  the  brigandage  and  licentiousness  which  that  system  was  so  well 
calculated  to  perpetuate,  humanity  found  its  only  refuge  in  the  power  that  was  repre- 
sented by  the  papacy.  The  independence  of  the  papacy  secured  the  independence  of 
the  church.  And  the  ultimate  triumph  of  all  that  the  church  represented  and  was  to 
Europe — religion,  morality,  science,  literature,  female  virtue,  and  the  sanctity  of  the 
home.  Recall  for  a  moment  the  picture  drawn  by  a  great  dramatist  of  our  own  age;  it 
is  a  true  picture.  In  the  drama  of  Richelieu,  by  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  when  the 
famous  French  cardinal,  driven  from  power,  temporarily  deprived  of  his  honor,  and 
shorn  of  all  his  authority  by  the  loss  of  royal  favor,  was  threatened  with  an  assault  upon 
the  virtue  of  his  favorite  niece,  what  did  he  say  and  do;  and  what  was  the  power  that 
enabled  him  to  hurl  defiance  on  his  enemies.  Here  are  his  words,  that  deserve  to  be 
immortal: 

Mark  where  she  stand.    Around  her  form 

I  draw  the  awful  circle  of  our  solemn  church; 

Let  but  a  foot  within  that  holy  ground, 

And  on  thy  head— yea,  though  it  wore  a  crown— 

1  launch  the  curse  of  Rome. 

And  the  writer  is  true  to  the  spirit  of  history  when  he  makes  the  cardinal's  enemies 
shrink  from  his  denunciation  more  abjectly  than  they  would  have  cowered  before  any 
manifestation  of  political  authority. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  long  after  Protestantism  had  destroyed  the 
spirit  of  Christian  charity  and  the  sentiment  of  the  orotherhood  of  man  in  Europe, 
the  Rjman  pontiffs  were  the  arbiters  of  political  quarrels  and  national  controversies — 
not  because  they  arrogated  to  themselves  any  temporal  authority  over  the  nations,  as 
partisan  bigotry  has  falsely  asserted,  but  because  on  account  of  their  spiritual  charac- 
ter the  Christian  world  looked  to  them  as  the  most  natural  and  the  most  impartial 
judges  of  national  and  international  disputes,  and  the  faith  of  the  Christian  world,  in 
the  rectitude  of  their  decisions,  has  never  been  mistaken  or  misplaced.  When  were 
their  decisions  in  this  regard  wrong? 

A  remarkable  illustration  is  recalled  by  the  history  of  the  great  event  we  are  now 
commemorating.  When  the  grand  exploit  of  Columbus  had  opened  up  the  Western 
World  beyond  the  Atlantic  to  the  daring  adventure  of  Spain,  and  the  contemporaneous 
maritime  enterprise  of  Portugal  threatened  to  occasion  collisions  between  the  two 
nations,  Alexander  VI.,  who  then  occupied  the  Papal  chair,  and  to  whose  decision  the 
matter  had  been  referred  for  arbitration,  decreed  that  the  thirty-seventh  meridian  of 
longitude  west  of  the  straits  of  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands  should  be  the  dividing  line 
between  the  colonial  empires  of  the  two  powers.  There  was  no  usurpation  in  this 
decision,  as  the  malignant  falsifiers  of  Edinburgh  and  Geneva  would  have  us  believe 
— no  haughty  arrogation  of  sovereignty  over  this  newly-discovered  world  such  as  to 
justify  the  pontiffs  in  parceling  it  out  between  the  two  great  maritime  powTers  of  the 
day.  The  action  of  the  Pope  was  simply  that  of  the  judge  or  arbitrator  to  whom  the 
controversy  for  the  settlement  of  a  disputed  boundary  had  naturally  been  referred 
by  those  interested  in  its  settlement.  And  strangely  enough  the  two  parties  most 
nearly  interested,  Spain  and  Portugal,  acquiesced  in  the  decision  of  the  Pontiff  with- 
out a  murmur  of  dissent.  And  it  was  not  until  long  afterward,  when  the  basest 
malignity  of  falsehood  was  never  deemed  too  vile  for  the  use  of  intolerantfanaticism  and 
religious  rancor,  that  one  of  the  most  beneficent  acts  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  was 
characterized  as  an  evidence  of  their  usurpation  of  sovereign  powers  over  the  world. 

As  mediators  of  peace  and  arbitrators  of  international  difficulties  the  popes  of 
Rome  have  rendered  services  to  the  cause  of  human  civilization,  supposing  for  the 
moment  that  we  can  dissociate  that  term  from  religion,  which  no  historical  writer  of 
the  present  day  who  has  regard  for  the  cause  of  truth  can  ignore.  We  think  a  period 
has  been  reached  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  arbitration  between  the  nations 


I5o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  C0NQR1       I 

may  be  substituted  for  the  brutal  agency  of  the  Bword  as  a  more  sensible  and  more 
satisfactory  method  for  the   determination   of   the  quarrels  and   disputes  thai 

between  the  nations.  More  than  once  in  late  years  we  have  bad  rea 
nation  to  this  method  of  settling  our  difficulties  with  other  nations  of  the  world; 
and  the  method  has  commended  itself  to  the  common  sense  of  the  age  as  eminently 
wise  and  just.  In  other  words,  by  our  sporadic  effort-,  we  are  Btriving  to  return  to 
the  system  of  a  more  permanent  character  represented  in  past  times  by  the  Roman 
Pontiffs.  Isittoo  much  to  hope  that  the  time  will  on, e  again  v.  hen  all  the  nations 
will  agree  by  common  consent  to  submit  their  controversies,  which  they  are  unable 
to  settle  amicably  between  themselves,  to  a  supreme  court  of  the  world,  presided  over 
by  the  Roman  Pontiffs?  But  in  order  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  may  be  fiee  to  act  as 
such  supreme  arbitrator,  in  order  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  may  be  tree  to  act  as  the 
ordinary  arbitrator  of  the  affairs  of  our  universal  church  throughout  the  nations,  he 
must  not  be  the  subject  of  any  power  or  nation  himself.  For  such  BUbjection  would 
detract  from  his  impartiality  as  well  as  from  his  independence.  It  is  unjust  to  all  of 
us  throughout  the  world  that  the  head  of  our  religion  Bhould  be  under  the  suspicion 
even  of  being  controlled,  constrained  or  influenced  by  the  temporal  authority  of  any 
nation  claiming  political  jurisdiction  of  his  person  or  of  his  surroundings. 

The  writer  of  this  paper  is  not  an  enemy  to  the  sentiment  of  united  Italy.  On  the 
contrary,  he  sympathizes  most  heartily,  not  only  with  the  desire  for  freedom  which  is 
assumed  to  have  been  so  large  a  factor  in  producing  a  united  Italy,  but  with  the 
general  theory  of  a  union,  or  at  least  of  a  confederation,  of  all  the  branches  of  cognate 
races  so  far  as  it  may  be  feasible  or  pracl  icable  to  fuse  t  hem  into  one  nationality.  But 
Rome  was  not  necessary  for  the  united  Italy.  Rome  has  become  the  capital  of  the 
world;  we  would  not  have  it  disgraced  into  becoming  the  capital  of  a  petty  European 
monarchy.  Rome  has  not  now,  even  if  it  ever  had,  any  strategic,  political,  or  com- 
mercial value  as  the  capital  of  an  Italian  monarchy,  or  of  an  Italian  republic,  or  of  an 
Italian  confederation  of  any  kind.  Italy  would  be  as  strong  without  it  as  with  it; 
stronger,  indeed,  without  it,  because  there  would  then  no  longer  I >* -  the  friction  of  the 
religious  sentiment  that  must  continue  to  struggle  againsl  the  existing  com  lit  ions,  and 
that  must  necessarily  succeed,  sooner  or  later,  in  modifying  those  conditions  Rome 
should  be  a  great  free  city,  the  great  free  city  of  the  world,  the  holy  city,  and  the 
religious  capital  of  all  the  nations  — not  a  mere  competitor  of  London,  or  Berlin,  or 
Vienna,  but  once  again  the  city  of  the  soul,  as  a  noble  poet  has  well  named  it,  to 
which  the  "Orphans  of  the  Heart"  may  ever  turn  as  their  home,  and  where  the 
children  of  every  nation  under  heaven  may  come  and  feel  themselves  at  home.  United 
Italy  will  make  no  real  sacrifice  of  nationality  by  the  restoration  of  Rome  to  the 
popes.    The  world  will  be  the  gainer  by  securing  anew  the  independence  of  the  Holy  Bee. 

Col.  Robert  M.  Douglas,  of  Greensboro,  N.  C,  read  a  paper  on  "  Trade 
Combinations  and  Strikes,"  in  which  he  said  : 

Trade  combinations  and  strikes  are  twin  children  of  an  advancing  civilization,  in 
which  the  individual  is  becoming  merged  into  the  aggregate,  not  only  as  to  his  rights 

of  property,  but  too  often  as  to  his  manhood  on  the  one  hand  and  his  conscience  on  the 
other.  Trade  combinations  are  of  different  kinds,  varying  with  the  objects  of  their  for- 
mation and  the  character  of  the  men  organizing  and  controlling  them;  but  throughout 
them  all  runs  the  essential  object  of  obtaining  by  co-operation  of  efforts  and  resources 
what  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  individual.  Strikes,  whatever  may  be  their  local 
causes  and  effects,  and  however  perverted  by  unworthy  leaders,  must  be  finally  regarded 
as  the  solemn  protest  of  the  individual  against  wrongs  for  which  he  feels  the  law 
presents  no  adequate  remedy. 

Trade  combinations  are  almost  invariably  effected  through  incorporated  companies, 
and  this  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  corporation  laws  of  this  country,  which,  in 
my  opinion,  through  their  unequal  operation,  are  largely  responsible  for  the  unfortu- 
nate relations  existing  between  labor  and  capital,  with  the  resulting  strikes. 

What  _  is  a  corporation?  It  is  a  fictitious  person,  created  by  law,  possessing  all  the 
property  rights  of  the  individual,  but  lacking  many  of  his  limitations  and  enjoying 
greater  privileges.  Like  an  individual,  it  can  buy  and  sell,  take  and  hold,  sue  and  be 
sued,  and  act  as  trustee,  administrator,  or  guardian.  Unlike  an  individual,  it  has 
neither  conscience  to  appeal  to,  nor  body  to  imprison.  Its  character  is  its  soul,  its  cap- 
ital stock  is  its  life's  blood.  It  enjoys  peculiar  privileges  not  given  to  individuals  or 
firms.  It  has  a  fixed  term  of  life,  unaffected  by  the  death  of  its  members,  and  hence  is 
not  hampered  by  will  or  descent,  dower,  courtesy,  or  homestead.  However  great  its 
capital  or  numerous  its  shareholders,  it  is  not  embarrassed  by  internal  differences  of 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  151 

opinion,  for  it  has  but  one  will,  which  is  the  will  of  the  majority.  Many  corporations, 
like  railroads,  possess  the  power  of  condemnation,  which  is  simply  the  practical  exercise 
of  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  one  of  the  highest  privileges  of  the  State. 

Usually  its  shareholders  have  no  personal  liability  beyond  the  amount  subscribed  ; 
and  by  an  ingenious  process,  based  upon  a  fictitious  purchase,  subscriptions  can  be 
turned"  into  paid-up  stock  upon  the  actual  payment  of  a  small  percentage.  The  capi- 
talization of  railroad  companies,  that  is.  their  issues  of  stock  and  bonds,  rarely  ever 
represent  actual  investments.  A  syndicate  of  stockholders  of  a  projected  railroad 
will,  by  appeals  to  the  patriotism  and  self-interest  of  communities  and  individuals,  obtai  . 
all  the  public  and  private  subscriptions  possible,  and  then  organize  a  distinct  corpora- 
tion in  the  nature  of  a  construction  company.  As  officers  of  the  rrulroad  company, 
they  will  make  a  contract  with  themselves  as  the  construction  company  to  build  the 
road  for  a  fixed  price  per  mile,  generally  amounting  to  the  entire  bonds  and  stocks  of 
the  road,  including  public  and  private  subscriptions.  These  subscriptions,  with  the 
first  mortgage  bonds,  usually  build  the  road,  leaving  the  entire  second  mortgage  bonds 
and  nearly  all  the  stock  as  net  profits. 

These  issues  of  stock  and  bonds,  representing  nothing  but  wind  and  water,  of  course 
contribute  nothing  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the  road,  and  yet  they  elect  its  officers, 
control  its  management,  and  absorb  its  profits.  The  mere  payment  of  the  interest  on 
the  bonds,  without  any  dividend  on  the  stock,  would  be  an  enormous  profit  to  the 
builders.  Six  per  cent  on  the  par  value  of  a  bond  becomes  100  per  cent  if  the  bond 
costs  only  six  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  over  1,000  per  cent  if  it  costs  nothing. 

If  a  corporation  having  5,000  employes  cut  down  their  daily  wages  5  cents—  a 
reduction  which  none  could  afford  to  resist — it  would  be  a  net  saving  of  §250  per  day. 
It  would  mean  on  the  6ne  hand  from  §75,000  to  8100.000  per  year  added  to  net  profits  of 
the  corporation,  and  on  the  other  2,000,000  loaves  of  bread  taken  from  the  mouths  of  the 
suffering  poor.  Successive  reductions  complete  the  grinding  process  to  the  limit  of 
human  endurance.  Is  not  this  a  dangerous  experiment  for  the  corporation  to  make  or 
the  State  to  permit? 

Our  civilization  rests  upon  a  surrender  by  the  individual  of  a  portion  of  his  natural 
liberty  in  exchange  for  the  protection  of  government,  and  he  has  a  right  to  demand 
that  the  government  shall  use  all  powers  necessary  to  his  protection.  Otherwise  is  he 
not  relegated  by  the  law  of  nature  to  his  natural  right  of  self-defense?  If  the  State 
create  an  artificial  person  with  powers  greater  than  his  own,  with  which  he  can  not  con- 
tend, has  he  not  a  right  to  demand  that  the  State  shall  provide  effiicient  means  to  pre- 
vent an  abuse  of  the  extraordinary  powers  it  has  given  to  its  creature? 

A  corporation  has  no  inherent  rights,  and  if  it  receives  from  the  State  powers  and 
privileges  greater  than  an  individual,  it  thereby  assumes  greater  responsibilities,  which 
neither  it  nor  the  State  can  ignore.  This  may  require  additional  legislation,  but  as  we 
have  enlarged  the  common  law  in  favor  of  the  corporation,  why  not  extend  it  for  the 
protection  of  the  individual?  It  contains  the  germs  of  all  necessary  remedies,  not  only 
for  the  abuse  of  corporate  powers,  but  for  many  other  existing  evils. 

At  first,  remedial  legislation  would  necessarily  be  somewhat  experimental;  but 
experience  would  soon  perfect  it.  All  corporate  privileges  should  be  held  at  the  will 
of  the  sovereign  grantor.  This  is  now  the  case  with  the  present  constitution  of  North 
Carolina  and  some  other  States.  Of  course  the  doctrine  of  "vested  rights"  will  be 
invoked,  and  the  Dartmouth  College  case  cited,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  this 
case  was  decided  on  the  ground  that  the  college  was  an  eleemosynary  corporation. 
There  is  an  essential  difference  between  a  charter  granted  merely  to  perpetuate  the 
charitable  purposes  of  a  private  founder  and  one  conveying  valuable  franchises  directly 
affecting  the  general  public,  and  the  abuse  of  which  may  vitally  injure  communities  as 
well  as  individuals. 

In  any  event,  when  remedial  legislation  is  needed  to  correct  great  public  wrongs, 
our  legislators  should  always  give  the  people  the  benefit  of  the  doubt;  and  at  least  give 
the  Supreme  Court  the  opportunity  of  passing  upon  its  constitutionality.  If  necessary 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  can  be  amended. 

Each  State  should  have  a  department  or  bureau  of  corporations,  with  visitor ial 
powers,  to  which  all  corporations  should  report  at  stated  times.  This  need  not  cost  the 
State  anything,  as  moderate  fees  would  more  than  pay  the  expenses.  The  visitorial 
powers  need  not  be  exercised  except  upon  complaint,  and  an  appeal  to  the  courts  should 
be  allowed.  The  majority  of  the  States  already  have  railroad,  banking  and  insurance 
commissioners,  and  but  a  slight  extension  of  their  powers  would  be  sufficient.  The™ 
is  no  reason  why  large  manufacturing  corporations  and  transportation  companies 
should  be  any  more  free  from  Stgte  supervision.     Treat  all  alike  and  require  from  all  a 


J52 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS  hs. 


strict  observance  of  the  law.  Trade  combinations  and  strikes  are  not  private  affairs, 
concerning  only  employer  and  employed;  but  usually  injuriously  affect  a  large  Dumber 
of  innocent  people,  and  become  public  nuisances  of  the  highest  order.  A  nuisance  is 
abatable,  and  an  affray  is  punishable  at  the  common  law.  In  an  all  ray.  which  is  the 
voluntary  fighting  of  two  or  more  persons  in  a  public  place,  both  parties  are  guilty, 
no  matter  who  began  it.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  with  strikes,  if  the  public  peace  be 
broken?  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  red-handed  rioter;  he  should  lie  promptly  sup- 
pressed. But  if  the  employer  or  his  agent  provokes  a  strike  by  oppression  or  unlawful 
combinations,  why  is  he  not  equally  guilty  with  the  poor  wretch  whom  he  has  driven 
to  desperation? 

Of  course  the  government  can  not  compel  anyone  to  employ  or  work  for  a  fixed 
price,  but  the  strike  or  the  lockout  must  be  kept  equally  within  the  law.  Whenever  a 
strike  occurs,  especially  one  in  any  way  affecting  the  general  public,  a  prompt  and 
thorough  investigation  should  be  made  by  the  State  authorities— not  only  into  tho  acts 
committed,  but  also  into  the  causes,  remote  as  well  as  proximate.  The  resultant  acts 
of  the  strikers  are  generally  open  and  ea<uly  seen  and  punished,  but  the  exciting  acts 
of  the  employer  are  more  secret  and  difficult  of  redress. 

The  investigations  should  extend  not  simply  to  overt  acts,  but  to  all  causes  of  com- 
plaint, including  the  rate  of  wages;  whether  paid  promptly,  and  in  cash,  or  orders; 
the  hours  of  labor,  whether  the  employes  live  in  houses  belonging  to  the  company, 
and,  if  so,  whether  the  rental  is  fair,  so  as  to  determine  whether,  on  the  whole,  the 
employes  receive  sufficient  remuneration  for  their  labor.  Wages,  apparently  fair,  can 
easily  be  largely  reabsorbed  by  high  rentals  and  store  accounts,  where  the  store  and 
tenant  houses  belong  to  the  company.  The  reasonableness  of  wages  depends  not  only 
upon  the  labor  of  the  employe,  but  also  upon  the  resulting  profit  to  the  employer. 
This  should  include  a  fair  return  upon  the  original  investment,  the  capital  actually 
employed  in  carrying  on  the  business,  and  the  personal  service  of  the  owners.  All 
these  should  be  matters  of  official  inquiry.  The  dividend  declared  upon  the  stock 
does  not  always  show  the  actual  profits,  as  large  amounts  may  be  carried  to  the 
.surplus  fund,  expended  in  improvements,  or  paid  to  the  principal  owners  in  the  shape 
of  salaries. 

It  may  be  said  that  such  inquiries  are  inquisitorial,  but  so  is  the  cross-examination 
of  any  witness.  Practically,  all  strikes  occur  with  incorporated  companies  or  large 
manufacturing  establishments.  We  have  seen  that  corporations  would  have  no  right 
to  object,  as  they  placed  themselves  under  peculiar  obligations  to  the  state  when  they 
accepted  their  chartered  rights.  Private  manufacturers  are  in  no  better  position,  as 
they  derive  peculiar  benefits  through  the  operation  of  our  tariff  laws.  They  should 
remember  that  the  avowed  purpose  of  all  our  protective  legislation  is  to  protect  our 
laboring  classes  from  competition  with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  and  to  enable  our 
manufacturers  to  pay  such  wages  as  will  permit  their  employes  to  support  and  educate 
their  families  in  a  manner  befitting  American  citizens.  I  have  always  been  in  favor  of 
a  protective  tariff,  because  I  believed  it  protected  the  American  aborer.  In  granting 
this  protection  to  the  manufacturer,  the  government  should  require  him  to  show  that 
he  has  shared  its  benefits  with  the  humblest  laborer  from  the  sweat  of  wrhose  brow  he 
derives  his  profits. 

One  other  danger  inseparable  from  corporate  bodies  arises  from  their  utter  want  of 
moral  responsibility.  Corporations  are  too  often  managed,  not  by  their  real  owners, 
but  by  officers  whose  trained  minds  and  consciences  are  devoted  to  the  single  purpose 
of  producing  the  largest  possible  profits  with  a  view  to  the  largest  possible  salaries. 
There  is  no  apparent  reason  why  the  right  to  apply  for  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  shouk 
be  reserved  to  the  attorney -general  alone,  who  too  frequently  owes  his  election  to  some 
powerful  corporation. 

But  little  can  here  be  said  about  trade  combinations  in  the  nature  of  trusts 
Avowedly  formed  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  prices  by  preventing  competition  or 
limiting  production,  they  are  essentially  vicious  in  their  nature,  dangerous  in  theii 
tendencies,  and  destructive  in  their  results.  The  United  States,  as  well  as  several  of 
the  States,  have  enacted  laws  against  trusts  and  unlawful  trade  combinations,  but  so 
far  apparently  with  little  success,  either  owing  to  defects  in  the  laws  or  lukewarm- 
ness  in  those  charged  with  their  execution.  Even  without  such  legislation,  the  old 
common  law  offences  of  forestalling,  regrating,  engrossing,  and  conspiracy  would,  if 
enforced,  remedy  many    xisting  evils. 

In  the  taxing  power  the  government  possesses  a  most  efficacious  remedv  for  trade 
combinations.  The  right  to  tax  is  the  power  to  destroy;  and  we  have  seen  this  power 
exercised  with  a  vengeance  on  State  bank  issues  and  foreign  imports. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  153 

This  question  of  taxation  brings  us  to  another  matter  in  which  the  t>oor  man  is 
placed  at  a  disadvantage.  It  has  been  said  that  our  churches  are-principah,  supported 
by  the  comparatively  poor,  and  the  same  may  be  ^aid  of  the  government,  l^e  wealth 
<  >f  the  rich  consists  largely  in  bonds  and  stocks  and  other  convertible  securities,  which 
can  be  easily  concealed  without  leaving  any  trace.  That  this  can  be  done  is  self- 
evident;  that  it  has  been  done  has  been  recently  shown  in  the  most  striking  manner. 
A  certain  amount  of  revenue  must  be  raised  for  the  purposes  of  government;  and  when 
one  species  of  property  escapes  taxation,  the  rate  is  necessarily  increased  upon  what  is 
taxed.    What  the  locomotive  fails  to  pay,  must  be  levied  upon  the  mule. 

A  laboring  man  can  rarely  escape  taxation.  He  has  no  money  or  stocks  or  bonds 
to  conceal.  He  can  not  evade  the  poll  tax  by  hiding  his  own  head,  neither  can  he  put 
his  mule  or  cow  in  a  safe-deposit  vault  and  swear  he  does  not  own  any.  The  poor 
farmer  ploughing  a  brindled  steer  upon  a  barren  hillside  pays  taxes  upon  his  steer  as 
well  as  upon  his  own  head.  He  has  fair  cause  for  complaint  if  the  railroad  magnate 
rolling  by  in  his  private  car  shirks  any  part  of  the  just  burdens  of    government. 

Another  principle  of  taxation  that  operates  very  unequally  is  that  which  permits 
all  debts  to  be  deducted  from  solvent  credits.  That  is,  if  a  man  owns  $10,000  in  notes 
or  bonds;  and  owes  $8,000,  he  returns  only  82,000  for  taxation.  But  if  a  man  buys  a 
house  for  $1,000,  paying  $200  cash  and  giving  his  note  and  mortgage  for  the  remaining 
$800,  he  is  compelled  to  pay  taxes  on  the  entire  value  of  the  place.  His  actual  owner- 
ship extends  only  to  the  amount  he  has  paid,  and  on  that  alone  should  he  be  required 
to  pay  taxes. 

The  best  citizen  on  earth  is  the  man  who  owns  his  home.  Next  to  his  wife  and 
children,  it  is  to  him  the  dearest  thing  on  earth,  because  it  shelters  them.  He  con- 
stantly improves  and  beautifies  it,  and  becomes  more  and  more  identified  with  its  every 
feature.  He  seeks  to  avoid  and  prevent  every  danger  that  may  threaten  it.  He  is 
never  a  rioter.  The  State  should  by  every  means  in  its  power  encourage  a  citizen  to 
acquire  a  home  as  the  surest  pledge  of  his  fidelity.  Every  little  flower  planted  by  the 
contented  hand  of  a  freeman  is  a  stronger  prop  of  a  free  government  than   a  bayonet. 

These  few  suggestions,  the  result  of  professional  experience  and  earnest  considera- 
tion, are  submitted  to  you  in  the  hope  that,  however  crude  and  imperfect,  they  may 
contain  a  germ  which,  under  the  fostering  care  of  an  abler  hand,  may  develop  into 
some  measure  of  public  welfare.  The  dangers  that  threaten  our  country  and  its  insti- 
tutions are  evident.  The  remedy  is  yet  to  be  found;  but  its  essential  principle  lies  in 
a  just  recognition  of  the  rights  of  all  classes  of  our  people.  So  make  and  enforce  the 
laws  that  every  one  throughout  this  broad  land  shall  feel  and  know  that  there  is  no 
one  so  rich  and  powerful  as  to  be  beyond  the  avenging  arm  of  the  law,  and  none  so 
poor  and  humble  as  to  be  beneath  its  completest  protection. 

Rev.  John  R.  Slattery,  of  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  Baltimore,  Md.,  followed 
with  an  able  paper  on  "The  Negro  Race;  Its  Condition,  Present  and 
Future."     He  said : 

The  religious  condition  of  our  eight  millions  of  blacks  gives  food  for  anxious  thought, 
and  is  fraught  with  lively  interest  to  every  citizen  of  this  Republic.  American  Catholics 
may  be  said  to  have  folded  their  arms  for  two  and  a  half  centuries,  especially  indeed 
since  the  war,  and  allowed  their  non-Catholic  countrymen  full  swing  in  the  religious 
training  of  the  colored  race.  We  did  our  share  for  them  in  other  ways;  we  had  more 
than  a  proportionate  representation  in  the  Union  army  which  emancipated  them,  while 
we  were  in  insignificant  number  on  the  opposite  side.  But  as  far  as  religion  goes  our 
efforts  have  been  trivial.  To  appreciate  how  truly  so,  consider  how  few  of  the  black 
rnce  are  Catholics — but  one  in  fifty.  And  here  is  the  first  element  in  their  religious 
condition;  their  actual  numbers  adhering  to  the  various  sects  count  up,  all  told,  about 
four  millions,  while  fully  as  many  are  without  any  religion  at  all. 

Moreover,  the  peculiarity  of  their  religious  organizations  is  that  they  themselves  do 
their  whole  religious  work.  They  are  the  bishops,  preachers,  elders,  deacons,  and  flock. 
Except  a  few  Episcopal  clergymen,  all  the  ministers  laboring  among  the  blacks  are  of 
their  own  race.  The  white  clergymen  are  found  only  in  their  universities,  colleges,  sem- 
inaries, and  other  higher  schools;  yet  the  African  churches  seem  to  move  along  smoothly 
enough. 

As  to  their  religious  knowledge,  it  is  no  surprise  to  learn  that  very  many  of  the 
negroes  who  profess  religion  are  ignorant  of  the  most  fundamental  truths  of  revelation. 
They  have  some  idea  of  our  Lord,  a  great  reverence  for  His  Holy  Name,  a  notion  of  sin 
and  of  the  Bible — the  latter,  however,  more  in  a  superstitious  than  a  rational  way. 
Baptism,  in  the  eyes  of  a  multitude  of  them,  is  all  that  is  needed.     No  matter  what 


154 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


sect  may  claim  them,  once  baptized  they  are  saved.  "Once  in  grace  never  out  of  it;'* 
or,  to  give  another  favorite  saying  of  theirs:  "  The  Blood  of  Jesus  never  burns."  Now, 
as  no  soul  is  exempt  from  the  necessity  of  learning  the  essential  truths  of  God's  revel- 
ation, it  is  a  primary  question  as  to  whether  or  not  these  are  acquired  by  the  blacks 
through  their  church  membership.  Behold  the  drawback  in  the  negro  churches.  They 
are  taught  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  but  very  imperfectly.  Far 
too  often  their  churches  are  mere  hustings  for  political  candidates,  or  are  like  social 
clubs;  and  their  houses  of  worship  are  often  used  for  nearly  all  kinds  of  gatherings. 

At  the  same  time  the  ignorance  of  religious  truth  among  the  negroes  does  not 
weaken  the  religious  sentiment  which  is  naturally  strong  in  them,  and  which,  strange 
as  it  seems,  is  often  divorced  from  their  sense  of  morality.  In  this  matter,  however, 
they  are  without  anything  worthy  the  name  of  guidance.  Recently  a  leading  preacher 
declared  in  the  public  press  that  two-thirds,  if  not  three-fourths,  of  the  colored  preach- 
ers were  immoral.  "If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch."  It  is 
impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  this  laxity  of  morals  is  attributable  to  the  frightful 
doctrine  of  the  inadmissibility  of  grace,  which  is  not  theirs  alone,  but  that  of  the  many 
millions  of  Southern  whites  who  profess  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  justification.  Their 
test  of  conversion,  writes  a  Mrs.  Rice  in  the  Christian  Union,  is  an  abnormal  parox- 
ysmal experience,  after  which  they  have  "  got  religion  "  and  no  sin  is  to  be  laid  to  their 
charge.  This  writer  is  also  authority  for  the  statement  that  even  a  murderer  has  been 
known  to  conduct  a  Sunday-school,  with  great  apparent  zeal  and  unction,  for  months 
after  his  undiscovered  crime. 

Unhappily  the  attitude  of  the  whites  towards  the  immoralities  of  the  negroes  works 
much  harm  in  lowering  the  standard  of  morality  in  the  poor  people's  eyes.  A  black 
person  is  not  expected  to  be  virtuous,  and  is  looked  upon  with  wonder  if  he  or  she  hap- 
pens to  be  so.  It  is  related  of  an  elderly  colored  woman,  when  urging  a  younger  one  to 
give  up  her  bad  ways,  that  the  latter  gave  this  scornful  answer:  "  Huh!  de  white  folks 
hires  me,  an'  thinks  as  much  o'  me  as  dey  does  o'  you."  And  even  if  the  whites  stopped 
here  it  would  not  be  so  bad.  No  race  can  throw  the  first  stone  at  the  negroes,  for  their 
hybrids  belong  to  all  races. 

It  can  not  be  too  much  insisted  upon  that,  as  a  rule,  the  whites  give  no  edifying 
example  to  the  blacks.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  many  of  those  who  have  deal- 
ings with  the  negroes.  Many  employers,  venders,  traders,  and  agents  are  to  blame  for  a 
downward  moral  drift  in  those  poor  people.  Is  our  public  sentiment,  let  me  ask,  cal- 
culated to  engender  noble  aspirations  in  the  negroes?  Is  the  tone  of  the  press  such  as 
would  awaken  in  their  hearts  better  thoughts?  Do  the  corrupt  practices  so  widespread 
in  politics;  the  systematic  adulterations  in  food,  clothing,  etc.;  the  frequent  fraudulent 
failures — do  such  facts  tend  to  elevate  the  negro  race?  We  need  not  then  be  surprised 
at  Fred.  Douglass'  question?  "If  the  negro  could  be  bottled  up,  who  could  or  would 
bottle  up  the  irrepressible  white  man?"  Men  are  always  ready  to  have  a  fling  at  the 
black  man,  who  usually  is  more  sinned  against  than  sinning. 

Who  is  responsible  for  the  irreligion  and  immorality  of  the  negro?  The  colored 
people  did  not  intrude  themselves  upon  us;  they  were  brought  here  in  chains,  and  held 
by  a  cruel  slave  code  in  the  communities  where  they  now  are.  Slavery,  then,  is  the 
first  cause;  a  negro  was  a  chattel  and  counted  as  such.  True,  in  good  Christian  fami- 
lies, which  are  too  often  the  exception,  the  slaves  were  conscientiously  looked  after.  But 
in  the  "negro  quarters"  it  seldom  happened  that  personal  and  family  rights  were  or 
could  be  recognized  or  respected.  Marriage,  alas  I  was  practically  a  union  during  the 
good  pleasure  of  the  master;  nor  were  Catholic  masters  always  found  proof  against  the 
demands  of  poverty  or  cupidity  when  it  was  question  of  marital  or  parental  rights 
among  the  slaves,  even  sacrificing  their  own  offspring  when  of  Ham's  race.  Nor  in  dis- 
posing of  their  slaves  did  they  always  consider  whether  the  purchasers  were  Catholics 
or  not. 

The  whole  tendency  of  the  slave  code  was  in  favor  of  the  whites,  who  should  be 
angels,  indeed,  not  to  abuse  the  practically  limitless  power  by  which  the  laws  invested 
owners  of  slaves. 

A  concomitant  to  slavery  was  ignorance.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  Republic  slaves 
were  permitted  to  read  and  write;  afterwards  this  was  forbidden  by  severe  laws.  And 
we  have  heard  former  slaves  tell  how,  when  they  were  growing  up,  they  would  steal  out 
at  night  with  their  spelling-book  or  reader  hidden  next  the  skin,  in  order  to  take 
reading  lessons  from  some  kind  friend,  although  at  the  risk  of  a  severe  whipping  if 
caught. 

Nor,  in  this  connection,  should  we  forget  the  transition  from  slavery  to  freedom. 
Emancipation  must  have  wrought  a  strange  intoxication  to  the  millions  of  slaves  who- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


J55 


had  seen  themselves  ever  surrounded  by  whites,  who  alone  were  respectable  and  vvho 
frequently  idled  away  their  entire  lives.  Emancipation,  they  thought,  was  to  make  the 
blacks  like  such  whites.  Wild  dreams  of  ease  and  comfort  must  have  flitted  through 
their  imaginations.  Hence,  to  realize  the  stern  condition  which  the  daily  life  of  duty 
and  care  entailed  upon  them  must  have  produced  among  many  of  the  emancipated  very 
strange  results. 

We  think  that  Protestantism  may  in  part  be  held  responsible  for  the  present  irre- 
ligious and  immoral  condition  of  the  negroes.  The  widely-spread  race  prejudice,  as 
powerful  in  the  North  as  in  the  South,  though  shared  by  Catholics  as  well  as  by  others, 
is  truly  a  Protestant  instinct.  It  is  inhuman,  un-Christlike,  and  unworthy  even  of  oui 
manhood,  not  to  speak  of  our  citizenship  or  our  Christianity.  For  two  and  a  half  cen- 
turies our  non-Catholic  countrymen  have  had  control  of  the  negro  in  the  South,  and 
what  is  the  result?  They  gave  him  in  some  measure  their  religion;  they  placed  no 
restriction  on  their  religious  teaching  or  on  their  codes  of  morality;  to-day  the  whites 
and  blacks  of  the  South  profess  common  beliefs;  yet  in  spite  of  all,  we  hear  from  the 
whites  hardly  a  good  word  of  the  blacks.  How  marked  a  contrast  is  this  to  the 
influence  of  the  Catholic  Church! 

Prom  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  when  the  haughty  Gaul  despised  the  Goth  fully  as 
much  as  ever  our  Southern  whites  despised  the  blacks,  to  the  crowning  of  Charle- 
magne as  the  common  head  of  an  undivided  people,  only  the  same  period  of  time 
elapsed  as  that  between  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  our  territory  and  the  present 
day.  Yet  it  was  long  enough  for  the  Catholic  Church  to  blend  the  master  and  slave 
into  one,  and  to  make  the  new  race  the  custodian  of  the  ancient  and  the  beginner  of 
modern  civilization.  Nor  was  it  different  with  Goths  and  Romans  in  Italy,  with  Nor- 
mans and  Saxons  in  Great  Britain.  Even  in  our  day  and  in  our  own  hemisphere,  what- 
ever misery  afflicts  Spanish  America,  the  Catholic  instinct  of  human  equality  has 
delivered  it  from  race  antagonisms.  There  is  no  negro  problem  in  Catholic  South 
America. 

But  when  we  look  at  our  negro  question  from  the  missionary  point  of  view,  and  ask, 
Is  not  the  Catholic  Church  in  America  to  be.  blamed  for  lack  of  zeal?  I  answer  with 
an  unhesitating  Yes.  After  all,  Protestantism  has  done  something  to  Christianize  the 
blacks;  but  we  have  done,  I  may  say,  nothing.  They  have  made,  and  are  making,  great 
missionary  efforts,  pouring  out  money  like  water;  but  we  have  attempted  almost 
nothing.  In  fact,  it  was  announced  a  few  years  ago,  at  the  Lake  Mohonk  conferences, 
that  the  various  denominations  had  spent,  since  the  war,  on  the  negroes,  thirty-five 
millions  of  dollars-  Add  to  that  immense  sum  the  hundred  and  thirty  higher  institu- 
tions, with  twrenty-five  thousand  scholars,  of  whom  one  thousand  are  preparing  for  the. 
Protestant  ministry. 

Imperfect  as  is  this  picture  of  the  religious  condition  of  the  negro  race  and  of  its 
causes,  it  is  enough,  however,  to  give  us  a  fair  idea  of  the  state  of  things.  It  tells  us  of 
from  eight  to  nine  millions  of  blacks,  living  in  one  section  of  our  land,  and  that  the 
most  Protestant,  just  emerged  from  slavery;  enjoying  the  franchise;  learning  how  to 
read  and  write;  two-thirds  of  them  living  on  plantations,  one  and  all  being  made  to  feel 
a  frightful  ostracism  which  descends  so  deep  as  to  exclude  them  in  some  places  from 
public  conveyances;  a  people  one-half  of  whom  have  no  religion,  and  the  other  half  are 
professing  only  a  shade  of  sentimental  belief. 

Yet  there  is  a  cheerful  view  to  be  taken.  However  sadly  situated  this  people  may 
be,  there  are  bright  hopes  in  store  for  them.  All  drawbacks  and  discouragements  not- 
withstanding, they  have  won  the  nation's  respect.  They  are  not  rebels  against  public 
authority;  they  are  law-abiding  citizens.  They  love  the  worship  of  God;  in  their  child- 
ish way  they  desire  to  love  God;  they  long  for  and  relish  the  supernatural;  they  will- 
ingly listen  to  the  word  of  God;  their  hearts  burn  for  the  better  gifts.  They  are  hard 
working;  patiently  and  forgivingly  do  they  bear  their  wrongs.  This  is  in  marked  con- 
trast with  their  white  neighbors,  too  many  of  whom  have  not  a  word  of  good  to  say  for 
the  black  man,  thus  verifying  the  old  paradox  that  we  never  forvive  those  whom  we 
have  wronged,  much  as  we  may  pardon  those  who  have  injured  us. 

It  is  related  of  Michael  Angelo  that  going  along  the  streets  of  Rome  he  espied  a 
rough,  unhewn  block  of  marble.  "  There  is  an  angel  hidden  there,"  said  he,  pointing 
to  the  stone.  Having  had  it  brought  to  his  studio,  the  immortal  artist  soon  began  to 
chip  at  it,  and  to  hack  at  it,  and  to  shape  it,  till  finally  there  came  forth  from  it  the 
faultless  angel  in  marble,  which  his  prophetic  eye  had  seen  in  it. 

A  similar  block  of  marble  is  the  negro;  far  harder  to  work  upon  than  the  Carrara 
lump  of  Michael  Angelo,  because  the  chisel  must  be  applied  to  the  human  heart.  And 
has  the  negro  a  human  heart?     Is  he  a  man?     Yes,  thank  God!  he  is  a  man,  with  all 


»^6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  affections  and  longings,  all  the  faculties  and  qualities  of  human  kind  behold, 
then,  it  is  his  manhood  that  is  the  first  ground  of  our  hope.  Like  the  Koman  poet 
Terence,  who  is  himself  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  a  negro,  since  he  was  on.  of 
the  slaves  of  Scipio  Africanus,  the  black  man  may  say:  "  Homo  sum,  et  nihil  huinanum 
alienum  a  me  puto."  The  negro's  first  claim  upon  us  is  our  common  humanity,  and 
that  means  a  close  tie  of  brotherhood. 

The  future  of  the  negro  appears,  therefore,  to  a  missionary  like  myself  to  be  hope- 
ful. It  rests  primarily  on  the  great  truth  that  the  human  race  is  one.  There  is  one 
Lord,  one  God,  one  Father  of  all.  From  this  we  rise  to  the  supernatural  destiny  of  our 
common  humanity;  one  Jesus  Christ,  one  church,  one  life  of  probation,  one  heaven,  one 
hell.  The  negro  has  everything  that  makes  a  man,  everything  that  makes  a  Christian. 
Holy  Church  teaches  the  same  doctrine  tc  blacks  as  to  whites;  furnishes  the  same 
sacramental  channels  of  grace,  baptizes  the  black  infant,  confirms  the  negro  boy, 
administers  Holy  Communion  to  him,  marries  the  black  man  and  woman,  ordains  the 
black  priest,  gives  him  the  same  extreme  unction  as  the  white  receives.  As  the  negro 
passed  out  of  slavery  it  was  the  Catholic  Church  which  could  say  to  him  with  the 
apostle,  in  his  new  relation:  "For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to 
fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption  whereby  we  cry,  Abba!  (Father)."  - 
Romans  viii.  15. 

Her  code  of  laws  for  the  black  is  the  same  as  for  the  white — no  difference.  Sunday 
mass,  Friday  abstinence,  Lenten  fast  oblige  the  black  man  no  more  than  the  white. 
Yes,  the  human  nature  predestined  to  Christian  grace,  and  so  admirably  recognized  by 
the  church,  is  the  foundation  of  our  hopes. 

The  negro's  heart,  like  the  white  man's,  is  essentially  good.  Here  we  have  a  foot- 
hold. Grace  we  know  builds  upon  nature  and  presupposes  it.  The  civil  law  in  its  turn 
recognizes  the  manhood  of  the  negro;  who  votes,  or  should  legally  vote,  like  a  white 
man,  is  ruled  by  the  same  laws;  bows  to  the  same  rulers  in  the  general,  state,  and  local 
governments;  has  before  him,  if  delinquent  (at  least  on  the  statute-book),  the  same 
legal  process  and  sentence,  the  same  jail  and  keepers  as  the  white  man.  In  ante- 
bellum days  there  were  special  enactments  which  made  the  negro  a  chattel.  In  our 
days  all  odious  restrictions  are  disappearing  before  a  juster  and  fairer  recognition  of  his 
manhood. 

The  manhood  of  the  negro  race,  moreover,  is  a  truth  of  religion,  and  one  which 
Leo  XIII.  has  well  insisted  upon  in  his  letter  to  the  bishops  of  Brazil  at  the  time  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  that  country.  "It  was  sin,"  he  writes,  "which 
deserved  the  name  of  slavery;  it  was  not  natural.  From  the  first  sin  came  all  evils, 
specially  this  perversity,  that  there  were  men  who,  forgetful  of  the  original  brother- 
hood of  the  race,  instead  of  seeking,  as  they  should  naturally  have  done,  to  promote 
mutual  kindness  and  mutual  respect,  following  their  evil  desires,  began  to  think  of 
other  men  as  their  inferiors,  and  to  hold  them  as  cattle  born  to  the  yoke."  And  the 
very  argument  which  we  hear  so  often  in  political  agitation,  and  read  so  much  in  1 1n- 
public  press,  viz.,  that  by  nature  the  black  man  is  inferior,  Leo  XIII.  declares  an  out- 
rage on  our  common  humanity. 

When  in  addition  to  the  consideration  of  the  negro's  manhood  we  add  the  further 
reflection  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  were  slaves  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  there 
is  all  the  less  reason  to  despise  our  black  countrymen,  and  all  the  more  hope  for  their 
future.  Men  go  into  ecstacies  over  the  future  of  the  white  races;  they  love  to  recount 
their  progress  since  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era.  Let  us  remember  to-day,  however, 
how  widespread  slavery  was  in  ancient  days.  We  all  are  the  offspring  of  races  the  vast 
majority  of  whom  were  legally  or  practically  slaves.  The  negroes  to-day  are  only  taking 
their  turn. 

In  the  Roman  Empire  slaves  were  so  numerous  that  Petronius  in  his  "Satyrior." 
makes  one  of  the  players  ask  the  servant  how  many  infant  slaves  were  born  on  lis 
estates  the  preceding  day,  and  is  informed  that  thirty  boys  and  forty  girls  were  the 
increase  of  that  day  on  that  one  estate.  Roman  patricians  took  a  pride  in  having  every- 
thing they  needed  made  by  their  own  slaves,  thus  destroying  free  labor,  and  with  it,  in 
the  course  of  time,  their  own  supremacy  These  slaves  were  whites,  and  very  many  of 
them  mechanics  :  carpenters,  masons,  shoemakers,  millers,  bakers,  wool-combers,  weav- 
ers, dyers,  tailors,  embroiderers,  etc.  Add  to  these  carvers,  mosaic  workers,  glaziers, 
painters,  as  well  as  three  other  grades  corresponding  to  professions  in  our  times,  viz., 
architects,  surgeons,  and  physicians. 

As  in  Rome,  so  throughout  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.  White  slavery  flourished 
everywhere,  and  Canon  Brownlow  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  that  serfdom  has 
not  as  yet  been  legally  abolished  in  England,  although  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  practical  quee 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


*57 


tion  since  the  War  of  the  Roses  —  that  is,  for  four  centuries.  In  Italy  a  modified  form 
of  slavery  existed  to  the  end  of  the  17th  century,  in  Spain  till  the  first  quarter 
of  the  18th  century,  and  only  the  revolution  of  1789  blotted  out  French  serfdom 
—  all  this  in  spite  of  the  steadfast  and  aggressive  efforts  of  Catholicity. 

In  Ireland,  before  St.  Patrick  came,  a  female  slave,  called  "  cumhal,"  was  the  unit 
of  currency,  thus  showing  how  deeply  rooted  was  slavery  in  ancient  Irish  institutions. 

Although  St.  Patrick,  once  himself  a  slave,  made  great  efforts  towards  emancipa- 
tion, still  slavery  flourished  in  Ireland  till  St.  Lawrence  O'Toole  moved,  at  a  national 
synod,  at  Armagh,  in  1170,  to  recognize  the  English  invasion  as  a  sign  of  divine  anger 
against  the  Irish  for  their  slave-holding.  A  peremptory  admonition  was  thereupon  sent 
out  ordering  the  release  of  all  English  slaves  in  the  land.  Thenceforward  it  disappeared, 
till  Cromwell  sent  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Irish  men  and  women,  boys  and 
girls,  as  slaves  into  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  life  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  we  read  that  the  thought  of  his  foundling  asylum 
originated  at  the  sight  of  the  place  called  La  Cooche,  where  those  unfortunates  were  sold 
to  circus  managers  and  the  like.  He  himself  for  some  years  was  a  slave  in  Africa,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  escape  at  the  first  opportunity. 

Since  the  discovery  of  America,  however,  the  slavery  that  we  have  been  familiar 
with  is  negro  slavery.  The  color  of  the  slave  changed;  and  with  it  our  memories  seem 
comatosed.  We  forget  the  slavery  of  our  ancestors.  In  modern  times  the  negroes  seem 
to  have  slipped  into  the  shoes  of  the  more  ancient  white  slaves.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
fact  of  slavery  itself  which  will  argue  against  the  negroes,  nor  again  will  their  color 
prove  aught  derogatory  to  their  advancement.  After,  indeed,  centuries  of  Christi- 
anity, the  white  races  have  not  much  to  boast  of.  In  the  matter  of  religion  they  are 
much  split  up ;  in  morals  there  is  in  our  days  a  strange,  sad  laxity ;  in  honesty  the 
world  is  all  but  dominated  by  very  loose  and  unjust  principles.  Of  course  there  is  prog- 
ress —  wonderful  progress  —  yet  not  to  such  an  extent  as  would  belie  the  hopes  of  the 
negro's  advance. 

If,  then,  the  negro  may  be  called  a  man  among  men  and  an  heir  to  all  the  glorious 
privileges  of  humanity,  and  also  of  Christianity,  what,  we  may  ask,  are  the  means  to  be 
employed  to  place  him  in  possession  of  his  divine  heritage?  There  is,  I  believe,  one  true 
means  for  his  advancement,  and  that  is  the  negro  himself,  guided  and  led  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  first  element  in  the  elevation  of  the  black  race  is  the  black  man  himself. 
To  attempt  anything  for  the  blacks  without  making  the  black  man  himself  the  chief 
instrument  for  good,  would  be  to  attempt  the  play  of  "  Hamlet"  with  the  part  of  Ham- 
let left  out. 

His  future  demands  the  building  up  of  his  character,  and  this  is  best  done  by  the 
mingled  efforts  of  brotherly  white  men  and  worthy  black  men.  His  temperament,  his 
passions  and  other  inherent  qualities,  in  great  measure  also  his  industrial  and  social 
environments,  are  beyond  his  control,  and  he  needs  the  aid  of  the  best  men  of  his  own 
race,  but  associated  with  and  not  divorced  from  the  co-operation  of  the  best  of  the 
white  race.  In  the  formation  of  his  character,  which  is  his  weak  spot,  chief  stress 
should  be  laid  on  moral  training,  and  education.  External  influences,  controlled  by 
noble  men  and  women  of  both  races,  will  count  for  more  with  him  than  with  us.  We 
can  hardly  appreciate  how  much  the  negro  has  to  contend  with  while  making  his  moral 
growth,  for  neither  the  antecedents  nor  surroundings  of  our  black  countrymen  are  cal- 
culated to  draw  out  the  noblest  side  of  human  nature.  That  personal  encouragement 
to  well-doing,  to  ambition  to  rise  above  degrading  circumstances  so  necessary  to  all  of 
us,  so  indispensably  so  to  him,  the  black  man  rarely  receives.  Neither  by  nature  nor  by 
traditional  training  can  the  colored  people,  taken  as  a  body,  stand  as  yet  upon  the  same 
footing  of  moral  independence  as  their  white  brethren.  The  careful,  patient,  and  Chris- 
tian intervention  of  the  whites,  and  the  best  of  the  blacks  working  together  in  using  all 
the  means  demanded  for  the  formation  of  manhood  and  womanhood  is  their  right  as  well 
as  their  need  in  the  present  hour.  They  must  be  given  the  ample  charity  of  Christ 
in  their  development,  just  as  they  have  been  given  the  full  equality  of  citizenship.  And 
in  all  this  Catholics  should  lead  the  way.  The  influence  of  Catholics  should  be 
extended  to  foster  and  develop  in  the  colored  race  those  traits  which  tend  to  impart  a 
sterling,  self-reliant  character. 

Catholics  may  do  very  much.  We  are  a  large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority,  in  many 
labor  organizations.  Let  us  welcome  black  working-men  to  every  equality.  We  have 
very  many  influential  Catholics  in  public  life.  Let  them  take  sides  in  matters  touching 
the  blacks  under  the  guidance  of  Catholic  principles.  There  are  about  nine  thousand 
priests  in  the  land  ;  let  every  priest  exert  an  influence  of  sympathy  in  his  personal  deal- 
ings with    the  colored   people  of   his  vicinity.     Perhaps  there  are  twenty  thousand 


'58 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


religious  teachers  who,  in  their  institutions,  should  receive  negro  boys  and  girls  wit  hout 
discrimination.  If  Catholics,  thus  in  possession  of  avast  power  for  moral  elevation, 
give  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  their  black  countrymen  in  all  civil  and  personal 
relations,  the  work  of  converting  them  will  be  easy.  Nor  can  we  Catholics  afford  to 
ignore  them  or  exclude  them.  For  if  we  should  do  so,  then  the  name  "  Catholic  "  would 
be  a  misnomer  when  applied  to  the  American  Church,  and  we  should  sink  into  the  posi- 
tion of  a  sect.  The  negroes,  as  things  stand,  care  nothing  for  the  Catholic  Church.  Why 
should  they?  What  has  the  Catholic  Church  done  for  them?  But  they  would  be  the 
most  ungrateful  people  earth  ever  bore  if  they  should  forget  what  our  non-Catholic 
countrymen  have  done  and  are  doing  for  them  in  every  relation  of  life. 

Turning  again  to  ourselves,  let  every  one  of  us  in  private  life,  whether  laymen, 
priests,  or  religious,  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  enough  to  give  a  despised  race  their 
legal  rights,  but  that  Christian  principle  exacts  a  special  regard  for  race  susceptibilities. 
The  Irish  and  Germans  and  Italians  resent  the  terms,  "Paddy,"  and  "Dutchman."  and 
"  Dago,"  so  let  us  cease  to  call  the  colored  people  "  Niggers  "  and  "  Darkies,"  even  in 
private  conversation ;  and  in  every  other  way  let  us  do  unto  the  black  people  as  we 
should  wish  to  be  done  by  were  we  blacks  ourselves.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  among 
whites  of  every  kind  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  partly  Christian  and  partly  natural 
tradition,  which  is  weak  among  the  blacks  by  no  fault  of  their  own.  There  is  the  home, 
the  domestic  fireside,  the  respect  for  Sunday,  the  sense  of  respectability,  the  weight  of 
the  responsibilities  of  life,  the  consciousness  of  duty,  the  love  of  honesty,  which  is 
regarded  as  true  policy,  the  honor  of  the  family  name,  the  fear  of  disgrace,  together 
with  the  aspirations  for  a  share  in  the  blessings  and  privileges  which  our  country  and 
civilization  afford.  And  while  very  many  of  our  white  countrymen  are  not  Catholics, 
and  are  even  but  nominal  Christians,  still  these  weighty  influences  wield  a  potent  charm 
for  good  over  their  lives. 

In  regard  to  the  negro  race,  however,  these  hardly  exist ;  at  best  they  may  be  found 
in  isolated  cases,  though  it  is  true  that  very  encouraging  signs  of  them  are  seen  occa- 
sionally. Yet  a  vital  part  in  the  natural  development  of  the  negro  will  be  secured  by 
these  elements,  the  sense  of  responsibility,  the  dignity  as  well  as  duty  of  labor,  and, 
lastly,  self-denial  and  thrift. 

All  these  sit  too  lightly  on  the  negroes.  Care  for  the  future  they  know  not ;  and 
although  tbey  labor  well  enough,  yet  they  lack  thrift.  Their  cheerful  dispositions 
lighten  much  of  their  sorrows  ;  and  their  love  for  music  also  soothes  full  many  an  evil 
day  and  dismal  night.  A  patient,  suffering  race  are  they,  whose  sorrows  are  sure  to 
win  for  them  the  fulness  of  divine  blessings.  Poverty  and  lowliness  were  charac- 
teristics of  the  Messias;  they  are  two  marked  traits  in  the  negro  race.  They  too  are,  as 
it  were,  "A  leper,  and  as  one  stricken  by  God  and  afflicted."  Surely,  if  fellow-suffering 
creates  a  bond  of  sympathy,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  must  deeply  sympa- 
thize with  and  love  the  negro  race. 

We  have  intimated  that  the  Catholic  Church  has  accomplished  little  for  the  con- 
version of  the  negroes.     It  is  but  just  to  add  here  what  is  really  being  done. 

Prom  the  official  report  of  the  episcopal  commission  charged  with  the  distribution 
of  the  annual  collection  for  the  negro  missions,  we  learn  that  during  the  six  years  of  its 
existence  §220,220  have  been  distributed  among  negro  missions,  and  as  much  more 
among  Indians. 

There  are  at  present  twenty-eight  priests  laboring  among  the  negroes  exclusively, 
who  are  in  charge  of  thirty  churches.  Of  course  they  do  not  include  the  many  more 
in  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Missouri,  and  elsewhere,  whose  churches  are  partly 
for  whites  and  partly  for  blacks. 

Since  1888,  when  the  reports  began  to  be  published,  the  average  number  of  adult 
converts  yearly  is  about  670,  while  every  year  there  were  4,500  children  baptized. 
Moreover,  twenty  odd  different  orders  of  white  women  have  charge  of  108  schools,  in 
which  assemble  7,884  pupils.  The  orphanages  and  other  institutions  for  colored  chil- 
dren are  growing.  St.  Benedict's  Home,  Rye,  N.  Y.;  the  Providence  House  of  Mother 
Katherine  Drexel,  near  Philadelphia;  orphanages  for  boys,  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  and 
Leavenworth,  Kans.;  one  for  girls,  as  also  a  foundling  asylum,  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and 
two  other  orphan  asylums  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  New  Orleans,  La.,  are  all  doing  good 
service  for  the  homeless  children  of  Ham,  while  the  home  for  aged  colored  people  in  New 
Orleans,  La.,  shelters  the  lingering  days  of  its  worthy  inmates.  The  night-school  and 
guild  in  Baltimore  and  the  industrial  school  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  are  both  paving  the 
way  towards  teaching  colored  children  a  means  of  livelihood. 

There  are  three  orders  of  colored  women,  the  Oblates  of  Baltimore,  established  in 
1829;  the  Holy  Family  of  New  Orleans,  dating  from  1842,  and  the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  150, 

started  about  five  years  ago  by  Bishop  Becker,  of  Savannah.  There  are  four  sisterhoods 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  negroes:  the  Franciscans  from  England,  who  have  houses  in 
Baltimore,  Richmond,  Norfolk;  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  San  Antonio,  Texas; 
the  Sisters  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  Mother  Katherine  Drexel's  Community,  in  Phila- 
delphia; the  Mission  Helpers  of  Baltimore.  These  last-named  are  devoted  to  the  home- 
life  and  training  of  negro  women,  visiting  the  jails,  hospitals,  and  having  sewing-schools 
even  in  private  houses.  In  all  about  seventy  Catholic  sisters  have  consecrated,  or  will 
shortly  consecrate,  their  lives  before  God's  altar  for  the  sake  of  the  sin-laden  and  igno- 
rant images  of  Christ  in  ebony  setting. 

Unhappily,  however,  none  of  our  brotherhoods  as  yet  have  ever  wielded  a  birch  in 
a  negro  Catholic  school. 

The  society  to  which  I  belong  has  missions  in  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Virginia. 
At  our  training-school,  the  Epiphany  Apostolic  College,  are  upwards  of  sixty  young 
men,  of  whom  several  are  colored,  studying  the  subjects  necessary  for  their  advance. 
At  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  our  mother-house  in  Baltimore,  seventeen  seminarians  are 
being  trained  for  the  negro  missions.  These  young  men  represent  the  whole  country 
from  Maine  to  Oregon,  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  large  num- 
ber of  aspirants  for  the  negro  missions  is  due  to  the  generous  co-operation  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy  of  our  land,  while  their  support  is  given  us  by  the  noble  Catholic 
laity,  who  in  very  great  numbers  subscribe  for  our  little  annual — The  Colored  Har- 
vest. 

We  may  fitly  close  with  the  sentiment  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  when  contrasting 
our  Lord's  conduct  in  refusing  to  go  to  the  nobleman's  dying  son,  although  asked  to  do 
so,  while  unasked  he  went  and  healed  the  centurion's  servant. 

"He  did  not  deem  that  the  nobleman's  son  was  worthy  of  His  presence,  but  He  re- 
fused not  to  help  the  centurion's  servant.  What  is  this  but  a  rebuke  to  earthly  pride, 
which  maketh  us  to  respect  in  men  their  honors  and  riches  rather  than  that  divine 
image  wherein  they  are  created  ?  It  was  not  so  with  our  Redeemer,  who  would  not  go 
to  the  son  of  the  nobleman,  but  was  ready  to  come  down  for  the  centurion's  servant,  to 
show  that  to  Him  the  things  which  are  great  among  men  are  but  of  little  moment,  and 
the  things  which  are  little  esteemed  among  men  are  not  beneath  His  notice. 

"  Our  pride,  then,  standeth  rebuked — that  pride  which  maketh  us  forget  for  the 
sake  of  one  man  that  another  man  is  a  man  at  all.  This  pride,  as  we  have  said,  looketh 
only  at  the  surroundings  of  men,  not  at  their  nature,  and  seeth  not  that  God  is  to  be 
honored  in  a  man  because  he  is  a  man.  Lo  !  how  the  Son  of  God  will  not  go  unto  the 
nobleman's  son,  but  is  ready  to  go  and  heal  the  servant.  Of  myself  I  know  that  if  any 
one's  servant  were  to  ask  me  to  go  to  him,  I  have  a  sort  of  pride  which  would  say 
to  me,  silently  inside  my  heart:  Go  not;  thou  wilt  lower  thyself;  the  papal  dignity 
would  be  lightly  esteemed;  thy  exalted  station  will  be  degraded.  Behold  how  He 
who  came  down  from  Heaven  doth  not  deem  it  below  Him  to  go  to  help  a  servant, 
and  yet  I,  who  am  of  the  earth  earthy,  shrink  from  being  trodden  on." 

"Prayer  for  America"  is  the  subject  of  the  following  paper,  which  was 
prepared  and  read  by  Rev.  F.  G.  Lentz,  of  Bement,  111.: 

Inspired  by  an  all-knowing  God,  400  years  ago  a  man  set  out  from  a  small  port  in 
Spain  to  find  a  new  world.  The  consummation  of  his  cherished  desires  was  a  most 
astonishing  discovery,  which  has  overshadowed  all  his  weary  years  of  waiting,  and 
efforts  to  persuade  a  doubting  generation  of  the  truth  of  his  predictions.  His  unbounded 
faith  alone  was  reat  enough  to  overcome  all  abstacles,  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  bring 
to  a  happy  issue  God's  designs  for  the  human  race. 

What  Columbus  attributed  to  special  inspiration,  many  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  claimed  as  the  achievement  of  their  own  genius.  But  as  a  devout  Catholic  the 
discoverer  of  America  would  have  held  in  abhorrence  any  attempt  to  deprive  God  of 
the  honor  due  Him.  But  wherefore  this  special  revelation?  To  the  hour  of  his  death 
Columbus  claimed  that  God  designed  by  him  to  make  known  a  new  world,  that  the 
faith  might  be  spread  and  the  Holy  Name  of  Jesus  be  glorified.  This  he  declared  before 
the  court  of  Spain  ;  stated  it  in  his  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  the  great  work  accom- 
plished by  him,  and  dying  charged  that  they,  his  children,  should  not  fail  to  use  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  revenues  derived  from  his  wonderful  discovery  to  propagate  the 
faith.  Glory  to  God,  who  took  His  faithful  and  suffering  servant  to  Himself  and  left  to 
us  the  extraordinary  legacy  of  his  discovery.  The  fruits  of  his  laborings  and  sufferings 
we  now  enjoy  ,  for  not  only  was  the  settlement  of  a  new  continent  made  possible,  but 
the  establishment  of  the  grandest  and  noblest  government  the  world  has  ever  seen,  be- 
come  practicable. 
41 


!6o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

But  man,  every  man  has  duties,  not  only  to  himself ,  but  public  duties  which  con- 
cern him  and  his  fellow-man.  Everyone  leads  a  public  as  well  as  a  private  life.  It  is 
a  natural  instinct  which  makes  us  rejoice  in  our  public  joys  and  weep  over  our  public 
sorrows.  We  have  collective  griefs  and  collective  joys.  It  was  nol  a  vain  thoughl  that 
made  Jeremiah  weep  over  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  He  forgot  his  own  troubles  in 
mourning  over  the  downfall  of  his  nation  and  the  destruction  of  his  countrymen;  they 
were  bone  of  his  bone;  they  were  sinew  of  his  sinew,  citizens  of  thesamecommonwealth, 
and  a  nation  of  his  nationality,  and  whatever  befell  them  happened  to  himself.  This  is 
an  innate  natural  feeling  in  us  all— love  of  our  country  and  sorrow  for  our  country's 
wrongs.  We  wish  it  well,  and  unless  every  spark  of  patriotism  is  dead  within  our 
bosoms  we  can  have  no  pleasure  but  in  its  prosperity.  It  becomes  us  then  to  know  its 
needs  and  to  seek  to  effectuate  them.  Patriotism  is  born  of  religious  life  and  we  can  not 
be  true  to  heaven  without  embracing  the  divinity. 

But  right  here  comes  in  the  question:  What  does  our  country  most  need  in  order  to 
prosper  and  continue,  aye,  to  propagate  her  glorious  work  till  all  the  nations  and  people 
of  the  earth  have  learned  from  her  to  imitate  her  behests  to  humanity?  What  above  all 
other  things  will  enable  her  to  proceed  triumphantly  on  her  career  of  not  only  giving 
the  greatest  blessings  to  her  citizens,  but  teaching  the  human  race  the  way  thereto? 
What  she  needs  above  all  things  is  the  truth.  "  You  shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free." — St.  John  viii..  32. 

It  was  for  this  God  inspired  the  discovery  of  America;  it  was  for  this  Columbus 
labored  and  toiled  for  years  amidst  so  many  disappointments;  it  was  for  this  so  many 
missionaries  sacrificed  time  and  life;  it  was  for  that  and  this  too  that  the  persecuted  of 
every  race  should  find  here  a  home  and  plenty;  it  is  for  this  I  appeal  to  you  to  endeavor 
to  understand  and  do  your  part  towards  carrying  out  God's  idea  in  revealing  the 
American  continent;  and  not  to  be  an  encumbrance,  "  a  light  hid  under  a  bushel/'  that 
shall  be  removed  because  your  candlestick  leaves  only  darkness,  where  light  should 
abound.  If  you  have  come  into  the  inheritance,  a  larger  freedom  for  truth,  and  greater 
worldly  blessings,  remember  you  are  but  stewards  of  God.  All  sacred  writers  teach 
us  that  we  shall  render  to  God  according  to  our  gifts.  Our  Lord  shows  us  that  the 
man  with  ten  talents  must  account  for  more  than  he  with  only  five.  But  woe  to 
him  who  has  not  wisely  used  the  talents  intrusted  to  his  care. 

We  have  the  truth;  the  faith  that  is  in  us  must  be  made  manifest.  For  this  God 
opened  up  the  New  World;  for  this  he  enlarged  our  freedom,  that  we  might  make 
known  the  divine  knowledge  revealed  to  us.  Unworthy  nations  have  lost  the  great  gift 
of  faith  because  they  knew  not  how  to  use  the  gratuity.  Shall  we,  too,  prove  recreant 
to  the  trust?  Shall  we,  too,  hear  one  day  the  words,  "Wicked  and  adulterous  gen- 
eration?" Matt,  xvi.,  1.     God  forbid! 

We  know  that  the  whole  law  is  founded  on  charity,  love,  not  only  for  God,  but 
our  fellowmen.  We  do  not,  can  not,  love  God  if  we  do  not  love  man,  the  image  and 
likeness  of  the  Divine  Creator.  No  man  can  say  he  loves  God  and  hates  his  fellow- 
man.  These  two  loves  go  hand  in  hand.  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  But  how- 
can  we  say  we  love  God  if  we  do  not  aid  our  fellow-citizens  to  the  truth? 
"Though  I  should  speak  with  tongues  of  angels  and  men;  though  I  have  knowledge 
enough  to  fathom  all  mysteries,  and  faith  enough  to  remove  mountains;  though  I 
should  give  my  goods  to  the  poor,  and  my  body  to  the  flames,  and  have  not  charity, 
I  am  nothing.  Everything  else  is  useless  to  me."  I.  Cor.  xiii.,  7.  "  Silver  and  gold  I 
have  none,"  says  St.  Peter  to  the  lame  man,  "  but  what  I  have  I  give  thee.  In  the 
name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  arise  and  walk."    Acts  iii.,  6. 

What  have  we  to  give  this  people?  Above  all  things  else,  faith.  What  then,  "Am 
I  my  brother's  keeper?"  In  this  matter  we  are.  God  brought  about  the  discovery  of 
this  continent  that  His  name  might  be  made  known  and  glorified;  that  we  who  have  the 
faith  are  bound  by  every  obligation  to  manifest  it.  It  is  a  corporal  work  of  mercy  to 
instruct  the  ignorant,  and  God  has  declared  that  those  who  do  so  "  shall  shine  as  stars 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  And  yet,  my  friends,  how  little  has  been  done!  Many  a 
poor  soul  has  gone  through  this  world  hungering  for  the  faith  that  we  might  have 
brought  to  it,  and  we  would  not.  We  forget  that  faith  is  a  divine  gift.  We  do  not 
seem  to  understand  that  these  people  have  not  the  knowledge  required  to  ask  for  it. 
"  How  shall  they  call  upon  Him  whom  they  have  not  believed?  "  Rom.  x.  If  they  know 
not  God  they  can  not  call  upon  Him.  There  never  was  yet  a  nation  who  came  to  the 
faith  of  their  own  volition;  it  must  be  brought  to  them,  and  the  true  Catholic  has 
always  been  filled  with  the  instinct  to  propagate  the  truth.  It  is  only  where  this  feel- 
ing does  not  exist  that  the  faith  makes  no  progress,  even  among  Catholic  people- 
"  Why  is  the  world  covered  with  iniquities?    Why  are  so  many  souls  lost  by  the  thou. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  \6\ 

sands?  Why  is  the  earth  made  desolate?  Because  no  one  considereth  in  his  heart." 
Jer.  xii.,  2.  The  lament  of  the  prophet  is  applicable  to  our  day  and  country.  We  may 
say,  why  do  not  these  people  come  and  learn  the  truth?  My  friends,  if  you  and  I  had 
been  raised  under  the  same  influence,  surrounded  by  the  same  atmosphere,  we  would 
never  have  entered  a  Catholic  Church.  Don't  blame  them.  Let  us  seek  first  to  over- 
come our  own  indifference  and  then  mark  the  result. 

No  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  were  ever  brought  into  the  fold  by  the  methods 
we  have  hitherto  pursued."  The  apostles  of  all  times  have  gone  to  the  people  and  made 
known  the  message.  The  very  word  gospel  means  that — announcing  the  glad  tidings. 
All  may  not  indeed  be  apostles,  but  think  you  that  while  the  apostles  went  forth  to 
battle  with  error,  the  Christians  of  their  day  spent  the  time  in  idleness  and  indifference? 
While  the  army  of  the  Lord  is  in  the  field  battling  for  right  and  truth,  have  those  of  the 
household  no  duties?  When  the  British  sought  to  invade  our  country,  and  New  Orleans 
was  threatened,  what  did  the  Catholics  do?  They  gathered  'round  the  tabernacle  and 
incessantly  besought  the  Lord  of  Hosts  to  protect  the  brave  men  in  the  field,  and  save 
their  homes  from  rude  invasion.  When  the  Israelites  of  old  were  battling  with  the 
enemies  of  their  race,  did  not  the  people  come  to  the  aid  of  Moses,  praying  upon  the 
mountain  top,  until  victory  crowned  their  armies? 

It  may  not  be  ours  to  apply  the  intellectual  lance  of  argument,  or  expound  the 
doctrine  of  the  church,  but  it  does  become  our  duty  to  let  the  love  of  our  heart  rise  in 
incessant  prayer  to  the  God  of  Light,  that  He  may  enlighten  the  darkness  of  their  under- 
standing, and  make  fruitful  the  work  of  apostolic  men  laboring  to  explain  God's  truths. 
Not  only  did  the  apostles  pray,  but  the  people  also  prayed,  that  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  might  be  known  and  spread  throughout  all  nations.  St.  Peter  was  praying  when 
he  received  the  call  to  go  out  to  the  centurion,  Cornelius.  St.  Paul  was  praying  when 
he  beheld  the  vision  inviting  him  to  go  to  the  Macedonians.  But  some  say  that  non- 
Catholics  do  not  wish  to  believe.  I  deny  that  these  people  desire  to  be  unbelievers. 
They  run  hither  and  thither  to  everyone,  saying:  "Where  is  the  Lord?  Where  is  the 
Lord?"  not  knowing  where  the  truth  may  be  found.  Their  very  earnestness  teaches  us 
that  they  have  a  desire  to  know  the  truth.  Their  conduct  is  vision  enough  for  us  if  we 
only  heed  the  warning.  How  many  have  not  heard  the  cry,  like  Agrippa  of  old,  "  Thou 
almost  persuadeth  me."  Convinced  many  of  them  are,  but  not  persuaded,  i.  e.,  have 
not  the  grace  of  conversion.  They  know  not  how  to  ask.  They  still  doubt,  and  "  he 
who  doubts  is  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  which  come  and  go." — James  i.,  6. 

And  herein  lies  our  work.  We  know  the  author  of  life  and  light  and  truth,  and  we 
know  how  to  ask  without  doubting,  and  our  prayers  will  be  heard.  We  forget  that 
those  outside  the  church  have  neither  the  sacraments  or  the  grace  of  a  sinless  person. 
We  know  and  believe  that  he  who  is  pure  has  more  power  than  the  sinner.  Strong 
in  our  faith,  we  are  capable  of  overcoming  all  obstacles  and  the  Lord  will  hear  our 
praver.  "  Whatsoever  you  shall  ask  the  Father  with  faith,  you  shall  obtain." — Matthew 
xxi.,  22. 

Do  not  blame  those  who  have  not  the  faith;  do  not  find  fault  with  those  who  know 
not  how  to  pray,  or  have  little  power  because  of  unrepented  souls;  but  rather  let  us 
reckon  with  ourselves  and  with  the  strength  of  giants,  because  of  our  belief,  besiege 
the  throne  of  grace,  storm  heaven  with  our  humble  petitions,  and  much  shall  be  vouch- 
safed us  because,  in  our  burning  charity  for  our  brother,  we  "  have  loved  much."  We 
can  convert  this  people,  and  make  it  one  of  the  grandest  missionary  nations  with  which 
God  has  ever  vouchsafed  to  bless  the  human  race.  With  their  enlightened  freedom,  a 
government  founded  on  the  natural  rights  of  man,  their  large-heartedness,  their 
generous  impulses,  their  cleverness  in  surmounting  all  difficulties,  they  will  lead  all 
other  peoples  and  nations  in  carrying  the  torch  of  enlightenment,  preaching  the  truth, 
and  bringing  the  blessing  of  God's  holy  word  to  others,  and  thus,  by  placing  on  Colum- 
bus' brow  a  diadem  woven  by  the  charity  of  his  inheritors,  they  shall  bring  themselves 
into  the  ocean  of  infinite  love,  and  for  all  eternity  glow  with  the  added  luster  of  those  to 
whom  they  have  brought  hope,  peace,  and  heaven. 

Surprise  has  often  been  expressed  that  the  Irish  race  should  cling  to  the  faith, 
after  so  many  tribulations.  All  that  human  ingenuity  could  do  has  been  tried  to  dis- 
possess them  of  the  truth;  yet  no  people  have  remained  more  faithful  to  the  doctrine 
that  was  delivered  to  the  saints.  Fire  and  the  sword,  the  rack  and  prison,  exile  and 
starvation,  all  in  vain,  have  been  used  to  extirpate  faith.  Well  may  they  exclaim, 
"  Where  is  the  nation  that  has  not  heard  our  woes?  All  peoples  have  been  a  witness  to 
our  sufferings."  Yet,  glory  be  to  God,  they  have  ever  been  among  the  most  exemplary 
and  steadfast  Christians  the  world  has  known.  Why  is  it  that  when  so  many 
others  have  perished   they  never  faltered?     It  can  be  explained  only  on  one  theory. 


1 62  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

They  have  ever  been  the  foremost  missionary  nation  of  the  earth.  From  the  day  St. 
Kolumkill  went  to  Iona,  St.  Call  and  his  companions  to  the  continent,  to  revive 
faith,  to  our  own  day,  they  have  been  scattered  over  the  whole  earth,  everywhere  bear- 
ing testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  crucified.  Riches  they  had  not,  but  of  that  which  they 
had  they  freely  gave  to  their  fellow-beings,  and  the  Lord  God  has  preserved  them  a 
strong  and  vigorous  people  when  others  have  perished.  Wo  look  upon  their  woes,  and, 
after  the  manner  of  the  world,  would  commiserate  the  nation;  we  look  to  heaven  and 
see  them  trooping  within  its  portals  triumphantly  to  enjoy  an  everlasting  crown  of  bliss 
as  a  reward  of  their  charity,  piety,  and  zeal,  in  spreading  the  glad  tidings  of  faith  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  May  those  who  are  descendants  of  these  people  never  waver  in 
their  energy,  or  forget  their  glorious  lineage,  but  perpetuate  the  good  work  so  glori- 
ously undertaken  by  their  forefathers. 

If  we  have  been  "salted  with  fire,"  as  the  Lord  says,  the  salt  must  not  become  unsav- 
ory. The  penetrating  fire  of  charity  must  ever  burn  brighter  within  our  breasts  until  it 
becomes  a  consuming  flame  which  shall  warm  all  within  its  rays.  It  knows  no  failing  ; 
is  not  repulsed  ;  will  not  desist  from  zealously  loving  God  and  its  neighbor,  but  per- 
severe uutil  all  are  enwrapped  in  the  bosom  of  the  Infinite. 

Difficulties  will  but  stimulate  us  to  greater  exertion.  Fear  will  leave  us  no  rest 
until  we  have  converted  the  nation,  Christianized  the  people,  and  brought  salvation  to 
the  country.  The  warning  of  the  prophet,  "Why  are  hearts  made  desolate?  Why  are 
souls  lost  by  the  thousands?  Because  no  man  considereth  in  his  heart,"  should  fill  us 
with  such  a  dread  that  we  would  gladly  join  heart  and  soul  in  the  prayer  already  being 
offered  up  by  the  thousands  of  our  brethren  in  the  faith.  Sacrifice  and  oblation  we 
should  offer.  Our  humble  supplications  we  should  pour  forth  at  the  throne  of  Divine 
Grace  until  we  have  won  for  our  separated  brethren  that  pearl  without  price,  the  in 
estimable  favor  of  Divine  Faith,  that  they  who  are  not  of  the  household  may  be  brought 
into  the  fold,  where  "  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd,"  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
reigning  gloriously  over  all  for  time  and  eternity. 

Frank  J.  Sheridan,  delegate  from  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  read 
an  interesting  paper  suggesting  plan  and  reasons  for  tbe  establishment  of  an 
organization  by  the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress  to  be  known  as  the 
Catholic  Association  of  the  United  States  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial 
Conciliation  and  Voluntary  Arbitration.     Mr.  Sheridan  said : 

The  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  has  been  called  into  existence  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  and  putting  into  practical  effect  in  the  United  States  the  ency- 
clical of  Pope  Leo  XIII.  on  the  condition  of  labor.  In  that  document  the  way  is 
clearly  pointed  out  for  the  solution  of  the  labor  problem  and  for  improving  the  con 
dition  of  the  working  people.    The  details  are  left  for  us  to  carry  out. 

The  natural  desire  on  the  part  of  the  wage-earner — to  get  as  much  for  his  labor  as 
he  can — and  the  like  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  employer — to  pay  as  little  for  it  as 
possible — have  brought  about  a  series  of  conflicts,  more  or  less  violent  and  disastrous 
in  their  results,  and  reflecting  severely  on  this  age  of  progress,  liberality  and  enlight- 
ened civilization. 

The  Department  of  Labor  of  the  United  States  government,  devoted  to  painstaking 
and  searching  investigation  of  industrial  conditions  in  our  own  and  foreign  countries, 
and  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  connected,  has  made  an  elaborate  report  on  the 
subject  of  strikes  and  lockouts.  The  figures  presented  therein  throw  startling  light  on 
the  significance  and  magnitude  of  this  system  of  industrial  civil  war.  It  shows  that 
for  the  six  years,  from  1881  to  1886,  there  were  strikes  in  22,304  establishments  in  the 
United  States,  involving  1,323,203  employes,  and  that  there  were  lockouts  in  2,214  estab- 
lishments, involving  170,747  employes,  making  a  total  of  1,493,950  persons  directly 
affected. 

The  leading  causes  of  the  strikes  were  the  question  of  wages  and  the  question  of 
hours;  9,439  or  42.30  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  strikes  were  for  an  increase  of 
wages;  4,344  or  19.48  per  cent  of  the  total  number  were  for  reduction  of  hours;  1,734  or 
7.77  per  cent  were  against  reduction  of  wages,  and  1,692  or  7.59  per  cent  were  for 
increase  of  wages  and  reduction  of  hours.  From  this  we  learn  that  the  causes  men- 
tioned account  for  77.16  per  cent  of  all  the  strikes.  The  evils  resulting  are  partially 
shown  in  the  figures  giving  the  losses  to  employers  and  employed.  The  loss  to  employes 
from  these  strikes  and  lockouts  was:  For  strikes,  $51,814,723;  for  lockouts,  $8,157,717; 
a  total  of  $59,972,440.  The  loss  to  employers  for  both  strikes  and  lockouts  was 
$34,163,814. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  163 

Quite  82  per  cent,  of  the  strikes  were  ordered  by  labor  organizations,  and  79  per 
cent,  of  the  lockouts  were  ordered  by  combinations  of  managers.  The  figures  show  the 
immense  loss  in  wages  to  the  employes  directly  connected  with  the  strikes.  They 
prove  that  the  workingmen  lost  nearly  twice  as  much  as  the  employers,  while  less  able 
to  bear  it.  We  can  trace  more  of  the  consequences  in  the  records  of  the  almshouses, 
the  records  of  the  houses  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  the  records  of  the  police  courts,  the 
prisons,  and  the  penitentiaries.  Strange  though  it  may  seem,  we  can  also  trace  it  in 
the  records  of  the  divorce  courts.  The  department  of  labor  has  given  the  number  of 
divorces  in  our  country  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  with  minute  detail  as  to  cause 
and  effect.  An  examination  of  this  report  shows  that  during  periods  of  industrial 
depression,  of  which  strikes  and  lockouts  are  but  manifestations,  divorces  increased 
enormously,  while  in  periods  of  prosperity  there  was  an  extraordinary  decrease.  I  need 
hardly  say  that  in  divorce  statistics  Catholic  families  are  not  included. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  further  upon  the  distress  caused  by  this  system  of 
righting  alleged  wrongs,  In  a  convention  of  Catholic  laymen,  meeting  for  the  express 
purpose  of  considering  the  condition  of  labor  and  to  adopt  plans  for  its  improvement, 
the  foremost  topic  must  be  how  to  put  an  end  to  the  misery  and  crime  attendant  upon 
the  settlement  of  labor  troubles,  and  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  a  peaceful 
solution  in  the  adjustment  of  disputes.  There  are  some  who  advocate  governmental 
compulsory  arbitration — the  creation  of  a  legal  tribunal  whose  decisions  would  be  final, 
and  compelling  the  wage-worker  to  work  for  perhaps  a  less  rate  than  he  wishes  to,  or 
the  employer  to  pay  more  than  he  can. 

Compulsory  arbitration  is  not  arbitration  at  all.  To  arbitrate  there  must  be  two 
willing  parties.  A  cut-and-dried  board  of  arbitration,  created  by  State  legislation,  and 
without  the  power  of  compelling  obedience  to  its  decisions,  must  be  a  failure.  I  might 
call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  the  fact  that  Cardinal  Manning  settled  the  great 
London  strike  by  methods  of  conciliation  and  voluntary  arbitration,  and  without 
appealing  to  the  compulsory  law  of  1824.  The  great  Cardinal  had  a  more  stubborn 
and  less  intelligent  element  to  contend  with,  too,  than  we  have  here. 

A  more  recent  and  gratifying  result  of  voluntary  arbitration,  in  another  field,  is 
that  of  the  Bering  Sea  controversy.  We  agreed  to  submit  the  case.  The  arbitrators 
decided  against  us.  We  stand  by  the  decision,  and  submit  to  the  awards.  And  if  we 
can  induce  American  employers  and  workingmen  to  submit  their  cases  in  a  like 
manner  they  also  will  stand  by  the  decisions  without  any  law  of  enforcement. 

The  highest  American  authority  and  compiler  of  an  exhaustive  report  on  the 
subject  of  "  Arbitration " — the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor — in  the  June 
(1893)  Forum  proves  conclusively  that  compulsory  arbitration  is  an  impossible  remedy, 
and  would  result  in  slavery  for  the  workingmen  and  socialism  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  He  further  asserts  that  "  voluntary  arbitration  in  industrial  matters  is  one 
of  the  highest  and  broadest  eatures  of  co-operation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the 
simplest  methods  for  restoring  harmony  where  conflict  is  threatened  or  even  where  it 
exists." 

This  Congress  must  repudiate  any  policy  which  would  make  a  slave  of  the  working- 
man  or  establish  State  socialism  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  while  it  also  desires  to 
settle  this  question  by  peaceable  methods.  The  Catholic  churches  of  the  United  States  in 
the  villages,  towns,  and  cities  are  filled  to  the  doors  with  wage-earners.  They  will  readily 
listen  to  a  method  for  the  remedy  of  their  grievances  in  accordance  with  the  teachings 
of  their  religion.  The  influence  of  a  grand  Catholic  organization,  composed  of  wage- 
earners  and  employers,  advocating  brotherly  co-operation  and  the  reign  of  reason, 
instead  of  the  passions,  can  not  but  tend  to  promote  the  happiness  of  all  the  people 
and  the  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country. 

It  is  with  the  utmost  confidence  that  the  proposition  is  made  to  the  Catholic 
Columbian  Congress  to  organize  the  Catholic  Association  of  the  United  States  for  the 
promotion  of  industrial  conciliation  and  voluntary  arbitration.  This  Congress  is  thor- 
oughly representative  of  the  Catholic  laity  of  the  United  States.  In  its  capacity  it  is 
fully  competent  to  deal  with  all  practical  methods  in  a  practical  manner.  The  organi- 
zation proposed  is  entirely  practical,  and  comes  within  the  scope  of  the  work  laid  out 
for  the  Congress  to  accomplish. 

I  ask  the  delegates  to  carefully  consider  the  plan  proposed,  and  in  connection  there- 
with I  submit  the  following  extracts  from  Pope  Leo's  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  la- 
bor, paragraphs  21  and  59: 

"  Mutual  agreement  results  in  pleasantness  and  good  order;  perpetual  conflict  nec- 
essarily produces  confusion  and  outrage.  Those  Catholics  are  worthy  of  all  praise,  and 
there  are  not  a  few,  who,  understanding  what  the  times  require,  have,  by  various  enter- 


164 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


prises  and  experiments,  endeavored  to  better  the  condition  of  the  working  people  with- 
out any  sacrifice  of  principle.  They  have  taken  up  the  cause  of  the;  working  man.  ami 
have  striven  to  make  both  families  and  individuals  better  off;  to  infuse  the  spirit  of 
justice  into  the  mutual  relations  of  employer  and  employed;  to  keep  before  the  eyes  of 
both  classes  the  precepts  of  duty  and  the  laws  of  the  gospel — that  gospel  which,  by  incul- 
cating self-restraint,  keeps  men  within  the  bounds  of  moderation,  and  tends  to  estab- 
lish harmony  among  the  divergent  interests  and  various  classes  which  compose  the 
State.  It  is  with  such  ends  in  view  that  we  see  men  of  eminence  meeting  together  for 
discussion,  for  the  promotion  of  united  action  and  for  practical  work." 

It  was  with  this  in  mind  that  the  committee  on  organization,  with  Archbishop  Fee- 
han  as  chairman  and  W.  J.  Onahan  as  secretary,  wrote  the  following  in  its  official  call 
and  programme  which  is  in  your  hands: 

'•The  Congress  must  be  prepared  to  propose  practical  reforms  on  the  lines  looked 
for  at  its  hands.  It  will  not  suffice  that  it  shall  have  been  the  medium  and  opportunity 
for  the  delivery  of  clever  essays  and  eloquent  addresses  on  the  various  themes.  Much 
more  is  expected  from  it.  Permanent  and  effective  results  and  enduring  benefits  are 
looked  for  at  its  hands,  as  the  outcome  of  this  memorable  assemblage  of  Catholic  intel- 
ligence and  Catholic  earnestness." 

I  therefore  beg  to  submit  the  proposed  plan  of  organization  and  objects  of  the 
association. 

Name.— This  organization  shall  be  known  a*  the  Catholic  Association  of  the  United 
States  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Conciliation  and  Voluntary  Arbitration. 

Objects.— The  objects  of  this  association  shall  be  the  gradual  abolition  of  strikes,  lockouts, 
and  boycots  as  remedies  for  the  adjustment  of  the  grievances  arising  between  employers  and 
wage-earners,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  arbitration,  to  be 
carried  out  in  a  wise  and  systematic  111  inner.    This  system  contemplates: 

1.  The  removal  of  causes  of  discussion  and  the  prevention  of  differences  from  becoming 
disputes. 

2.  The  settlement  of  difficulties  after  a  demand  from  either  side  has  been  made  and  before 
such  demand  has  been  resisted  by  urging  the  submission  of  such  difficulties  to  arbitration. 

3.  The  infusing  of  a  spirit  of  justice  into  the  mutual  relations  of  employers  and  employed. 
National  Boaeo.— The  aims  of  the  associate  >n  shall  1 arried  out  under  the  direction  ol 

a  national  board,  which  shall  be  composed  of  two  laymen  from  each  diocese  In  the  United 

States,  who  shall  be  chosen  in  the  first  instance  by  the  delegates  ol  each  di se  to  the  Catholic 

Columbian  Congress  at  Chicago,  and  thereafter  in  such  a  manner  a~  may  be  provided.  The, 
archbishops  and  bishops  of  the  United  States  shall,  ex- officio,  be  members  of  the  national 
b  >ard. 

The  national  board  shall  elect  a  president,  secretary,  and  such  other  officers  as  may  be 
necessary.  It  shall  also  enact  such  by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  association  as  it  may 
deem  proper. 

^hall  Establish  Parish  Organizations. -It  shall  bring  all  the  weight  of  its  influence 
and  prestige  to  bear  in  the  formation  of  subordinate  local  parish  boards,  and  actively  co-oper- 
ating with  the  parish  priests  and  the  earnest,  thoughtful,  and  influential  wage-earners  and 
employers  of  each  congregation  in  the  formation  of  such  local  boards,  and  thus  create  a  grand 
national  organization  of  Catholic  men,  intelligent  of  purpo>e,  and,  with  influences  permeating 
all  classes  of  society,  bring  about  an  era  of  good  will. 

Not  an  Official  Board  of  Arbitration.— While  conciliation  and  the  arbitration  of  labor 
difficulties  are  the  ends  aimed  at  by  this  association,  it  shall  not.  either  as  a  local  or  a  national 
body,  constitute  itself  an  official  or  semi-official  board  of  arbitration.  The  very  essence  and 
successful  workings  of  our  policy  lie  in  the  voluntary  selection  of  the  arbitrators  in  each  case, 
by  the  employers  on  the  one  hand  and  the  employed  on  the  ,,ther.  The  efforts  of  the  associa- 
tion will  be  employed  solely  in  bringing  such  a  condition  of  affairs  ab<  >ut. 

I  am  not  wedded  to  any  one  of  the  details  of  the  proposed  association.  They  can 
easily  be  amended  and  improved  upon,  but  the  organization  itself  is  necessary.  Unless 
all  signs  of  the  times  fail,  there  will  be  immediate  work  for  this  association. 

Let  us  open  the  conference  doors  through  this  board  of  arbitration,  and  keep  them 
open  until  a  perfect  settlement  is  arrived  at.  With  such  an  organization,  and  with  such 
a  man  as  Archbishop  Ireland  as  its  president,  the  working  men  of  the  United  States 
will  know  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  their  friend.  They  would  not  listen  in  silence, 
as  they  do  now  in  their  labor  unions  and  assemblies,  to  the  voice  of  the  anarchic  con- 
tinental socialist,  who  cleverly  and  with  ability  tells  them  that  the  church  is  their 
enemy  and  a  hindrance  to  their  liberty. 

"  Women  of  the  Middle  Ages  "  was  the  subject  of  an  interesting  paper  by 
Anna  T.  Sadlier,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.     The  substance  of  the  paper  follows: 

Previous  to  the  medieval  era  Christianity  had  raised  womanhood  from  the  slough 
of  paganism.  Already  an  astonished  world  had  begun  to  cry  out,  "  Ye  gods  of  Greece, 
what  women  have  these  Christians ! "  During  the  middle  ages,  from  the  sixth  to  the 
middle  of  the  15th  century,  woman  attained,  as  it  were,  her  full  growth  under  the 
segis  of  the  church,  the  church  which  serenely  held  sway  over  the  mad  chaotic 
world  struggling  into  civilization.     It   would  be  an  impossible  task  here  to  classify 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  165 

medieval  woman  by  distinctions  of  race  or  epoch.  Rather  let  us  examine  her  con- 
dition, personal  qualities,  and  the  tone  of  society  toward  her  on  the  broad  lines  of 
cloistered,  royal,  saintly,  and  learned  women. 

The  nun  played  such  a  part  in  the  drama  of  medieval  life,  as  to  raise  woman  to 
the  climax  of  her  power.  The  nun  was  a  chief  factor  in  procuring  the  emancipation  of 
women  and  proclaiming  her  equality,  in  a  Christian  sense,  with  man,  by  giving  her  a 
separate,  individual  existence.  Immured  in  her  cloister,  the  nun  exercised  a  protective 
influence  over  the  wife  and  mother,  and  caused  them  to  be  reverenced  on  account  of 
the  possibilities  of  heroic  virtue  which  she  displayed.  To  the  rudest  warrior  she  was 
"  a  thing  enskied  and  ensainted."  In  short,  by  her  ideal  of  consecrated  virginity,  the 
church  secured  the  elevation  of  woman. 

"The  protection  and  better  education  given  to  women  in  these  early  communities," 
says  Mrs.  Jameson,  "the  venerable  and  distinguished  rank  assigned  to  them,  when  as 
governesses  of  their  order,  they  became  in  a  manner  dignitaries  of  the  church,  the 
introduction  of  their  beautiful  and  saintly  effigies,  clothed  with  all  the  insignia  of  sanc- 
tity and  authority,  into  the  decoration  of  places  of  worship  and  books  of  devotion,  did 
more,  perhaps,  for  the  general  cause  of  womanhood,  than  all  the  boasted  institutions  of 
chivalry."  Can  the  tremendous  influence  be  overrated  of  such  sanctuaries  of  learning 
as  Whitby  and  Coldingham,  Ely  and  Wimbourne,  Barking  and  Folkestone,  Hartpool  and 
Hanbury,  Roncerai  and  Chelles,  Faremoutier  and  Brie,  Luxeuil,  and  Les  Andelys, 
Fontevrault  and  Longchamps,  Gandersheim  and  Fulda,  Cologne  and  Heidenheim. 

Each  an  oasis  in  a  barbaric  land,  redolent  of  spirituality,  of  asceticism,  of  refine- 
ment, and  of  culture.  Sometimes  particular  inmates  cast  a  luster  on  certain  monaste- 
ries. As  Hilda  at  Whitby,  from  her  sanctuary,  where  it  looked  seaward  on  the  cliffs, 
the  abbess  sent  forth  bishops,  eminent  ecclesiastics  and  apostolic  women.  For,  after 
the  custom  of  the  times,  she  governed  both  men  and  women.  Her  influence,  far  reach- 
ing, extended  over  the  surrounding  country.  Her  exact  discipline  recalled  primitive 
Christianity.  She  caused  learning,  like  the  palm  tree,  to  grow  and  flourish.  At  Whitby, 
the  Saxon,  Milton  Ceadon  poured  forth  his  inspired  strain  to  Hilda,  seated  in  state 
with  disciples  and  counselors  questioning  him,  with  so  keen  a  perspicacity,  upon  vari- 
ous points  of  his  narrative. 

Ebbaof  Coldingham.  was  scarcely  inferior  in  learning  and  sanctity  to  the  abbess 
of  Whitby.  Like  her,  she  governed  not  only  her  dual  monastery,  but  exercised  for 
thirty  years  an  important  influence  on  the  destinies  of   her  country. 

Walburga,  or  Walpurgis,  a  niece  of  Boniface,  was  speedily  called  from  the  cultured 
repose  of  Wimbourne  into  the  Germanic  field,  where,  with  her  nuns,  she  continuedto 
cultivate  letters,  while  she  did  much  to  civilize  the  people,  besides  presiding  over  the 
great  school  of  Bischoffsheim  and  devoting  her  knowledge  of  medicine  to  the  service  of 
the  poor.  Her  name,  in  course  of  time,  became  mingled  with  curious  superstitions;  for 
example,  the  Walpurgis  night. 

An  attractive  figure  is  that  of  the  Abbess  Lioba,  or  the  beloved,  with  her  learning, 
her  knowledge  of  Scripture — she  had  committed  the  whole  Bible  to  memory — her 
beauty,  her  humility;  washing  the  feet  of  her  nuns  and  serving  them  at  table,  her  zeal, 
making  her  the  valued  auxiliary  of  Boniface,  when  she  had  passed  from  Wimbourne  to 
Germany;  her  sweetness,  her  cheerfulness.  "  She  was  as  admirable  in  her  understand- 
ing as  she  was  boundless  in  her  charity,"  says  her  biographer,  Ralph  of  Fulda. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  cloisters  were  thronged  with  nuns  of  the  blood  royal,  Ethelburga, 
the  first  royal  widow  to  enter  religion;  Etheldreda,  of  the  strange,  romantic  story; 
Elfleda,  who  aided  Wilfred  in  his  struggle  to  fix  the  Roman  discipline  upon  the  Celts; 
Earcontha,  Domneva,  Eanpleda,  Ermenburga,  Hereswida,  Eadburga,  Wereburga, 
Ermenilda  and  Sexburga  were  all  nuns  of  royal  birth — in  one  instance,  three  genera- 
tions, grandmother,  mother  and  daughter  met  in  the  cloister.  Some  were  widows,  some 
had,  by  permission,  separated  from  their  husbands,  some  had  entered  religion  in  early 
youth,  being,  in  the  forcible  Saxon  word,  veritable  "  Godes-Brydes," — "  Brides  of  God." 

To  Heldilida  and  her  nuns  of  Barking,  Aldhelm  dedicated  his  "  Praise  of  Virginity." 
To  the  Abbess  Cyndreda,  he  left  his  vestments  when  dying. 

In  Ireland,  land  of  saints  and  scholars,  where  learning  at  the  darkest  periods 
found  asylum,  St.  Bridget,  of  the  royal  house  of  "Leinster,  exercised  much  the  same 
patriarchal  sway  over  men  and  women  as  Hilda  at  Whitby.  Many  poetic  legends 
cluster  about  that  spot  dedicated  to  virtue  and  learning,  and  for  a  thousand  years 
after  Bridget's  death  a  lamp  burned  at  her  tomb.  "  That  bright  lamp  which  burned  at 
Kildare's  holy  fane." 

Hathmuda,  daughter  of  Count  Lindulph,  "  a  lover  of  letters  and  student  of  script- 
ure," restored  at  Gandersheim  a  school  for  Saxon  ladies.  It  won  celebrity  through  the 


i66  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

acquirements  of  Hroswitha,  "The  White  Rose  of  Gandershcim."  She  was  second  of 
the  name  the  first  having  been  noted  as  a  logician.  She  studied  at  the  convent,  be- 
sides grammar  and  the  liberal  arts,  Greek  and  Latin  and  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle, 
and  wrote  many  works  in  prose  and  poetry.  Of  these  the  dramas  after  Terence  met 
with  instant  recognition  as  models  of  pure  diction  and  exquisite  sentiment,  also  display- 
ing a  knowledge  of  dialectics  and  astronomy.  Hroswitha's  letters  display  a  humility 
absolutely  saint-like  in  one  on  whom  the  adulation  of  her  contemporaries  was  lavished. 

The  author  of  "Christian  Schools  and  Scholars,"  when  remarking  that  the  teachers 
of  Hroswitha  had  preserved  her  modesty,  her  almost  childlike  naivete,  and  deep  religious- 
humility,  adds:  "And  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  conventional  schools  in  general." 
Better  things  were  included  in  their  scheme  of  education  than  a  mere  knowledge  of 
the  liberal  arts,  the  wisdom,  which  is  the  beginning  of  discipline,  and  "  unto  which  no 
defiled  thing  cometh."  , 

St.  Frideswida,  flying  from  the  importunities  of  a  princely  suitor,  built  at  a  certain 
spot  a  monastery,  which  in  time,  falling  into  the  hands  of  canons  regular,  developed 
under  the  protection  of  Wolsey  into  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  A  second  step  toward  the 
foundation  of  the  university  was  made  when  Edith  d'Oyley,  who  was  not,  however,  a 
nun,  built  Osney  Priorv,  at  a  spot  indicated  to  her  by  the  chattering  of  pies. 

St.  Croix  Abbey  at  Poitiers,  founded  by  Radegond,  Queen  of  Clothaire  I.,  received 
her  into  its  silent  life,  after  many  useful  years  spent  upon  the  throne,  giving  patronage 
to  art  and  literature,  laboring  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  cultivating  the  society  f  the 
learned.  She  was  the  friend  of  Venantius  Fortunatus,  who  composed  the  'Vexilla 
Regis,"  on  the  translation  of  a  relic  of  the  true  cross  to  her  monastery.  She  possessed, 
as  we  read,  "  not  only  elegant  letters,  but  profound  erudition,"  and  after  her  retirement 
to  Poitiers,  imparted  those  stories  of  knowledge  to  young  girls  of  all  classes  whom  she 
1  oved  to  collect  around  her. 

Other  high-born  nuns,  famous  for  their  acquirements,  were:  Burgundofara,  "  la 
noble  baronnede  Bourgogne,"  abbess  of  Faremoutier;  Adelaide,  of  Cologne;  Hildegarde, 
of  Bingen;  Isabel,  sister  of  St.  Louis;  Blanche,  of  Prance;  Jane,  of  Navarre;  Matilda,  of 
Anjou. 

The  attainments  of  the  nuns  appear  to  have  been,  for  the  time,  considerable. 
They  studied  philosophy  and  belles-lettres,  the  scriptures  and  the  fathers.  Their  cor- 
respondence was  kept  up  in  Latin,  and  sprinkled  with  quotations,  proving  their 
acquaintance  with  the  classics.  Many  of  them  knew  Greek.  They  reached,  in  fine, 
the  highest  degree  of  culture  then  possible.  Like  their  contemporaries,  they  were 
ignorant,  no  doubt,  of  much  that  we  know.  Probably  they  also  knew  much  that  would 
surprise  our  "sweet  girl  graduates,"  and  knew  it  thoroughly  and  well.  Many  nuns 
were  proficient  as  copyists,  adorning  manuscripts  with  gold  and  gems.  They  were 
accomplished  needlewomen,  skilled  in  rare  tapestries  and  embroideries. 

"  Outside  their  communities,  and  mingling  in  the  current  of  historical  events, 
several  of  these  vigorous  women,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  have  left  their  trace  on  the 
history  of  their  country."  The  idea  of  spiritual  assistance  became  so  interwoven  with 
the  idea  of  nuns,  as  it  has  been  remarked,  that  in  many  families  a  spectral  nun  was 
supposed  to  give  warning  of  impending  calamity. 

"  To  early  acquaintance  with  the  cloister  much  that  distinguished  the  character  of 
women  in  the  middle  ages  is  due,"  remarks  Digby;  *■  even  when  education  was  not 
received  there,  visits  were  made  to  devout  sisters.  The  maiden  of  the  castle  knew  the 
sanctity  and  peace  of  cloistral  life,  and  formed  there  her  idea!  of  virtue."  Symbols  of  a 
true  democracy,  the  lowly  mingled  with  the  high-born  in  these  communities,  and  often 
r  se  to  commanding  stations,  though  names  and  details  concerning  those  of  high  rank 
were  more  carefully  preserved  by  contemporary  chroniclers. 

Deaconesses  were  a  recognised  order  in  the  church  till  the  9th  century,  as  were 
also  recluses,  who  inhabited  caverns  and  mountains.  Such  was  Rosalie  of  Palermo, 
whose  name  has  remained  in  veneration  through  the  centuries. 

The  queens  of  the  middle  ages  are  a  numerous  and  important  class.  Among  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  who,  in  common  with  the  other  Teutonic  races,  assigned  a  lofty  part  to 
women,  the  queens  possessed  territorial  rights  and  rights  of  jurisdiction,  having  separ- 
ate courts  and  affixing  their  names  to  public  documents.  Like  the  nuns  of  their  race, 
they  were  ardent  as  apostles.  Thus  the  gentle  Queen  Bertha  was  saluted  by  Gregory 
as  "  a  second  Helena,"  who  had  given  England  to  the  faith,  which  she  did,  not  only  by 
protecting  Augustine,  but  by  converting  Ethelbert,  her  husband.  Her  daughter, 
Ethelburga,  brought  Edwin  and  Northumbria  to  Christianity,  as  Achfleda  converted 
Penda  and  the  Mercians,  and  Ermenilda,  with  Egbert  of  Kent,  aided  in  the  spread  of 
truth,  and  supported  Wildf  rid  and  Rome.    Many  of  them  were  learned  themselves,  and- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN   CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  167 

the  cause  of  learning  in  others,  as    Osburga,  mother  of  Alfred,  who   inspired  him  with 
her  own  love  of  knowledge,  and  directed  his  studies. 

Elsintha,  his  wife,  and  Ethelfleda.  his  daughter,  were  of  similar  tastes.  "  Edith 
the  Good."  wife  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  is  quaintly  called  "  a  storehouse  of  liberal 
knowledge,"'  and  Ingulf.  Abbot  of  Croyland.  relates  how,  as  a  boy,  she  questioned  him 
upon  his  studies, "  readily  changing  from  the  quirks  of  logic,  which  she  knew  thor- 
oughly well,  she  would  entrap  me."  he  says.  "  in  the  snares  of  argumentation." 

The  queens  of  the  Xormau  period,  beginning  with  the  wife  of  the  Conqueror,  con- 
tinued the  high  tradition  of  learning,  sometimes  of  sanctity.  For  instance,  the  sisters 
and  the  two  queens  of  Henry  Beauclerc  are  mentioned  as  being  accomplished  scholars. 
"There  is,  perhaps,  no  more  beautiful  character  recorded  in  history."  says  the  Protest- 
ant Skene,  in  his  Celtic  Scotland,  "  than  that  of  Margaret  of  Scotland.  For  purity  of 
motives,  for  an  earnest  desire  to  benefit  the  people  among  whom  her  lot  was  cast,  for  a 
deep  sense  of  religion  and  great  personal  piety,  for  the  unselfish  performance  of  what- 
ever duty  lay  before  her,  and  for  entire  self-abnegation,  she  is  unsurpassed."  This 
saintly  queen  labored  with  intelligence  and  a  true  understanding  of  the  issues  at  stake 
to  reform  abuses  in  the  contemporary  church  of  Scotland  and  restored  venerable  Iona. 
fallen  to  ruins. 

Another  Margaret,  a  woman  of  a  still  more  commanding  intellect,  but  whose  pr  - 
vate  life  was  far  from  irreproachable,  united  by  her  political  sagacity  and  strength  of 
will  all  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms  under  her  sway.  She  was  called  "  the  Semiramis 
of  the  North." 

The  Frankish  dynasty  furnishes  us  with  such  lovable  types  of  women  as  Clotilda, 
who  obtained  the  somewhat  dramatic  conversion  of  her  husband  on  the  battlefield,  and 
Bathildis,  who  labored  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  spread  of  learning,  who 
founded  and  afterward  became  abbess  of  Chelles. 

The  life  of  Matilda,  wife  of  Henry  I.  of  Germany,  reads  like  romance  from  the 
moment  her  royal  lover  beholds  her.  the  pupil  of  Hereward  convent,  through  the  long 
years  when  they  were  "one  in  mind  and  heart,  prompt  to  every  good  work  "  as  thr 
her  regency  and  her  widowhood,  passed  so  holily.  The  following  quaint  account  is 
given  of  her  by  a  contemporary:  "  She  ministered  to  the  cock  who  announced  the  day 
to  call  up  the  faithful  to  serve  Christ,  nor  did  she  forget  the  singing  birds,  for  whom 
she  scattered  crumbs  in  the  name  of  their  Creator.  She  carried  food  to  the  poor  and 
candles  to  oratories  in  her  own  chariot.  In  winter  she  caused  great  fires  to  be  lighted 
and  kept  up  all  night,  both  in  and  out,  so  that  everyone  who  wandered  might  have 
warmth  and  light." 

Queen  Elizabeth,  of  Portugal,  who  won  by  her  unceasing  efforts  to  promote  peace 
the  title  of  Pacis  et  Patria?  Mater  and  Sant  Isabel  de  Pax,  is  only  less  interesting  than 
that  other  Elizabeth,  whose  marriage  to  her  beloved  Landgrave  Louis,  her  pathetic 
efforts  to  lead  a  saint's  life  at  a  court,  the  cruel  persecutions  she  endured,  and  her  widow- 
hood, are  so  familiar  to  us.  Of  such  a  type  was  Hedwiga,  of  Poland,  who  married 
against  her  inclination  to  promote  the  peace  of  Christendom. 

Bridget.  Princess  of  Sweden,  sanctified  her  husband,  eight  children,  and  edified  a 
court  before  founding  the  Order  of  the  Brigittines.  Agnes  of  Bohemia,  wife  of  Fred- 
erick II.,  Cunegonde  of  Bavaria,  good  Queen  Maud  of  England,  Hildegrade,  Empress  of 
Charlemagne;  Agnes,  wife  of  the  German  Henry  III.,  so  successful  a  regent,  are  among 
those  who  led  a  life  of  nun-like  austerity  upon  thrones.  Many  medieval  queens  be- 
longed to  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  by  a  series  of  splendid  failures,  strove  to  hold  the  scepter  for  a 
dynasty.  Philippa  of  Hainaidt.  was  not  only  noted  for  learning,  but  for  political 
wisdom.  Blanche  of  Castile,  the  model  of  Christian  mothers,  was  a  patron  of  letters, 
and  Blanche  of  Navarre  deserved  to  be  called  "  the  mother  of  the  poor."  The  life  of 
Catherine  Cornaro,  Queen  of  Cyprus,  reads  like  a  romance.  Theophania,  the  Greek 
princess,  like  Anna  Commena,  author  of  the  Alexiad,  was  an  enthusiastic  student.  On 
her  marriage  she  brought  the  brilliant  literary  atmosphere  of  Constantinople  to  the 
court  of  the  Othos.  Hedwiga  of  Bavaria,  a  Greek  and  Latin  'scholar,  educated  her 
nephew  Burkkard,  afterwards  abbot.  Anne  of  Brittany,  the  beloved,  was  "  as  skilled  in 
Greek,  Latin,  and  astronomy  as  any  clerk  in  the  kingdom." 

The  medieval  households  are.  in  the  main,  beautiful  pictures  of  Catholic  life. 
There,  "at  the  fireside  of  the  heart,  feeding  itsfiame,"  woman's  true  place,  the  mistress 
of  the  family  shone.  Wise,  intelligent,  loving  and  beloved,  respecting  and  respected. 
she  was  troubled  by  no  theories  of  female  suffrage  or  equal  rights  or  divided  skirts. 
Her  own  rights,  thanks  to  the  church,  were  too  secure;  her  duties  too  sacred.  A 
helpful  wife,  a  conscientious  mother.     "  Happy  the  ages,"  cried  Digby,  "  when  men  had. 


1 68  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

holy  mothers."  She  trained  sons  to  fill  high  places  and  daughters  1"  vigorous 
practical  utility,  and  she  gained  the  love  of  her  servants.  Every  woman  in  those 
days  was  made  acquainted  with  every  detail  of  household  duty.  With  high-born 
women  the  duties  were  simply  wider  and  more  onerous.  She  had  to  know  medicine  and 
surgery  and  church  music  and  embroidery,  as  she  was  fitted  to  exercise  the  splendid 
hospitality  of  the  times,  with  that  exquisite  courtesy  to  strangers,  which  was  a  rigid 
social  law.  But  she  had  to  sew  and  spin  and  cook  and  keep  a  time  apart  for  reading. 
Spinning  was  a  favorite  occupation,  by  the  way,  of  all  classes  of  medieval  women. 
Dante  represents  the  women  of  Florence  as  spinning  as  "  they  listened  to  old  tales  of 
Troy,  Fesole,  and  Rome." 

Young  women  before  marriage  lived  in  much  retirement.  They  never  went  forth 
unattended,  and  in  public  places  usually  wore  white  folds  and  black  cloaks,  such  as  are 
still  worn  by  certain  communities  of  nuns.  Dress  in  general  was,  however,  very  much 
a  matter  of  national  or  individual  temperament.  Sometimes  medieval  women  are  com- 
mended by  contemporary  writers  for  simplicity  in  dress,  wearing  "unornamental  busk- 
ins and  a  plain  robe  of  camlet  or  serge,  with  hood  to  match."  Again  they  are 
reproached  with  a  too  great  magnificence,  reveling  in  clothes  of  gold  and  silver,  embroid- 
ered with  gold  and  gems.  Sometimes  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  this  love  of  finery 
infected  even  degenerate  cloisters.  Severe  strictures  were  passed  upon  abbesses  who 
appeared  in  scarlet  or  violet  tunics  and  hoods  edged  with  miniver,  who  curled  their  hair 
and  arranged  their  veils  as  ornaments. 

Charity  toward  the  poor,  the  suffering,  the  afflicted  was  eminently  characteristic  of 
medieval  women.  Always  munificent,  their  charity  chose  a  thousand  tender  and  deli- 
cate modes  of  manifesting  itself,  seeing  even  in  the  mendicant  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Mary,  the  mother  of  God,  was  the  first  great  cause  of.  the  elevation  of  women. 
Divinely  fair  and  holy,  ever  present  to  the  medieval  mind,  she  taught  man  to  reverence 
and  woman  to  deserve  reverence.  She  appeared  upon  the  pennons  of  knights  or  in 
their  war  cries,  particularly  if  the  cause  were  holy.  Upon  her  they  framed  their  ideal. 
The  maiden  in  the  cloister,  with  her  consecrated  teacher,  placed  Mary's  image  in  minia- 
tures or  illuminations.  The  lady  of  the  castle,  with  her  bondswoman,  uttered  the 
transcendent  prayer:  "  Hail,  full  of  grace."  The  wandering  glee  woman  or  the  serf  fresh 
from  toil  bent  the  knee  at  Mary's  wayside  shrine.  Even  the  gypsies,  in  their  midnight 
celebration  of  Christmas,  joined  with  the  generations  in  calling  her  blessed. 

Everywhere  that  ideal,  divinely  human,  before  which  all  mere  earthly  perfection 
fades.  Therefore  any  summary  of  the  woman  of  the  middle  ages  must  be  faulty,  even 
as  a  matter  of  philosophical  or  ethical  inquiry,  which  ignores  the  omnipresent  and 
almost  omnipotent  influence  of  Mary,  mother  of  God. 

Under  the  head  of  "  Guilds  and  Fraternal  Benefit  Societies,"  J.  P.  Lauth, 
of  Chicago,  111.,  read  a  paper  on  "  Their  Insurance  Feature  Preferable  to 
Pension  Funds."     He  said,  in  substance: 

I  shall  undertake  in  the  brief  time  at  my  disposal  to  deal  in  a  general  way  with  one 
or  two  phases  of  the  much-vexed  labor  question,  such  as,  first,  the  old  guilds  and 
recently  organized  labor  societies;  and,  second,  why  their  insurance  feature  is  prefer- 
able to  a  pension  fund  for  workmen.  It  may  be  in  order  to  say,  by  way  of  introduction, 
a  few  words  touching  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  attitude  toward  it  of  the  church: 

Cardinal  Manning  said:  "  Labor  is  capital  in  the  truest  sense.  The  strength  and 
skill  that  are  in  a  man  are  as  much  his  own  as  his  life-blood;  and  that  skill  and  strength 
which  he  has  as  his  personal  property  no  man  may  control."  And,  according  to  Adam 
Smith,  "  The  property  which  every  man  has  in  his  own  labor,  as  it  is  the  original  founda- 
tion of  all  other  property,  so  it  is  the  most  sacred  and  inviolable."  Labor  is  the  exer- 
cise of  the  best  powers  of  man.  As  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "  All  observing  instruments, 
all  weights  and  measures,  scales,  micrometers,  thermometers,  barometers,  etc.,  are 
artificial  extensions  of  the  senses;  and  all  levers,  screws,  hammers,  wedges,  wheels, 
lathes;  etc.,  are  artificial  extensions  of  the  limbs."  And  how,  then,  since  it  is  so  potential 
an  agency,  and  so  much  more  enterprising  when  free  than  when  controlled,  can  it  be 
consistently  sought  to  have  the  law  apply  to  and  control  its  operations?  The  answer 
is,  that  it  is  sought  simply  to  have  the  law  define  its  rights  within  the  scope  of  reason- 
able freedom,  so  that  they  may  not  be  invaded  to  its  detriment  by  unscrupulous  and 
designing  persons.  It  should  be  made  possible  for  workmen  to  collect  their  wages  with 
less  difficulty.  They  should  be  enabled  to  recover  damages  in  case  of  personal  injury 
through  the  employer's  wrong  without  weary  years  of  delay  and  heavy  expense.  *  In 
fact,  in  many  respects  the  law  could  and  should  serve  them  more  efficiently  than  it 
does. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  169 

I  need  not  hesitate  to  state  that  the  church  has  always  been  well  disposed  toward 
labor.  She  interposed  in  behalf  of  the  villeins  of  the  feudal  period  at  all  proper  times, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  about  their  emancipation.  She  favored  the  guilds 
during  the  middle  ages,  and  steadily  sought  to  promote  their  welfare.  She  opposed 
slavery  in  every  form  and  shape  from  the  beginning,  and  does  so  still.  To  her  the  con- 
dition of  the  working  population  has  always  been  a  subject  of  special  solicitude.  The 
great  labor  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  affords  ample  proof  as  to  the  attitude  of  the  church 
in  this  respect.  It  expresses  sympathy  with  labor  and  the  legitimate  aspirations  of 
toilers  throughout  the  world.  It  points  out  the  reciprocal  duties  of  labor  and  capital. 
It  urges  the  necessity  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of  poorly-paid  and  neglected  work- 
ers. It  acknowledges  the  right  of  laborers  to  combine  in  fraternal  societies  and  unions, 
with  a  view  to  securing  remunerative  wages  and  protecting  their  interests.  It  asserts 
that  it  is  the  right  of  the  State,  if  not  its  duty,  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  shorter  hours, 
better  sanitary  conditions,  and  the  prevention  of  female  and  child  labor  in  exhausting 
employments.  It  contends  that  the  standard  of  labor  should  not  be  that  of  mere  sub- 
sistence, but  such  as  may  facilitate  the  acquirement  of  property,  provide  for  the  feeble- 
ness of  old  age,  and  the  diminished  earning  capacity  resulting  from  accident,  afford 
opportunity  for  moral  and  intellectual  improvement,  and  give  the  means  of  cultivating 
the  physical  powers,  together  with  time  for  necessary  recreation.  That,  surely,  is  a  most 
enlightened  view  to  take  of  the  labor  question.  The  most  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  the  working  people  could  not  reasonably  ask  for  more. 

The  church  says,  in  the  language  of  the  gospel,  that  "  the  laborer  is  worthy  of 
his  hire."  But  at  the  same  time  she  informs  him  that  he  has  reciprocal  duties,  in 
that  he  must  faithfully  seek  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  employer  and  exer- 
cise reasonable  diligence  in  the  performance  of  his  work.  If  a  man  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat."  (Thess.  iii,  10.)  In  short,  he  should  be  a  true  laborer  as 
defined  by  the  great  bard  of  Avon  in  "As  You  Like  It: "  "  I  am  a  true  laborer. 
I  earn  that  I  eat,  get  that  I  wear,  owe  no  man  hate,  envy  no  man's  happiness,  glad  of 
other  men's  good,  content  with  my  harm." 

I  shall  now  refer  more  particulary  to  the  guilds,  so  notable  and  important  in  their 
relations  to  labor  during  the  middle  ages.  Fraternal  societies,  composed  of  artisans, 
existed  in  Greece  and  Rome  at  an  early  period.  They  became  incorporated  under  the 
last  of  the  Caesars.  The  church  recognized  and  favored  them,  and  they  became  the 
Christian  guilds.  In  364  Valentinian  I.  confirmed  the  privileges  granted  by  the  pre- 
ceding emperors.  In  succeeding  centuries  all  persons  who  were  members  of  a  parti- 
cular trade  in  a  city  or  locality  became  united  in  a  guild,  which  had  the  right  to 
regulate  the  production  and  sale  of  the  things  made  by  such  trade.  A  person  was  not 
permitted  to  work  at  a  trade  unless  he  had  become  a  member  of  the  guild  controlling 
it,  and  one  of  the  primary  conditions  of  membership  was  to  have  served  as  an  apprentice 
for  a  designated  number  of  years.  The  apprentice  was  bound  out  to  a  master,  of  whose 
family  he  became,  for  a  time,  a  member.  His  moral  education  and  technical  training 
were  committed  to  the  master.  He  was  required  to  learn  to  make  the  tools  of  his  trade, 
as  well  as  to  do  its  work.  Only  one  or  two  apprentices  could  be  taught  at  a  time. 
When  the  young  man  had  served  the  requisite  number  of  years,  he  became  a  journey- 
man or  hired  workman. 

A  stainless  reputation  was  necessary  to  membership  in  the  guild.  Known  immor- 
ality or  dishonesty  was  a  sufficient  ground  for  expulsion.  The  guild  settled  the  hours 
of  work  and  the  rate  of  wages.  In  certain  lines  of  handicraft,  workmen  were  accus- 
tomed to  travel  from  town  to  town  in  order  to  see  the  different  processes  of  carrying  on 
their  trades.  When  the  savings  of  a  workman  were  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pay 
the  prescribed  fees  and  his  technical  skill  was  proved  by  the  making  of  what  was 
called  a  masterpiece,  he  rose  to  the  third  and  highest  stage  of  the  industrial  order  and 
became  himself  a  master.  But  he  remained  subject  to  the  control  of  the  guild  which, 
in  conjunction  with  the  local  authorities,  regulated  the  hours  of  labor,  the  ecclesiastical 
holidays,  etc. 

The  guild  acted  also  as  a  court  of  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  controversies 
between  the  master  and  his  workmen.  It  restricted  the  number  of  workmen  that  a 
master  might  employ.  This  removed  from  him  the  temptation  of  seeking  to  get  rich 
by  their  labor.  Thus,  too,  the  number  of  masters  was  kept  comparatively  large,  and 
every  industrious  apprentice  could  hope  to  become  one  in  time  and  attain  to  the  high- 
est grade  in  the  industrial  ranks. 

The  guild  carefully  guarded  against  the  sale  of  goods  adulterated,  or  ill-m»de,  or  of 
short  weight  or  measure.  It  discharged  the  duties,  also,  of  a  benefit  society  and  popu- 
lar bank.     It  aided  sick  members  and  took  care  of  the  families  of   those  deceased.    It 


j7o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

had  a  corporate  fund,  or  regularly  collected  subscriptions  or  dues  from  the  members, 
and  was  thus  in  a  position  to  make  advances  to  such  of  their  number  as  were  in  diffi- 
culty, to  support  the  aged,  and  to  maintain  the  widows  and  orphans  of  members  de- 
ceased. Each  guild  had  a  patron  saint  whose  festival  it  specially  celebrated.  For  x- 
ample,  St.  Joseph  was  the  patron  saint  of  carpenters,  while  St.  Crispin  represented 
shoemakers  and  workers  in  leather.  Religious  exercises  and  the  giving  of  alms  were 
recommended  and  fostered.  Production  was  so  arranged  as  to  keep  all  employed. 
About  the  time  of  the  reformation,  the  religious  element  of  the  guilds  became  subordi- 
nated to  the  more  worldly  aims  and  selfish  interests  of  the  members,  and  thereafter 
they  declined  and  finally  disappeared,  although  within  recent  years  an  effort  has  been 
made  to  revive  them. 

Referring  now  to  more  recent  times.  We  know,  historically,  of  only  one  labor 
organization  as  having  had  an  existence  in  this  country  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  that  was  the  Calkers'  Club  of  Boston.  The  word  caucus  is  said  to  be  a 
corruption  of  it  in  our  political  nomenclature.  In  1792  a  trades'  union  of  shoemakers 
existed  in  Philadelphia.  The  earliest  strikes,  of  which  we  have  record,  took  place  in 
the  same  city  in  the  years  1798  and  1805.  Two  or  three  years  later,  there  was  an 
extensive  strike  in  New  York.  However,  it  is  only  within  the  past  twenty-five  years 
that  labor  organizations  have  made  anything  like  substantial  headway  in  this  country. 
They  comprise  now  over  two-thirds  of  all  our  artisans  and  workmen.  The  individual 
trades  are,  generally  speaking,  well  organized,  and  seek,  so  far  as  practicable  without 
the  active  exercise  of  the  religious  principle,  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  old 
guilds.  The  efforts  heretofore  made,  however,  to  band  them  together  in  unity  of 
purpose  and  active  co-operation  in  respect  to  matters  effecting  them  jointly,  or  as  a 
whole,  have  not  been  specially  successful. 

In  Great  Britain  labor  fraternities,  or  trades  unions,  came  into  being  with  the 
growth  of  factories  and  the  destruction  of  domestic  hand  industries.  The  organization 
of  these  unions  was  prohibited  by  law  and  so  remained  until  1824.  They  began  in 
secrecy,  and  their  maintenance  often  depended  upon  the  exercise  of  force  and  violence. 
However,  little  by  little,  they  won  toleration  and  recognition.  In  1875  they  had  become 
so  powerful  as  to  secure  public  approval.  The  working  people  of  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy,  Belgium,  and  the  Continent  generally,  have  also  organized  labor  frater- 
nities or  trades  unions.  The  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution,  toned  down  to  a  kind  of 
a  weak  socialism,  seems  to  pervade  a  large  number  of  them.  However,  they  have  won 
successes. 

In  1883,  the  French  Premier  made  arrangements  with  the  land  bank  of  France  for 
advances  of  20,000,000  francs  to  build  13,000  dwellings  for  artisans  in  the  environs  of 
Paris,  the  government  guaranteeing  payment.  The  houses  were  sold  to  workmen  under 
agreement  that  payment  should  be  made  in  twenty  annual  installments  of  less  than  the 
ordinary  rental  of  the  poorest  city  quarters.  The  work  of  erecting  them  was  begun  in 
a  period  of  financial  stringency,  and  thus  thousands  of  artisans  who  could  not  afford  to 
be  idle  were  kept  employed.  Moreover,  the  city  of  Paris  borrowed  50,000,000  francs  for 
the  erection  in  like  manner  of  model  tenement-houses,  designed  for  rent  to  persons  not 
able  to  pay  more  than  150  or  300  francs  a  year.  The  tenants  are  relieved  in  part  from 
taxation  while  occupying  these  tenements. 

The  German  insurance  bill  of  1887  provides  that  all  workmen  who  pass  the  age  of 
70  years,  or  become  completely  and  permanently  incapacitated  for  work,  shall  have  a 
pension.  The  bill  affects  only  workmen,  apprentices,  servants,  and  administrative 
employes  having  a  yearly  pay  of  not  more  than  2,000  marks.  Premiums  on  the  insur- 
ance must  have  been  paid  for  thirty  years,  or  for  five  years  where  it  is  claimed  on  the 
ground  of  disability.  A  third  of  the  premium  is  paid  by  the  insured,  another  third  by 
the  employer,  while  the  other  third  comes  from  the  imperial  treasury.  The  pension 
rate  in  the  case  of  old  age  is  120  marks  a  year,  while  it  varies  from  that  amount  to  250 
marks  when  given  for  disability.  Women,  under  like  circumstances,  are  entitled  to 
only  two-thirds  of  what  men  receive.  The  pension  system  of  Germany  includes  civil 
officials  and  even  teachers.  The  greatest  burdens  that  the  working  classes  of  Germany 
have  now  to  bear  consist  in  heavy  taxes  and  service  in  the  army.  The  generality  of  the 
pension  system  and  the  great  size  of  the  army  necessitate  the  imposition  upon  the  labor 
of  the  country  of  an  extraordinary  burden  of  taxation.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  there 
seems  to  be  no  special  opposition  to  the  pension  policy,  which  has  a  firm  foothold  in  the 
country. 

The  fraternities  of  workmen  in  Belgium  have  been  a  source  of  much  concern  to 
the.  government,  yet  numerous  salutary  laws  have  been  enacted  at  their  instance.  For 
example,  wages  must  be  paid  in  cash;  two-fifths  of  salaries  not  exceeding  1,200  francs 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


171 


are  exempt  from  execution  for  debts;  councils  of  industry  have  been  established  to 
reconcile  differences  between  employers  and  erap'oyes;  debts  contracted  in  liquor 
houses  can  not  be  recovered,  and  those  who  sell  \quor  to  intoxicated  persons,  as  well 
as  the  intoxicated  persons  themselves,  are  liable  +  j  hue  and  imprisonment. 

The  influence  of  labor  fraternities,  properly  conducted,  has  been  salutary.  They 
have  contributed  to  secure  higher  wages,  bring  about  shorter  hours,  remove  middle- 
men or  sub-contractors,  and  support  members  when  out  of  work.  They  resemble  the 
guilds  in  acting  as  benefit  societies  and  insuring  members  against  accident,  sickness, 
and  old  age.  Moreover,  they  expend  large  sums  in  a  direction-foreign  to  the  solicitude 
of  the  guilds,  and  that  is  in  providing  for  unemployed  members.  All  who  were  able 
and  willing  to  work  had  plenty  to  do  in  the  time  of  the  guilds. 

I  need  hardly  apologize  for  referring  so  often  to  the  guilds,  for  every  person  interested 
in  the  growth  of  our  modern  fraternities  of  workmen  may  study  them  with  advantage. 
Such  study  in  connection  with  the  perusal  of  the  late  encyclical  of  our  Holy  Father  on 
the  subject  of  labor  can  not  fail  to  arouse  something  like  a  fitting  appreciation  of  the 
great  and  constant  interest  of  the  church  in  the  welfare  of  the  working  people.  The 
church  favored  the  guilds,  and  the  guilds  were  powerful  and  prosperous  while  they- 
hearkened  to  and  obeyed  her.  In  the  same  spirit  she  favors  to-day  our  fraternal  organi- 
zations of  workmen.  She  favors  them,  not  as  revolutionary  bodies,  not  as  materialistic 
agencies,  not  as  societies  banded  together  for  purposes  so  mean,  selfish,  or  unworthy  as 
to  make  secrecy  seem  necessary.  On  the  contrary,  she  favors  them  as  a  means  of 
enabling  workmen  to  secure  and  maintain  their  rights;  to  advance  their  common 
interests  by  means  of  the  educational  agencies  available;  to  be  guided  by  the  same 
ethics  and  rules  of  morals  collectively  that  individually  they  acknowledge;  to  be  good 
citizens  and  obedient  to  the  laws,  and  to  be  directed  by  the  light  of  faith  in  Him  who 
wrought  with  His  own  hands  and  gave  His  life  for  others. 

These  societies  are  beneficial  in  a  high  degree  when  honestly,  intelligently,  and 
properly  managed  and  directed.  The  members  are  mutually  benefited  and  the 
interests  of  the  entire  community  advanced.  The  place  of  meeting  becomes  a  school 
in  the  most  practical  sense.  Men  thus  brought  together  become  a  great  force  for  the 
accomplishment  of  good.  They  combine  almost  spontaneously  to  defend  right  against 
wrong  in  contests  involving  that  issue.  Viewed  in  that  light,  our  labor  societies 
deserve  the  support  and  co-operation  of  all  good  citizens  without  reference  to  vocation, 
position,  or  station.  The  old  guilds  had  such  support,  employers,  merchants,  public 
officials  and  clergymen  co-operating  with  them,  and  no  one  can  deny  that  they  con- 
tributed to  promote  the  common  good,  maintain  the  public  tranquility  and  restrict  to 
narrowest  limits  the  evidences  of  poverty  aod  mendicancy. 

The  insurance  feature  of  these  societies  is  deserving  of  unqualified  commendation. 
It  is  essential  to  their  prosperity,  if  not  their  very  existence.  It  aims  at  realizing  in  a 
secure  and  comparatively  easy  way  some  of  the  chief  ends  for  which  we  live  and  labor. 
It  provides  for  sick  and  needy  members.  It  is  by  their  bedside  in  illness  and  their 
grave  in  death.  It  alleviates  their  last  suffering  by  the  assurance  that  want  shall  be 
averted  from  those  near  and  dear  to  them.  It  stimulates  the  courage  of  the  widow 
and  orphans.  It  affords  them  the  means  of  battling  successfully  against  the  adversities 
of  the  world.  It  enables  the  careful  and  provident  mother  to  maintain,  educate  and 
rear  her  children  as  good  Christians  and  useful  members  of  society.  It  bespeaks  a 
continued  interest  of  the  members  of  the  fraternity  or  union  in  the  famiiy  of  their  de- 
ceased associate,  and  an  effort  to  procure  suitable  employment  for  the  children. 

A  workman  acting  by  himself  and  for  himself  frequently  forgets,  till  too  late,  the 
important  duty  of  making  provision  for  his  helpless  family.  His  example  teaches 
selfishness,  improvidence  and  vicious  habits  to  his  children.  In  their  poverty  and 
bitter  need  they  are  prompted  each  to  look  out  for  himself.  The  tie  to  the  family 
center  is  broken.  They  lose  sight  of  one  another,  and  their  fortune  is  as  varying  as 
their  environments.  Again,  the  mother's  death  may  be  hastened  through  the  weight 
of  her  sorrow  and  the  consciousness  of  her  helplessness.  Then  the  last  hope  is  gone. 
No  one  is  left  to  guide  them  in  the  way  of  religion,  in  the  path  of  morality,  in  the  in 
struction  of  the  schools.  Look  around  you  in  this  great  city — aye,  even  in  the  State 
and  country  !  Trace  to  their  origin  vice  and  intemperance,  indifference  to  religion  or 
even  actual  apostacy.  Do  they  not,  as  a  rule,  lead  you  up  to  a  condition  of  things  such 
in  the  main  as  I  have  described  ?  How  many  children  might  be  saved  to  the  church 
and  morality,  to  the  school  and  usefulness,  if  provision  were  made  for  them  before  the 
death  of  the  father — if  they  could  continue  to  live  under  the  family  roof-tree. 

Men  are  differently  constituted.  It  may  as  well  be  admitted  that  a  great  many  of 
•our  working  people  seem  to  lack  the  power  to  save.      There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  submit, 


172  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

that  every  man  of  that  class  would  derive  advantage  from  joining  a  fraternal  benefit 
association.  In  it  he  would  meet  the  best  element  of  working  men — men  who  read  and 
think,  toen  who  enjoy  a  sense  of  manly  independence  in  the  consciousness  that  neither 
in  sickness  nor  death  need  they  or  their  families  fear  the  poorhouse  or  soul  withering 
consequences  of  abject  poverty.  Membership  in  it  would  teach  him  to  be  practical,  in- 
dustrious, economical  and  attentive  to  the  probable  wants  of  the  future.  It  would 
make  him  self-respecting  and  manly.  It  would  encourage  him  to  strive  to  provide  a 
home  for  his  family,  and  to  surround  himself  with  the  comforts  of  life,  if  not  the  luxur- 
ies. It  would  bring  him  into  closer  relationship  with  his  associates  of  the  brotherhood 
than  he  would  otherwise  be.  He  would  become  interested  in  their  welfare  and  they  in 
his.  They  would  advance  mutually  their  common  weal.  Their  interest  in  his  welfare 
would  make  him  a  greater  power  in  the  community  than  ever  he  was  before  or  could  be 
without  their  co-operation.  In  short,  he  would  become  a  steadier  man  and  better  cit- 
izen. 

The  insurance  feature  of  such  societies  is,  in  my  opinion,  far  preferable  to  the  Ger- 
man policy  of  pensioning  workmen.  We  know  that  in  this  country  there  is  a  formida- 
ble feeling  of  opposition  to  anything  like  a  civil  pension  list.  Moreover,  we  may  well 
believe  that  no  man  of  becoming  pride  would  wish  to  be  a  beneficiary  of  the  govern- 
ment on  a  civil  pension  list  in  the  face  of  that  feeling.  His  pension  dole  would  be 
regarded  simply  as  a  gratuity  or  charitable  offering  to  aid  him  in  keeping  out  of  the 
poorhouse.  It  would  not  tend  to  stimulate  to  honorable  enterprise  either  him  or  his 
children ;  but  it  would  tend  to  make  him  a  mere  creature  of  the  government  or  an 
automaton,  so  to  speak,  which  might  be  moved  at  its  will  this  way  or  that.  In  fact,  it 
might  become  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  couutry  to  have  so  great  a  power  subject 
to  the  caprice  of  any  administration  or  political  party. 

In  the  fraternal  society  a  member  gives  a  legal  consideration  for  what  he  or  his  fam- 
ily is  to  receive.  It  is  honorable  for  him  to  receive  it,  for  it  proves  him  to  have  been 
industrious  and  frugal,  intelligent  and  far-seeing.  It  provides  means  to  rear  and  edu- 
cate the  children,  and  his  example  is  a  salutary  inspiration  to  them.  They  are  kept 
together  and  work  with  and  for  one  another  until  grown.  They  live  long  enough  under 
the  same  roof-tree  to  know  and  share  the  beautiful  love  distinguishing  the  relations 
existing  between  parents  and  children,  and  brothers  and  sisters.  Such  children  are 
proud  of  their  parents  and  proud  to  remember  and  do  what  their  parents  taught  them. 
They  are  true  to  one  another,  and  seek  to  be  guided  by  the  inspirations  and  hallowed 
memories  of  their  youthful  companionship. 

Fortunately,  in  this  glorious  country  of  ours — a  country  formally  placed  under  the 
standard  of  the  cross  by  the  great  discoverer,  whose  achievement  we  commemorate 
this  year — labor  is  to-day  freer  to  act  and  stronger  in  union  than  ever  it 
was  before,  and  the  influence  of  our  fraternal  benefit  societies  has  not  been 
without  avail  in  contributing  so  to  make  it.  But  its  freedom  may  become 
license  and  its  strength  dissipated  and  lost  in  outbreaks  of  lawlessness,  unless  it 
acknowledges  and  seeks  to  be  guided  by  sound  moral  principles,  such  as  the  church 
prescribed  for  the  guilds.  To  these  principles  our  fraternal  benefit  associations  have 
sought  to  conform  so  far  as  practicable  under  existing  conditions.  Let  them  be 
strengthened,  for  they  tend  to  secure  unity,  impart  confidence  and  increase  the  power 
of  labor.  Let  them  be  established  far  and  wide,  and,  like  the  guilds  of  old,  they  will 
satisfactorily  settle  the  hours  of,  and  remuneration  for,  toil.  Acting  in  line  with  the 
sound  principles  prescribed  by  the  church,  as  indicated  in  the  recent  labor  encyclical 
of  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  it  would  be  within  their  power,  as  of  old,  to  provide  steady  employ- 
ment at  fair  wages  for  workmen,  teach  them  to  become  "  true  laborers,''  and  solve  the 
many  serious  problems  presented  by  the  labor  question. 

"  Life  Insurance  and  Pension  Funds  for  Wage  Workers,"  was  the  title 
of  an  organization  paper  read  by  E.  M.  Sharon,  of  Davenport,  Iowa.  The 
contents  of  the  paper  were  as  follows: 

Christianity  applied  to  the  labor  problem  illumines  it  and  furnishes  new  rules  for 
its  solution.  The  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  is  the  most  comprehensive  and  enlightening 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  labor  ever  enunciated.  The  ruler  of  the  spiritual  world 
becomes  the  philanthropic  statesmen  of  the  age  and  applies  the  treasured  wisdom  of 
the  church  of  Christ  to  devising  means  to  better  the  condition  of  the  wage  worker. 
He  brushes  aside  the  sophistries  of  capitalists  and  economists,  and  recognizes  no  condi- 
tions which  limit  the  rights  guaranteed  him  and  due  from  every  industrial  system.  In 
his  Christian  philosophy,  the  rise  and  fall  of  stocks,  the  ups  and  downs  of  markets, 
human  tariffs,  over  or  under-production,  the  exigencies  of  states,  create  no  just  excuse 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


*73 


fur  depriving  the  laborer  of  the  means  of  providing  a  reasonable  frugal  support  for 
himself  and  family.  The  wage-worker  himself  can  make  no  contract  which  attains 
less  than  this.    He  gives  the  reason. 

Man,  no  matter  what  his  position  beyond  the  things  personal  to  himself,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  society,  the  head  of  a  family,  the  head  of  a  society,  one  of  the  societies  whose 
aggregation  makes  up  the  State.  To  injure  him  injures  that  society,  injures  the  State. 
His  relation  to  his  fellowman,  to  the  church,  imposes  other  duties  than  those  which  he 
owes  to  the  mere  bodily  wants  of  himself  and  dependents.  Society  must  protect  itself, 
must  continue  itself,  must  enforce  the  foundation  factors  of  its  own  propagation  and 
prosperity. 

Here  arises  the  necessity  of  "  life  insurance  and  pension  funds  for  wage  workers." 
Without  them  the  position  of  the  most  fortunate  laborer  is  insecure.  He  is  able  to  give 
no  assurance  that  he  will  continue  to  provide  for  himself  and  his  family;  that  he  will 
maintain  his  position  in  society  and  perform  the  duties  which  society  exacts  from  him, 
instead  of  becoming  a  burden  upon  it. 

Were  it  not  for  sickness,  for  body  maiming  accidents  and  unprovided  old  age,  assur- 
ance would  be  useless.  If  old  age  alone  took  from  man  his  earning  capacity,  if  through 
all  the  years  of  his  manhood,  he  continued  to  support  his  family,  rearing  a  generation 
to  take  its  place,  full-fledged,  in  life's  field  of  labor,  if  filial  duty  supported  his  faltering 
steps  to  the  grave,  insurance  and  pensions  would  not  have  a  necessary  place  in  man's 
economy,  nor  an  advocate  before  this  Congress. 

But  even  in  this  favored  land,  liability  to  accident  besets  the  wage-worker  round 
about,  follows  his  every  step  through  life.  The  railroads  alone,  last  year,  killed  2,451  of 
their  employes,  and  maimed  and  injured  22,396.  It  is  claimed  that  accidents  in  mine 
and  factory,  and  outside  of  them,  in  the  United  States,  annually  destroy  the  earning 
capacity  of  workmen  to  the  amount  of  $150,000,000.  This  vast  amount  is  destroyed 
and  taken  from  the  productive  labor  and  wealth  of  the  nation.  These  injuries  entail  sick- 
ness, loss  of  time  and  wages,  lasting  disability  and  death.  They  come  when  the  domestic 
sky  is  brightest;  they  come  to  the  home  where  are  wife  and  lisping,  helpless  children. 

These  conditions  demand  decisive,  comprehensive  remedies.  Let  us  see  what  has 
been  done  to  allay  the  blasting  effects  of  industrial  injuries.  The  trades  unions  have 
within  the  past  decade  taken  up  the  matter  of  sick,  disability  and  mortality  benefits, 
and  are  doing  a  splendid  work  for  their  members,  through  their  own  unaided  efforts. 
The  industrial  insurance  associations  are  furnishing  a  large  amount  of  insurance  in 
email  sums.  The  fraternal  and  benevolent  mutual  assessment  societies  are  doing  a 
good  work  at  a  small  cost.  A  beneficial  class  of  work  is  done  by  voluntary  action  of 
manufacturers,  railroad  managers  and  other  employers  of  labor.  But  this  is  not  enough. 
These  systems  do  not  comprise  the  insurance  of  one-twentieth  of  the  real  wage-workers 
of  the  country. 

In  striking  contrast  to  this  condition,  under  the  German  compulsory  system  of 
insurance,  sixty-four  trades  unions  report  an  insured  membership  of  five  millions,  and 
there  are  other  insured  employes  to  the  number  of  eight  and  one-half  millions.  Germany, 
with  less  than  fifty  million  inhabitants,  has  adopted  an  insurance  and  pension  system 
that  includes  in  one  branch  over  thirteen  and  one-half  millions  of  her  people.  This  is 
purely  an  accident  insurance.  There  are  sick  and  invalidism  and  old  age  insurance 
associations  which  complement  this  system,  and  make  it,  in  the  results  accomplished, 
the  most  perfect  ever  devised. 

We  do  not  take  kindly  to  compulsory  measures  in  this  country.  We  are  apt  to 
conjure  up  the  ghost  of  governmental  paternalism  ;  sumptuary  laws  are  but  to  be  so 
named  to  be  condemned.  But  in  practice  the  State  provides  unquestioned  that  the 
relatives  of  a  poor  person  shall  contribute  to  its  support  and  the  summary  processes  of 
the  courts  are  invoked  to  enforce  the  mandates  of  the  State.  The  State  compels' 
obedience  to  sanitary  rules  and  regulations  before  the  dire  results  of  their  violation 
manifests  itself  in  disease  and  death.  The  State  already  supervises  railroads  and 
public  carriers,  has  a  voice  in  their  every  contract,  fixes  the  limits  of  compensation  for 
freight  and  passenger  carriage,  regulates  the  appliances  of  cars  and  engines,  locates  their 
stations  and  compels  reports  of  every  transaction.  This  governmental  interference  has 
been  deemed  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  natural  rights  of  individuals  and  the 
well-being  of  the  society  of  which  they  form  a  part.  It  might  exercise  its  paternal  care 
for  the  benefit  of  wageworkers  also  without  transcending  its  legitimate  and  proper 
powers. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  state  what  we  want,  what  any  system  must  provide. 
Every  man,  woman,  and  child,  employed  for  wages,  should  receive  free  medical  attend- 
ance and,  at  least,  half  wages  during  disability,  from  any  cause,  whether  connected  with 


i74 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


his  or  her  employment  or  not,  and,  in  case  of  death,  funeral  benefits  and  a  pension  equal 
to  half-wages  to  wife  and  children  or  other  dependents  during  the  continuance  of  such 
dependency.  Only  the  grossest  negligence,  willful  conduct,  or  dissipation  should 
deprive  of  these  benefits.  When  disabling  injury  or  death  comes  to  a  household,  it  is 
not  justice,  it  is  not  Christianity,  it  is  not  social  economy,  before  despairing  wife  and 
helpless  babies,  to  weigh  with  over-nicety  the  degrees  of  negligence  of  master  and  serv- 
ant; to  inquire  how  far  each  contributed  to  death  or  disability;  nor  to  enter  upon  that 
usual  learned  discussion  of  latent  and  patent  defects  in  destructive  machinery,  or 
whether  the  danger  was  so  obvious  that  the  workman  should  have  given  up  the  means 
of  earning  a  livelihood  for  himself  and  family,  or  was  justified  in  believing  that  the 
master  had  performed  his  duty.  Nor  does  society  care.  It  sees  the  destruction  of  a 
member,  useful  and  valuable.  It  sees  the  destruction  of  its  earning  capacity,  a  contri- 
buting, paying  member  of  itself  transformed  into  a  dependent  burden,  another  self-sup- 
porting family  for  which  it  must  become  responsible. 

Abolish  the  distinction  between  principal  and  vice-principal,  employe  and  co-em- 
ploye, independent  employment  and  privity  of  contract,  abolish  everything  that  stands 
between  the  injured,  disabled,  or  destroyed  husband,  father,  or  son,  and  the  recompense 
that  would  have  been  his  had  the  injury  not  occurred.  Abolish  all  distinctions  which 
have  allowed  the  industrial  world  to  unload  its  burdens  on  the  social  world.  Provide 
that  for  the  wage-worker,  his  wife  and  children  and  parents,  provision  has  been  made, 
and  that  neither  want  nor  want's  temptation  shall  ever  come  to  him  or  his. 

Whence  shall  come  the  millions  to  provide  these  benefits  and  pensions?  They 
should  come  from  the  industries  that  the  wage-workers  build  up,  from  the  billions  of 
wealth  that  their  labor  produces.  Industrial  interests  can  be  adjusted  to  such  changed 
conditions. 

There  are  two  sources  from  which  to  draw  the  funds  necessary  to  support  a  system 
accomplishing  the  necessary  results.  These  are  the  wage  fund  and  that  part  of  the 
cost  of  production  or  of  operation  known  as  the  employer's  liability  expense.  To  pay 
insurance  and  pensions  from  these  sources  would  obviate  the  objection  that  such  a 
system  would  unduly  derange  or  increase  the  cost  of  production  in  mining,  manufactur- 
ing, and  farming,  ^nd  of  operation  for  public  carriers.  It  is  advisable  to  make  this  con- 
cession in  inaugurating  a  new  system,  although  every  sentiment  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity demands  that  the  industries  of  the  country  ought  to  bear  the  burden  of 
supporting  the  victim  whose  brawn  and  sweat  and  blood  create  its  wealth  and  insure 
its  prosperity,  and  the  sooner  our  industries  adjust  themselves  to  such  a  liability  the 
better  it  will  be  for  our  general  prosperity  and  our  claim  of  being  a  Christian  nation. 
The  people  of  this  country,  as  consumers,  are  willing  to  have  such  charge  added  to  the 
cost  of  the  products  which  they  consume. 

The  law,  the  common  and  statute  law  of  this  country,  does  impose  some  obligation 
on  the  employer  of  labor,  when  it  is  shown  that  the  relation  of  master  and  servant 
exists.  That  law,  while  assuming  that  the  servant  "hires  out,"  and  gets  paid,  with  re- 
ference to  the  usual  dangers  and  hazards  of  his  occupation,  graciously  holds  the  em- 
ployer liable  if  he  negligently  increases  these  hazards  and  dangers.  The  employer's 
liability,  in  case  of  injury  to  his  employe,  is  measured  by  the  expense  of  getting  a  re- 
lease from  the  injured  or  proving  successfully  to  a  court,  and  sometimes  to  a  jury,  that 
he  did  not  increase  the  usual  hazards  of  the  employment,  or  if  he  did,  that  the  em- 
ploye ought  to  have  seen  it.  It  takes  years  to  prove  this  or  to  have  it  disproved,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  injured  employe,  weary  of  enforced  idleness,  in  despair,  too 
often  has  gone  to  the  poorhouse  or  to  his  grave. 

How  much  tnis  liability  costs  in  lawyers'  fees  and  court  costs  and  enforced  or  vol- 
untary payments,  is  not  wholly  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  railroads  reporting  to  the 
Iowa  railroad  commissioners  in  1892,  with  a  pay  roll,  exclusive  of  general  officers  aud 
telegraphers,  of  $30,000,000,  reported  disbursements  on  account  of  injuries  to  persons,  of 
$1,190,000  and  legal  expenses,  exclusive  of  salaried  solicitors  and  attorneys,  of  $590,000. 
It  will  be  conceded  that  the  incidental  expense  of  employes  acting  as  witnesses,  adjust- 
ers, engineers,  general  solicitors  and  attorneys  and  their  assistants,  would  offset  all  legal 
expenses  not  connected  with  claims  for  damages  for  personal  injuries. 

The  way  to  ascertain  the  expense  of  the  liability  of  manufacturers,  builders,  mine 
owners,  municipal  and  private  corporations,  and  other  employers  of  labor,  is  to  inquire 
what  is  paid  to  others  for  assuming  this  liability.  Employers  are  very  generally  carry- 
ing liability  insurance.  For  this  a  premium  is  paid  equal  on  the  average  of  about  1  per 
cent,  of  the  wages  paid  the  employes  whose  wages  are  insured  against.  Five  of  the 
companies  doing  business  in  Iowa  last  year  reported  premium  receipts  of  over  $7,763,000. 

Upon  what  principle  of  economy  is  this  vast  amount  of  money  paid,  under  proper 
regulations,  directly  to  those  who  are  injured  ?    From  the  standpoint  of  social  economy. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  175 

employers  pay  nothing  or  too  little  in  many  cases  and  too  much  in  some  others.  Legal 
technicalities  defeat  worthy  claims,  and  juries,  when  they  get  an  opportunity,  allow 
excessive  amounts  in  special  cases.  The  amount  paid  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  equitable 
adjustment  with  little  or  no  expense  to  either  party.  The  first  step  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  correct  system  of  life  insurance  and  pension  funds  should  be  to  abolish 
actions  against  railroad  companies  for  personal  injuries  to  employes. 

Let  a  fund  be  created  under  the  supervision  of  the  insurance  department  of  the 
State.  Require  the  management  of  each  railroad  company  to  pay  into  such  fund  a  fixed 
percentage  of  the  wages  paid  to  each  employe  in  its  service,  such  percentage  to  be  fixed 
from  time  to  time  by  the  railroad  commissioners.  The  assessments  should  be  paid 
directly  to  some  officer  of  the  State  or  to  a  board  created  under  legal  authority,  by 
the  companies  interested.  Let  that  fund  be  large  enough  to  pay  compensatory, 
monthly  pensions  to  every  employe  injured  in  the  service  of  a  railroad,  and  to  the 
dependent  relatives  of  those  killed.  Let  the  State  recover  for  the  benefit  of  the  pension 
fund,  penalties  for  gross  negligence  producing  injuries  or  death,  and  similar  penalties 
by  way  of  deduction  from  benefits,  against  employes  for  gross  carelessness,  contributing 
to  injuries.  These  penalties,  coupled  with  suitable  requirements  of  safety  appliances 
and  conditions,  to  be  enforced  with  the  sole  object  of  lessening  accidents  and  injuries 
in  the  operation  of  railroads  Depositories  for  this  fund  could  be  established  by  the 
insurance  or  railroad  commissioners,  under  requirements  and  safeguards  guaranteeing 
its  absolute  safety  and  material  increase  from  the  income  of  the  surplus  that  should  be 
carried  over  from  year  to  year  to  meet  long  time  pensions  for  the  permanently  disabled 
or  heirs  of  deceased  members,  or  it  might  be  controlled  and  invested  by  the  State  as 
the  permanent  school  funds  are  now  managed.  The  amount  necessary  to  compensate 
the  results  of  accidents  should  be  paid  wholly  by  the  railroads  as  a  consideration  of 
their  release  from  all  other  liability  to  their  employes.  Liability  for  damage  to  others 
than  employes  should  remain  as  now  until  such  time  as  our  people  generally  are 
brought  within  the  protection  of  some  general  insurance  system.  For  sick  and  old  age 
insurance  the  employe  should  be  required  to  pay  a  fixed  percentage  of  wages  monthly 
into  a  special  or  the  general  insurance  fund.  This  would  be  for  the  special  protection 
of  those  making  payments  and  their  dependents,  with  equitable  provisions  for  changing 
from  one  employment  to  another,  with  preserved  rights  and  the  withdrawal  of  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  amount  paid,  on  gaining  a  competence,  or,  for  other  allowed  causes, 
leaving  the  protected  class. 

Commencing  with  the  railroads,  let  the  State  do  for  the  wage-workers  what  it  has 
done,  what  the  general  government  has  done,  for  shippers,  for  property,  in  the  regula- 
tion and  supervision  of  State  and  inter-State  traffic — pay  attention  to  the  death  of  an 
engineer,  or  fireman,  or  brakeman,  equal  to  that  paid  to  a  discrimination  of  a  few 
dollars  in  a  freight  bill. 

Commence  with  the  railroads — the  State  has  already  asserted  its  right  to  dictate  to 
them  and  to  supervise  their  operation.  It  has  the  machinery  necessary  to  carry  the 
system  into  effect  already  provided  and  in  operation.  The  railroad  commissioners  could 
look  after  the  details  of  fixing  the  amount  of  assessments  to  be  paid  by  each  company, 
and  the  amount  of  damage  or  pensions  to  be  paid  injured  employes.  The  insurance 
department  could  look  after  the  funds,  see  to  their  care  and  absolute  safety,  and  the 
investmont  of  the  surplus.  Any  system  would  be  more  or  less  experimental,  but  all 
matters  could  be  adjusted  by  experience  from  time  to  time.  The  supervision  and  assis- 
tance of  the  State  would  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  expense  of  transacting  the  large 
business  of  the  system. 

The  association  would  extend  itself.  The  supervising  authority  could  fix  the  terms, 
based  upon  the  experience  of  each  industry,  upon  which  the  employes  in  any  trade  or 
industry  could  be  brought  within  its  protection.  It  would  only  be  necessary  to  change 
the  employers'  liability  laws,  making  each  responsible  for  injuries  to  persons,  without 
regard  to  the  laws  as  to  fellow-servants,  or  to  other  causes  not  connected  with  the  volun- 
tary acts  of  the  employe,  to  make  it  to  the  interest  of  every  employer  of  labor  to  seek 
admission  to  the  general  insurance  system.  It  would  be  cheaper  than  paying  a  prem- 
ium to  liability  insurance  companies,  which  collect  premiums  100  per  cent  larger 
than  all  the  losses  they  pay;  cheaper  for  all,  by  reason  of  the  large  general  average 
as  applied  to  all  accidents,  than  paying  their  own  probable  liability  even  under  the 
present  law.  Those  engaged  in  dangerous  employment  would  join  the  association  to 
lessen  their  liability  in  less  dangerous  employments,  because  the  percentage  of  pay- 
ments would  be  small.  The  greater  benefits  to  their  employes,  their  greater  satis- 
faction and  contentment,  would  make  it  the  part  of  wisdom  and  self-interest  to  join 
the  association. 
42 


i] 6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Such  a  system  would  equalize  the  cost  of  production.  Each  employer  in  the  same 
industry  would  pay  the  same  percentage  according  to  amount  of  production  for  liabil- 
ity for  injuries  to  persons.  The  liberal  employer  and  the  industrial  Shylock  would 
both  stand  on  the  same  footing  as  to  cost  of  labor.  Nor  would  such  a  system  destroy 
the  usefulness  of  beneficial  trades  unions.  They  will  still  have  their  proper  work  to  do. 
The  State  which  will  first  take  up  this  matter  of  securing  under  wise  provisions  insur- 
ance against  accidents  and  sickness  the  wage-workers  within  its  limits,  will  be  doing  a 
greater  work,  building  a  more  worthy  monument  than  has  been  erected  to  philanthropic 
Christian  government  since  the  great  Lincoln  emancipated  a  race  and  removed  the  last 
shackle  of  legal  slavery  from  the  limbs  of  human  labor. 

Rev.  Joseph  L.  Andreis,  pastor  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Baltimore,  Md., 
read  an  essay  on  "  Italian  Immigration  and  Colonization,"  in  which  he  urged 
his  ideas  as  follows: 

The  problems  specified  in  the  programme  as  coming  before  this  Congress  for  con- 
sideration and  solution  are  most  important,  but  not  essentially  local,  for  they  are  the 
subject  of  actual,  deep  study  for  economists  and  churchmen  in  Europe  as  well  as  here. 
The  one  which  towert>  above  all  others  in  importance — being  new  to  past  history,  affect- 
ing this  country  only,  and  calling  for  prompt  and  unequivocal  solution — is  that  of  immi- 
gration. With  the  large  number  of  new  immigrants  pouring  almost  weekly  into  these 
United  States,  there  is  an  immense  wave  of  stormy  elements  coming  along  with  hem,  com- 
posed of  heterogeneous  tongues,  manners,  habits,  national  prejudices,  errors  of  mind, 
malice  of  heart,  indifference  to  religion,  and  infidelity.  A  large  number  of  these  immigrants 
are  Catholics.  Hence  the  church  in  America  must  meet  them  as  they  are,  take  care  of 
them,  and  labor  to  make  them  what  they  should  be.  Among  them  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Italians.  The  writer  of  this  essay  on  "  Italian  Immigration  and  Coloniza- 
tion "  has  considered  it  from  its  social,  moral,  and  religious  standpoints,  and  taken  the 
liberty  of  suggesting  the  means  of  effecting  the  amelioration  of  Italian  immigrants, 
socially,  morally,  and  religiously. 

As  effects  are  accounted  for  by  their  relative  causes,  so  the  Italian  immigration  to 
the  United  States  is  explained  by  the  causes  of  emigration.  What  can  they  be?  A 
craving  to  see  and  enjoy  this  immense  Western  hemisphere,  discovered  by  the  Italian 
Christopher  Columbus,  and  named  after  another  Italian,  Americus  Vespucci?  No;  for 
the  Italians  are  accustomed  to  national — nay,  world-wide  glories.  Italy,  itself,  is  too 
charming  a  country  to  be  exchanged  for  any  other,  even  this  America  of  liberty  and 
plenty — Italy,  the  garden  of  Europe.  The  Italians  know  this,  and  are  loth  to  leave  it. 
But  why  have  they  emigrated,  and  still  do  emigrate,  in  such  great  numbers?  Is  not 
Italy's  soil  fertile  and  rich  in  all  sorts  of  produce?  So  it  is,  but  with  all  that,  the  large 
masses  of  Italians  suffer  from  great  distress  and  poverty.  What  is  the  cause  of  it? 
"  Inimicus  homo  hoc  fecit  ' — "  An  enemy  has  done  this." 

In  their  great  sagacity,  the  sovereign  pontiffs,  Gregory  XVI.  and  Pious  IX.  sounded 
the  alarm  of  warning  to  the  Italians,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  thwart  his  coming. 
Time  has  fully  justified  the  warnings  of  the  aforesaid  pontiffs,  and  particularly  proved 
that  the  enemy  was,  and  is,  the  cosmopolitan  sect  of  Freemasonry;  for,  spurning  the 
liberal  concessions  made  to  his  people  by  Pious  IX.  it  aimed  at  undermining  the  prin- 
ciple of  authority,  un-Christianizing  the  masses,  and  reducing  them  to  poverty  by  its 
own  aggrandizement  and  enrichment.  In  fact,  no  sooner  did  it  begin  to  wield  power 
than  the  enemy,  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  suppressed  the  religious  orders,  devoured 
their  estates,  together  with  the  patrimonies  of  the  poor;  and  when  all  that  great  wealth 
was  gone,  began  to  feed  himself  upon  the  people  through  the  levying  of  enormous 
taxes.  These  are  so  exorbitant  that  the  small-scale  farmers  are  unable  to  pay  them, 
and,  in  consequence,  are  by  the  ruthless  law  expropriated  of  their  lands  by  the  inexo- 
rable tax-gatherer.  Meantime,  the  cost  of  house-rent  and  the  necessaries  of  life  have 
increased  and  the  wages  of  mechanics  decreased. 

Not  content  with  having  robbed  the  people  of  means  of  subsistence,  the  enemy  for- 
cibly takes  all  the  able-bodied  young  men  and  enrolls  them  in  his  immense  army. 
Crushed  by  forced  poverty,  and  dismayed  by  the  threatening  danger  of  losing  their 
lives  or  limbs  in  a  more  or  less  proximate  European  war,  they  turn  their  eyes  westward 
and,  with  heavy  hearts,  resolve  to  come  to  our  shores  in  quest  of  what  they  have  a  right 
to  in  their  mother  country,  but  which  is  denied  them. 

To  urge  the  timid  to  consummate  their  resolve  to  emigrate,  Italian  sharpers,  bot  h 
here  and  in  Italy,  are  engaged  in  the  profligate  business  of  making  false  representations 
to  them  of  the  abundance  of  work  to  be  found  in  thi6  country,  the  easy  way  of  securing 
employment  and  earning  high  wages.    These  sharpers,  or  padroni,  commence  with 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


177 


robbing  them  of  their  little  savings,  through  the  ostensible  formality  of  a  contract  by 
which  they  promise  to  take  them  to  the  place  of  work  and  secure  employment  for  them'. 
Through  the  medium  of  bankers  located  in  the  principal  seaport  cities  of  this  country, 
the  padroni  or  their  agents  advance  the  money  to  those  laborers  who  have  none  to  pay 
their  passage,  with  the  proviso  of  being  reimbursed  and  receiving  a  heavy  percentage 
from  their  earnings  after  having  arrived  and  been  put  to  work. 

The  results  of  these  infamous  transactions  has  been  that  thousands  of  poor  Italians 
have  been  cajoled  to  emigrate  hither  to  work  for  months  and  months  without  any  com- 
pensation, except  scanty  meals  and  bad  lodging.  Finding  thousands  duped  and 
oppressed,  and  unable  to  obtain  redress,  many  have  lost  their  health  and  died  broken- 
hearted; while  a  large  number  of  others,  penniless,  ragged,  and  fasting,  have  tramped 
hundreds  of  miles  on  foot  to  reach  the  steamer  and  work  their  way  back  to  their  native 
country.  Great  as  the  evil  of  the  slave  traffic  in  Africa  is,  the  injustice  and  cruelty 
inflicted  upon  the  Italian  immigrants  in  this  country  at  the  hands  of  padroni  and 
bankers  associated  with  them  is  by  far  a  greater  evil,  which  this  Congress  should 
endeavor  to  remove.  To  this  end  two  means  are  hereby  respectfully  suggested:  One  is 
to  forcibly  represent  the  aforesaid  great  grievance  to  our  national  government  and  urge 
it  to  take  proper  action  in  regard  to  it;  the  other  is  to  appeal  to  either  our  Most  Holy 
Father,  or  to  the  Central  Catholic  Union  in  Rome  for  the  adoption  of  such  methods 
as  will,  without  failure,  convey  the  much-needed  warnings  to  all  Italians  who  contem- 
plate emigration. 

The  census  bulletins  published  by  the  United  States  Government  through  the 
Department  of  the  Interior,  Washington,  give  the  following  table  of  Italian  immigration 
to  this  country: 

Increase  from  1850  to  1860 6,783 

Increase  from  1860  to  1870 6,639 

Increase  from  1870  to  1880 27.073 

Increase  from  1880  to  1890 138,350 

Total * 178,815 

In  1890 62,969 

In  1891 69,297 

In  1892 30,086 

April  30,  1893 26,122 

Total 188,774 

Italian  immigrants  love  to  work,  and,  as  a  rule,  are  law-abiding.  This  is  proved  by 
the  statistics  of  prisoners  and  paupers  published  February  9, 1893,  by  the  Census  Bureau 
at  Washington.  The  official  report  shows  that  out  of  the  total  number  of  55,296  foreign- 
born  paupers  in  the  alms-houses  of  the  United  States,  290  only  are  Italians,  and  out  of 
the  total  number  of  31,861  foreign-born  prisoners  but  1,124  are  Italians.  A  large  per- 
centage of  the  latter  owe  their  penalty  to  having  taken  the  law  into  their  own  hands 
by  punishing  unprovoked  insults,  or  resisting  inhuman  treatment  from  their  employ- 
ers, or  trying  to  obtain  by  violence  the  hard-earned  wages  they  were  denied. 

A  serious  charge  is  often  made  against  a  portion  of  Italians  in  our  large  cities.  It 
is  that  they  live  huddled  up  in  slums  and  tenement-houses.  The  charge  is  substan- 
tially correct,  but  its  worst  features  can  be  amended.  The  complained-of  places  are 
only  for  transient  immigrants,  until  employment  can  be  found.  The  causes  of  their 
selecting  objectionable  quarters  are:  First,  because  they  can  be  rented  cheaply;  second, 
because  they  find  in  them  people  akin  to  their  own  tongue,  manners,  and  habits.  In 
order  to  do  away  with  the  best  part  of  the  nuisance  arising  from  the  aforesaid  slums 
and  tenement-houses,  two  things  are  necessary:  One,  to  have  a  large  number  of  small 
houses  at  low  rent,  and  the  other  to  prevail  on  the  civil  authorities  to  refuse  the  license 
to  open  a  saloon  in  them— nay,  even  in  proximity  to  them. 

Though  Italians  are  generally  temperate,  still  the  saloon  at  their  door  is  an  open 
avenue  to  immoralities  of  various  sorts,  especially  where  the  access  to  the  home  is  by 
the  saloon  entrance. 

To  form  the  right  estimate  of  the  morality  of  the  Italian  colony  it  is  necessary  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  the  moral  atmosphere  existing  in  Italy.  In  her  is  found  a  dual- 
ism, namely,  two  factors  :  one  for  good,  the  other  for  evil.  The  former  consists  in  the 
fact  that  nearly  every  inch  of  Italian  soil  is  saturated  with  martyrs'  blood,  or  made  fa- 
mous by  the  lives  of  great  saints ;  that  from  the  beginning  of  Christianity  Italy  has 
been  blessed  in  having  in  her  very  heart  the  chair  of  St.  Peter — the  beacon  of  divine 
light  tc  the,  whole  world — the  center  of  unity  for  all  churches.    By  being  born  and 


1 78 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


reared  in  Italy  the  Italians  must  naturally  be  Christians,  and  therefore  good.  They 
would  undoubtedly  be  so  were  it  not  for  the  other  factor,  namely,  the  rampant  Free 
masonry,  which  for  the  past  forty-rive  years  has  been  hard  at  work  to  un-Christianize 
the  nation.  When  we  take  into  account  all  the  agencies  used  to  poison  the  minds  and 
corrupt  the  hearts  of  the  people,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  a  largo  portion  of  Italian 
immigrants  show  indifference  in  the  practice  of  religion.  They  are  Catholiq  at  heart; 
but,  to  avoid  ridicule,  they  have  habitually  desisted  from  the  exterior  profession  of  their 
faith. 

Realizing  that  in  this  country  they  are  laboring  under  various  disadvantages,  such 
as  the  total  absence  of  their  native  customs  on  the  one  hand  and  the  existence  of  new 
ones  on  the  other,  the  use  of  a  language  they  do  not  know  and  apprehend  to  be  too 
difficult  to  learn,  the  rinding  of  Protestant  churches,  the  sigh i  of  many  people  profess- 
ing no  faith,  the  poor  Italian  immigrants  feel  out  of  their  sphere— a  fact  which  shows 
that  this  North  America  is  the  least  suitable  land  for  them. 

The  old  aphorism,  "  Like  parent,  like  child,"  applied  to  the  children  of  Italian 
immigrants,  is  only  partially  correct,  whether  they  be  considered  under  the  social  or 
moral  standpoint.  Considered  socially,  they  soon  learn  the  English  language— breathe 
the  American  spirit— and  acquire  American  manners.  Inconsequence,  they  yearn  to 
raise  themselves  above  their  parents'  standing,  and  a  good  many  even  Americanize 
their  surnames  so  as  to  pass  for  genuine  Americans,  with  the  view  to  paving  their  way 
to  success.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  their  minds  and  hearts  are  centered  in  this  coun- 
try, and  that  they  never  dream  of  leaving  it  for  Italy.  But,  alas!  Not  much  good  can 
be  said  of  all  of  them  as  to  their  moral  condition. 

Nearly  one-half  of  all  the  children  are  allowed  to  grow  up  ignorant  of  religion,  or 
do  not  profess  it  at  all.  The  consequence  of  this  is  that  a  good  many  turn  Protestants, 
or  marry  before  Protestant  preachers,  and  rear  their  offspring  either  in  none  or  other 
religion  than  Catholic.  We  have  then  in  this  country  about  half  a  million  of  Italians, 
some  of  whom  are  ignorant  of  the  Christian  doctrine;  most  of  them  do  not  live  up  to 
it,  and  nearly  one-half  of  their  children  are  permitted,  by  either  ignorant  or  neglectful 
parents,  to  grow  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  truths  and 
precepts  of  that  divine  faith  which  was  and  is  infused  into  their  souls  through  the 
sacrament  of  baptism. 

Meanwhile  the  various  agencies  of  the  powers  of  darkness  are  active  in  preventing 
their  intellect  from  seeing  the  true  light  and  their  will  from  complying  with  the  divine 
law.  Such  being  their  abnormal  and  frightful  condition,  the  question  suggests  itself: 
What  is  to  be  done  ?  They  are  all  Catholic,  and,  while  in  these  United  States,  form  a 
portion  of  the  sheepfold  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  guarded  against  the  wolves  by  the 
divinely-appointed  shepherds,  fed  upon  the  pastures  of  Christian  instruction  and  wor- 
ship, and  watered  with  the  sacraments.  They  are  Catholic,  and  hence  members  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  church. 

Therefore,  the  American  Catholic  laity  must  regard  them  as  such;  the  American 
priesthood  must  love  and  care  for  them  as  such;  the  American  Episcopate  must  see  to 
their  spiritual  welfare  just  as  much,  nay,  even  more  than  all  the  other  members  of  the 
Catholic  church  living  in  this  country.  Since,  then,  the  fact  is  that  these  Italian 
Catholics,  both  adult  and  young,  are"  here,  the  question  is :  How  is  religion  to  be 
brought  to  them  ?  The  episcopate  in  these  United  States  is  fully  equal  to  devising  the 
means  to  attain  that  object. 

If  religion  is  to  reach  the  people,  it  must  be  through  the  medium  of  the  language 
spoken  by  them.  Now,  the  majority  of  adult  Italian  immigrants  speak  Italian  only; 
that  language  must  be  the  medium,  therefore,  whereby  religion  is  to  be  conveyed  to 
them.  Who  are  the  laborers  to  be  ?  They  ought  to  be  priests  affiliated  to  the  same 
religious  order,  such  as  the  Salesians,  whose  founder  was  the  late  saintly  Don  Bosco,  of 
universally  cherished  memory.  By  having  the  Salesians  in  the  principal  cities  of  this 
country  we  would  secure  most  zealous  missionaries  for  the  Italians,  a  college  with 
efficient  proffessors  to  impart  all  the  desired  branches,  excellent  educators  of  young 
men  and  great  factors  for  developing  ecclesiastical  vocations. 

But  the  objection  may  be  here  advanced:  How  are  these  religious  to  teach 
Christian  doctrine  if  this  is  to  be  taught  in  the  English  language,  which  is  spoken 
by  the  children  of  Italian  immigrants?  The  answer  is  this:  For  a  while  lay  teachers 
would  have  to  give  religious  instruction.  The  English-speaking  laity  should  be  called 
upon  and  made  use  of  in  this  great  work  of  Christian  charity,  not  only  as  teachers  of 
catechism,  but  also  as  animators  of  Christian  piety  with  the  grown  people. 

Among  the  laity  of  every  parish  there  are  sufficient  intelligent  and  practical 
Catholics.    Their  power  for  good  should  no  longer  be  allowed  to  remain  inoperative. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


179 


All  admit  that  "  exampla  trahunt,"  but  we  must  also  admit  that  a  good  word  said  well, 
and  in  season,  is  often  what  makes  surrender  to  the  already  felt  force  of  good  example. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  insist  upon  the  efficiency  of  properly  organized  conferences  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  for  the  above  mentioned  object,  as  through  them  we  would  see 
the  realizaton  of  theufortier"  and  "sauveur"  of  the  servants  who,  complying  with 
their  Master's  bidding,  went  out  into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city  and  brought 
into  tha  supper-room  the  poor  and  the  feeble,  and  the  blind  and  the  lame.  Even  if 
children  of  Italian  immigrants  went  to  no  school,  or  all  went  to  public  schools,  they 
can  all  be  reached  through  the  exertion  of  the  priest,  especially  if  ordered  by  the  good 
Catholic  laity,  and,  above  all,  by  the  members  of  the  Conference  of  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul. 

The  Italians  have  always  been  taught  to  look  up  to  priests  as  the  divinely  com- 
missioned teachers  of  religion,  and  believe  that  Christ's  injunction,  "Go  and  teach  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you,"  was  not  made  to  the  people  for  the  priests, 
but  to  the  priests  for  the  people.  But  what  is  the  situation  of  the  Italians  now  in  this 
country?  Their  teachers  of  religion  are  not  to  be  found,  for  more  than  half  of  them 
are  "like  sheep  that  have  no  shepherd."  Are  they  to  remain  so?  The  Lord  forbids  it. 
Can  we,  while  the  principles  of  perversion  are  daily  doing  their  deadly  work,  be 
justified  in  delaying  the  provision  of  the  priests  that  are  laborers  in  the  sense  of  the 
gospel?  Application  for  them  should  be  made  at  once,  for  there  is  great  danger  in 
delaying  it.  This  is  all  the  more  true  because  the  number  of  Italian  immigrants  is 
increasing  every  week  by  hundreds. 

The  day  when,  with  oneness  of  spirit  and  direction  (as  the  Salesians),  the  priests 
will  be  brought  here  in  sufficient  numbers  to  take  charge  of  the  Italians  scattered 
about  our  cities  and  country -places,  with  the  American  laity  to  lend  them  assistance, 
both  adults  and  their  children  will  receive  the  necessary  dispensation  of  religion.  By 
the  attaining  of  this  longed-for  result  those  whom  God  has  placed  to  rule  His  church 
in  this  country,  and  the  Catholic  laymen  aiding  them,  wTill  have  successfully  solved  the 
difficult  problem  of  the  religious  amelioration  of  the  Italian  immigrants,  and  will  have 
thereby  rendered  a  signal  service  to  our  great  commonwealth,  by  helping  it  to  solve  its 
vexed  problem  of  immigration  in  general,  socially,  morally  and  economically.  In  pur- 
suance of  the  constitution  of  our  Republic,  the  civil  powers  welcome  all  the  well-mean- 
ing comers  to  our  shores,  favor  their  temporal  prosperity  and  protect  their  lives,  rights 
and  property.  The  Church  of  Christ  cannot  be  less  generous  in  the  spiritual  order. 
She  must  follow  her  Divine  Pounder,  who  came  upon  earth  to  "  seek  and  save  that  which 
was  lost;"  therefore,  she  must  in  this  country  welcome  all  Catholic  immigrants,  provide 
for  their  spiritual  wants  and  care  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

In  giving  expression  to  the  foregoing  statements  and  considerations,  the  writer  of 
this  essay  feels  that  he  is  only  voicing  the  sentiments  of  this  vast  assembly,  and  that  all 
the  members  composing  it  will  be  of  one  mind  and  heart  in  reckoning  among  the  laurels 
achieved  through  their  combined  efforts,  that  of  securing  the  religious  amelioration  of 
the  Italians  who  are  enjoying  with  us  the  fruitful  land  discovered  by  their  co-national 
Christopher  Columbus,  for  the  true  freedom  and  prosperity  of  man,  and  for  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  glory  of  God! 

This  Congress  with  its  deliberations  will  pass  to  history;  posterity  will  know  of  its 
worth,  as  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit,  and  pronounce  its  judgment,.  This  judgment 
will  be  Catholic! 

"Pauperism;  The  Cause  and  the  Remedy,"  was  the  subject  of  the  paper 
prepared  and  read  by  M.  J.  Elder,  of  New  Orleans,  La.  Folllowing  are  the 
contents  of  the  paper: 

Without  having  read  any  of  the  other  papers  on  this  subject;  without  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  contents  of  a  single  one  of  them,  I  nevertheless  feel  morally  certain  of  six 
salient  points  wherein  wTe  all  agree. 

We  agree  in  naming,  as  five  leading  causes  of  pauperism:  First,  intemperance; 
second,  idleness;  third,  sickness;  fourth,  general  incompetence;  and  fifth,  lack  of  work. 
A  sixth  point  on  which,  without  previous  arrangement,  we  all  perfectly  agree,  is  that 
this  evil  of  pauperism  is  too  vast,  too  limitless,  to  be  tinkered  with;  that  dole  of  alms 
will  never  remedy  it,  and  that  all  existing  measures  have  proved  inadequate. 

But  outside  these  six  points,  I  fear  we  differ  radically,  for,  after  referring  to  those 
five  causes  of  pauperism,  I  must  go  on  to  explain  that  I  regard  them,  potent  though 
they  be,  as  mere  effects  of  another  cause — a  great,  remote,  and  terrible  cause,  whose 
ceaseless  operating  will  continue  to  produce  inevitable  pauperism,  despite  our  most 
strenuous  efforts  against  the  five  immediate  causes  which  we  so  plainly  see.     There- 


1go  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

fore,  right  here  we  separate,  and  going  our  widely  divergent  ways,  I  am  left  alone  te 
travel  unaccompanied  this  woeful  line  of  the  remote  and  real,  and  primal  cause  of  pau- 
Tiftrifiin 

But  I  am  not  without  great  support  from  current  literature,  from  the  secular  press, 
and  from  the  Protestant  periodicals.  Quoting  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  references  I 
have  at  hand,  I  give  the  following:  The  Illustrated  American  of  July  15th,  this  year, 
says — 

"  Our  census  of  1890  shows  a  decrease  in  455  agricultural  counties  in  Now  England, 
New  York,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Michigan,  and  other  States. 
The  tendency  to  abandon  the  fields  and  to  flock  to  the  city  is  marked  and  significant. 
It  is  foolish  to  believe  the  exodus  due  to  the  opening  up  of  Western  lands.  The  real 
cause  is  that  the  sturdy  farmer  lad,  educated  in  the  public  schools,  leaves  the  hard, 
physical  labors  of  the  soil  to  seek  lighter  work  and  greater  prosperity  in  the  cities. 
There  is  danger  in  this." 

Joseph  Kirkland,  writing  of  the  Chicago  poor,  says:  "The  overwhelming  tendency  of 
modern  life  is  toward  cities.  Everything  done  to  alleviate  the  condition  of  the  poor  in 
great  cities  works  in  the  direction  of  bringing  more  into  them;  and  no  argument  or  per- 
suasion prevails  to  get  them  out  again.  *  *  *  They  would  rather  starve  in  a  crowd 
than  grow  fat  in  quietude,  especially  if  the  '  crowd '  is  sprinkled  with  aromatic  '  char- 
ity.' " — [From  Scribner's  Magazine,  July,  1S92. 

General  Booth,  in  his  "  Darkest  England,"  says:  "  The  deterioration  of  population 
in  large  towns  is  one  of  the  most  undisputed  facts  of  social  economics.  The  country  is 
the  breeding  ground  of  healthy  citizens.  But  for  the  constant  influx  of  countrydom, 
cockneydom  would  long  ere  this  have  perished.  But,  unfortunately,  the  country  is 
being  depopulated.  The  towns  are  being  gorged  with  undigested  and  indigestible 
masses  of  labor.  The  race  from  the  country  to  the  city  has  been  the  cause  of  much  of 
the  distress  we  have  to  battle  with." 

The  Earl  of  Roseberry  says:  "I  am  always  haunted  by  the  awfulness  of  London; 
by  the  great  appalling  effect  of  these  millions.  Sixty  years  ago  Cobbett  called  it  a  wen. 
If  it  was  a  wen  then,  what  is  it  now?  A  tumor,  an  elephantiasis,  sucking  into  its 
gorged  system  half  the  life  and  the  blood  and  the  bone  of  the  rural  districts." 

Paolo  Mantegazsa,  in  his  Testa,  says:  "Did  not  the  country  send  to  our  cities  a 
continuous  tribute  of  robust  members,  they  would  be  depopulated  in  less  than  a  cent- 
ury. How  few  are  able  to  say:  'My  grandfather  was  born  in  this,  my  city.'  No  one 
is  able  to  say  it  of  his  own  great-grandfather.  The  cities  are  machines  that  destroy 
and  consume  what  the  fields  produce;  are  hot-houses  where  men  and  women  produce 
precious  flowers  and  fruit,  but  at  loss  of  life;  are  great  millstones  where  all  the  human 
energies  raise  themselves  to  the  heat  of  a  continuous  excitement." 

Thus  the  consensus  of  opinion,  gathered  from  most  competent  sources,  gives  this  as 
the  greatest  cause  of  pauperism. 

My  own  opinion,  however,  though  similar,  is  modified.  1  believe  the  great  cause  of 
pauperism  to  be  indeed  the  urban  tendency,  but  only  when  coupled  with  all  lack  of 
rural  tendency.  For  I  claim  that  the  urban  tendency  is  not  necessarily  evil,  but  that 
the  lack  of  a  rural  tendency  is  necessarily  and  wholly  evil. 

The  country  is  a  nation's  lungs.  The  city  is  its  heart.  It  is  well  that  the  fresh 
blood  flow  from  the  lungs  to  the  heart.  But  it  is  ill,  indeed,  for  the  heart  to  return  no 
blood  to  the  lungs.    This  is  the  trouble  from  which  our  nation  is  suffering. 

The  blood  from  our  country  lungs  flows  into  the  heart  of  the  city  fast  enough — 
too  fast,  perhaps;  but  there  it  stays,  and  congests,  and  stagnates,  and  we  suffer  from 
elephantiasis,  from  fatty  degeneration  of  the  heart,  and  from  a  thousand  other  ills,  and 
no  amount  of  doctoring  will  cure  us,  unless  it  promote  the  free  flow  of  blood  again,  and 
its  due  return  to  our  country  lungs.  My  explanation  of  this  deplorable  condition  is  as 
follows: 

The  chief  reason  that  rural  populations  are  pouring  too  rapidly  into  towns  is 
because  rural  interests  the  world  over  are  (and  have  been  for  generations)  neglected. 
Indifference  and  even  injustice  are  shown  to  the  farm  and  the  farmer  by  education,  by 
government,  by  legislation,  by  the  press,  and  even  by  religion,  aye,  by  charity  itself. 
This  explanation  will  develop  later  on. 

The  second  phase  of  the  trouble — the  lack  of  rural  tendency — is  also  because  of  the 
injustice  and  contempt  shown  the  farmer  and,  further,  because  individuality  is  a 
necessary  element  for  success  in  rural  life,  and  individuality  is  exactly  that  element 
which  urban  life  destroys.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  things  that  it  depresses  energy 
and  individuality. 

See  how  small  and  stunted  are  the  trees  that  have  been  planted  too  close  together. 


JAMES  F.   O'CONNOR,  Sec'y, 

CHICAGO 

THOMAS  DWIGHT,   M.   D., 

BOSTON. 


THOMAS  LAVVLER,  Sec'y, 

PRAIRIE  DU  CHIEN. 

HON.   MORGAN  J     O'BRIEN,   Chairman, 

NEW  YORK. 


JOHN  M.  DUFFY,  Secy, 

CHICAGO. 

RICHARD  H     CLARKE,   LL.D., 

NEW  YORK. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


181 


Then  look  at  the  vigorous  growth,  the  spreading  branches,  the  noble  height  of  the 
tree  that  stands  alone  on  a  plain.  The  typical  urban  has  a  horror  of  rural  life,  a  dread 
disgust  of  it.  He  will  tell  you  this  is  because"  country  life  is  too  lonesome,  too  uninter- 
esting, too  slow;  country  work  doesn't  pay,"  etc. 

But  the  real  reason — all  unsuspected  though  it  be  by  him — lies  in  his  own  instinct. 
His  instinct  tells  him  he  is  too  weak  to  cope  with  the  invigorating  vicissitudes  of  rural 
life;  tells  him  he  is  too  small  mentally  and  physically  to  battle  with  the  large 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  rural  success.  Gregariousness  has  stunted  him.  His  posterity 
will  be  more  and  more  stunted,  until  they  reach  the  dwarfed  and  helpless  level  of 
pauperism. 

Now  for  the  remedy.  (Rather  singular  to  speak  of  "  hopelessness  "  in  one  breath 
and  of  "remedy  "in  the  next;  but  explanation  will  come  in  due  time.)  The  causes 
themselves  suggest  the  remedy.  True,  we  can  do  little  toward  getting  justice  for  the 
farmer  from  government  or  legislation,  from  public  education  or  the  press.  But  we 
can  do  a  great  deal  toward  getting  justice  and  attention  from  the  Catholic  press  and  the 
Catholic  pulpit,  from  Catholic  education,  and,  strongest  of  all,  Catholic  charity. 

At  the  outset  we  must  acknowledge  specifically  that  the  efforts  of  all  these  have 
availed  but  little;  nay,  that  in  many,  many  cases,  they  but  promote  the  very  evils 
they  aim  to  abolish.  Let  us  establish  soup  houses  without  number,  night 
refuges  plentiful;  self -improvement  clubs  for  young  working  women;  mutual 
benefit  societies  for  young  men;  insurance  companies  on  solid  basis;  Keeley 
institutes;  asylums  numerous,  vast,  splendidly  equipped;  hospitals  handsomely 
endowed;  schools  on  modern  plans,  even  industrial  and  polytechnic  schools;  free 
kindergartens;  day  creches  for  poor  mothers;  gratuitous  loan  funds;  fresh  air  funds; 
labor  unions,  and  no  end  of  homes  (!),  protectorates,  reformatories,etc.  Let  us  keep 
these  numberless  charities  in  full  swing,  and  still  will  pauperism  and  distress  go  on 
almost  unabated.  Why?  Because  we  do  not  lay  the  ax  to  the  root.  Nay,  we  actually 
fertilize  that  root.  Our  charities  encourage  the  undesirable  traits  of  dependence  and 
and  gregariousness — traits  that  inevitably  lead  along  the  downward  grade  to  pauperism. 

And  so  we  must  change  our  methods.  *  *  *  *  It  seems  almost  superfluous  to 
instance  the  object  lessons  of  the  World's  Fair.  They  are  so  plain,  so  clear.  Can  any 
one  who  runs  fail  to  read  the  object  lessons  of  the  the  Irish  village?  There  is  the 
sort  of  charity  we  should  emulate.  Those  philanthropists  did  not  lose  their  time  and 
money  trying  to  remedy  city  pauperism.  They  sought  to  cure  country  poverty,  and 
they  succeeded.  There  is  the  vital  difference  between  the  poverty  of  the  city  and  that 
of  the  country.  City  poverty  is  constitutional;  country  poverty  but  accidental.  City 
poverty  is  chronic;  country  poverty  acute.  The  former  incurable,  the  latter  easily  pre- 
ventable. 

The  philanthropist  of  the  Irish  village  taught  butter-making  and  other  rural  in- 
dustries, with  such  success  that  the  formerly  poverty-stricken  neighborhood  is  now  be- 
come quite  prosperous.  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  one  urban  district  raised  from  pauperism 
to  prosperity  by  any  amount  of  charities. 

Another  object  lesson  is  in  the  Louisiana  exhibit.  Look  at  our  peasant  women  at 
their  weaving.  Look  at  evidences  of  their  Acadian  home-love  and  content  in  the  home- 
made looms,  home-made  chairs,  tables,  lamp-stands,  prie-dieus,  etc.  Throughout  all 
our  rural  settlements  of  Catholic  Acadians  in  Louisiana  there  is  no  chronic  pauperism. 
And  yet,  bear  it  well  in  mind,  these  people  have  not  enjoyed  the  advantages  (!)  of  free 
kindergartens,  nor  polytechnic  schools,  nor  free  libraries,  nor  free  clinics,  nor  free-lunch 
houses,  nor  free  anything.  Only  one  in  fifteen  knows  how  to  read  and  write.  And, 
nevertheless,  Rev.  Father  W.  J.Kennely,  S.  J.,  rector,  who  resided  among  them  for  years, 
says  of  these  same  illiterate  "  Cajians:" 

"  The  Father's  work  in  Grand  Coteau  and  its  environs  has  not  been  in  vain.  It  is 
what  I  would  call  a  model  parish.  I  can  say  the  same  of  the  other  parishes,  and  I 
may  add  of  the  whole  country.  The  faith  is  alive;  religion  is  respected  and  generally 
practiced;  the  priests  are  looked  up  to  and  obeyed.  The  people  may  be  thriftless,  but 
they  are  not  ungrateful,  they  are  not  given  to  drunkenness  and  other  crimes.  They 
support  their  priests  and  pay  their  taxes  when  they  can." 

Now,  how  many  city  pastors  can  speak  this  of  the  poor  of  their  parishes?  Think  of 
the  hoodlums  and  toughs,  the  sports  and  ward  politicians,  the  drunkards  and  loafers, 
who  abound  in  Catholic  urban  parishes  among  the  poorer  districts,  and  see  if  any  pas- 
tor can  say  of  them:  "The  faith  is  alive;  religion  generally  practiced;  priests  looked  up 
to  and  obeyed.  The  people  are  not  given  to  drunkenness,"  etc.  Our  rural  "  Cajians  " 
are  given  the  same  reputation,  but  with  more  enthusiasm,  by  Catherine  Cole,  a  Prot- 
estant; George  W.  Cable,  a  bitter  anti-Catholic,  and  by  many  other  writers  for  Protest- 


!82  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CA  THOLH  '  ( '<  WGRESSES. 

ant  literature.    They  are  described  as  frugal,  content,  virtuous,  sober,  famou 
pitality,  gentleness,  neighborliness,  superb  health,  and  large  families.    They  are  a  stand- 
ing testimony  of  what  rural  life  can  do  for  our  Catholic   poor.    Similar  testimony   is 
given  by  travelers  regarding  Catholic   peasantry  everywhere,  Europe,  Ireland,  ( lanada, 
Central  America  and  Smith  America. 

Now,  let  our  philanthropists  study  this  idea  in  connection  with  the  five  immediate 
causes  of  pauperism. 

1.  Intemperance.    All  authorities  agree  in  declaring  that  drunkenness  do< 
prevail  among  Catholic  rurals  to  anything  like  the  same  extent  as  among  urbans.    Tins 
is  especially  true  of  grape-raising  and  wine  making  countries.     Indeed,  were  1  asked  to 
name  that    practical   measure  most  efficacious  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  I  would 
vehemently  exclaim,  "  Vineyards  !  " 

And  yet,  of  all  the  total  abstinence  societies  and  other  temperance  workers,  whether 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  one  that  gives  any  attention  to  that 
practical  and  promising  of  remedies.  Here  in  Louisiana  alone  our  experimental  Btal  ion 
has  demonstrated  that  120  varieties  of  grapes  ean  be  successfully  raised.  And  yet  I  can 
pretty  safely  estimate  that  there  are  not  a  half  dozen  vineyards  managed  by  Catholics 
in  this  entire  State.    Here  is  a  method  whereby  hundreds  of  Catholic  young  men  and 

young  women,  hundreds  of  Catholic  families,  could  be  earning  an   honest  livelii d, 

doing  effective  service  in  the  temperance  cause,  benefitting  themselves  and  their 
posterity,  and  using  a  most  efficacious  means  of  preventing  pauperism.  Still  our  chari- 
table societies  do  not  lift  a  finger  in  this  direction. 

2.  Idleness.  This,  too,  is  a  vice  demonstrated  to  be  far  less  prevalent  among  the 
rural  poor  than  among  the  urban  poor.  Religion  having  a  tinner  hold  upon  Catholic 
peasantry  than  upon  our  city  poor,  idleness  and  kindred  vices  are  more  easily  combated 
among  the  former  than  among  the  latter.  Take  Prance  for  instance.  Authorities 
state  that  among  the  city  paupers,  an  appalling  proportion  is  utterly  vicious  and 
incorrigible;  whereas,  the  peasantry  retain  much  of  their  old  time  faith  and  virtue. 
Why  such  facts  are  not  acted  upon  by  our  charitable  organizations  is  a  mysterj  1 
can  not  penetrate.  I  delight  to  recall  that  when  the  great  Ozanam  had  organized  the 
conference  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  the  very  first  charity  he  performed  under  its  aus 
was  to  separate  from  a  drunken  lather  the  mother  and  children,  and  semi  them 
'•  happy  as  larks,"  the  chronicle  says,  back  to  their  peasant  home  in  I  Irit  tany. 

Also  I  delight  to  instance  the  penal  settlement  of  Cayenne  in  French  Guiana.  ''So 
far  as  reformation  of  criminals  is  concerned,  the  benevolent  results  of  this  colonial 
experiment  are  said  to  have  surpassed  all  expectations.  *  *  *  A  great  majority  of 
the  female  prisoners  are  given  small  farms,  as  a  reward  for  good  conducl  during 
imprisonment.  They  marry  other  ex-convicts,  and  generally  prove  exemplary  wives  and 
mothers." 

3.  Ill-health.  It  is  needless  to  dwell  on  this.  Everybody  knows  that  the  " farmer 
lad  "  and  "  the  country  girl"  are  terras  for  sturdy  strength  and  blooming  health.  And 
every  philanthropist  knows  that  the  ill-health  of  the  cits  poor  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
heartening phases  of  poverty.  But  all  this  knowledge  seems  to  be  a  dead  letter.  We 
keep  on  providing  big  hospitals  and  infirmaries,  free  clinics  and  dispensaries,  homes  f<  >r 
curables  and  incurables;  and  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  ever  gives  or  wills  a  dollar 
toward  the  country  cure;  nay,  not  the  country  cure,  but  better  far,  the  country  preven- 
tion.    No  wonder  pauperism  continues  to  be  the  running  sore  it  is. 

4.  General  incompetency.  To  me  this  sad  heritage  of  the  city  poor  seems  even 
worse  than  the  preceding  ones.  From  long  dwelling  in  devitalized  atmosphere,  from 
long  laboring  at  deadening  work,  from  long-continued  gregariousness,  the  urban  poor  so 
lose  their  grit  and  individuality  as  to  become  helplessly  machine-like  and  stupid.  This 
is  what  makes  me  qualify  pauperism  as  hopeless.  We  might  as  well  seek  to  raise  the 
dead  from  their  graves  as  to  raise  paupers  from  their  pauperism.  No,  we  cannot  cure 
pauperism  any  more  than  we  can  cure  death.  But  we  can,  and  most  positively  should, 
prevent  it.     Hear  what  Charles  J.  O'Malley  says  in  this  connection: 

"  Would  it  interest  you  to  learn,  I  wonder,  that  I  live  in  the  midst  of  a  wide,  open 
country  on  a  large  farm,  and  have  few  associates.  *  *  *  This  is  the  great  agricul- 
tural county  of  Kentucky,  is  fully  two-thirds  Catholic,  and  here  the  members  of  our 
faith  are  remarkable  for  their  enterprise,  sobriety,  and  industry.  We  are  the  largest 
landholders  and  every  way  superior  to  the  common,  inert  idlers  found  in  Southern 
cities." 

There  is  the  living  testimony  of  a  living  writer?  No  pauperism,  no  hopeless  incom- 
petency, but  instead  "  enterprise,  sobriety,  industry." 

5.  Lack  of  work.    This  to  me  is  the  astonishing  phase.      Looking   both   at  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  1S3 

boundless  possibilities  of  our  agricultural  regions,  and  at  the  extensive  and  sincere 
efforts  of  our  charitable  organizations,  I  am  amazed  that  the  latter  do  not  rind  in  t.ue 
former  a  solution  of  this  part  of  the  problem.  Objectors  will  say  this  is  all  very  fine  on 
paper,  but  it  won't  work  elsewhere.  True.  I  acknowledge  it.  There  is  Ruskin,  for 
instance.  How  complete  was  the  failure  of  his  rustic  paradise  !  There  is  General  Booth. 
He  has  not  succeeded.  There  was  the  Brook  Farm  experiment,  and  many  others  similar 
to  it.     All  failures.     And  still  I  reiterate  any  arguments. 

Why  ?  Because  I  believe  and  know  that  that  which,  outside  the  Catholic  Church, 
is  impossible,  becomes,  within  her  pale,  the  possible. 

Whenever  a  great  need  cries  out  for  relief  it  is  the  Catholic  Church  which  answers, 
All  other  powers  have  proved  unequal  to  the  terrible  need  of  remedying,  or,  rather,  pre- 
venting, pauperism.  Now,  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  superhuman  power  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to  assert  itself  once  more.  And  if  no  lay  charity  be  organized  among  us  whose 
members  will  actually  and  literally  take  the  lead  in  this  rural  movement,  then  I  am 
persuaded  that  a  new  order  will  arise  in  the  church  whose  consecrated  sons  and  daugh- 
ters shall  be  pledged  to  spend  themselves  in  life-loag  effort  toward  checking  this  urba  i 
tendency  and  promoting  a  rural  tendency.  In  my  ecstatic  rejoicing  over  the  mere  pros- 
pect of  such  an  era,  I  feel  like  saying :  "  When  will  be  the  beginning  of  the  milieu 
nium  ?  " 

Those  heaven-guided  souls,  instead  of  concentrating  all  their  efforts  on  rural  int  r 
ests,  will  devote  them  solely  to  rural  interests,  especially  in  education.  Whereas 
now,  alas,  is  there  one  educated  Catholic  young  man  in  a  thousand  who  can  run  a  farm. 
or  manage  a  plantation,  or  start  a  vineyard,  or  boss  a  ranch,  or  do  anything  that  is  virile, 
strong,  productive,  and  becoming  a  manful  Catholic  ?  Is  there  one  in  ten  thousand  who 
can  offer  country  work  and  country  wages  to  the  workless  and  wageless  thousands  of 
our  cities  ? 

Only  one  more  catechetical  venture  and  I  will  end.  What  are  we  doing  for  our 
country  poor  ?  Nothing.  What  are  we  doing  for  the  city  poor  ?  Everything.  What 
is  the  •  atural  and  inevitable  consequence  ?  The  answer  to  this  query  I  leave  to  those 
who  are  capable  of  putting  together  two  thoughts  and  of  arriving  thereby  at  a  third. 

Elizabeth  A.  Cronyn,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  read  the  following  paper  on 
"  Alumnae  Associations  in  Convent  Schools:" 

Alumna?  associations  in  Catholic  schools  are  novelties.  The  first  one  was  organ- 
ized twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago  in  the  Grey  Nuns'  Academy  of  the  Holy  Angels, 
Buffalo.  Its  formation  was  suggested,  remotely,  by  a  wish  to  emulate  the  usefulness  of 
similar  societies  in  Catholic  colleges  for  men,  and  stimulated  by  local  needs  as  well  as 
by  the  example  of  achievement  in  graduates'  associations  attached  to  local  secular 
schools.  It  was,  however,  from  its  inception  more  comprehensive  in  scope  than  either 
of  these.  Shortly  after  a  like  association  was  formed  at  Nazareth  Convent,  Rochester, 
under  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  and  within  three  years  the  movement  has  extended,  it 
is  said,  to  many  of  the  older  academies. 

As  understood  by  thos r  who  have  followed  the  progress  of  one,  the  purpose  of  an 
alumnae  association  in  a  convent  school  is  both  educational  and  social.  As  an  educa- 
tional force  its  object  is,  first,  to  band  together  graduates  of  the  school  for  more 
advanced  study  and  for  general  self-improvement  along  the  lines  of  their  previous 
training.  Earlier  these  growing  minds  are  taught  to  realize  something  of  their  possi- 
bilities, habits  of  study  are  formed,  taste  is  cultivated,  and  character  developed;  but 
our  average  graduate  who  is  very  young  when  she  leaves  the  security  of  convent  halls, 
can  scarcely  have  more  than  peered  into  that  book  of  knowledge  which  educators  say 
must  be  so  thoroughly  conned — a  book  at  times  so  diversely  interpreted  to  Catholic  and 
non-Catholic  readers.  Commentators  do  not  agree,  but  meanwhile  it  is  important  that 
the  law  and  the  prophets  of  what  is  called  secular  as  well  as  of  sacred  learning  be 
expounded  with  safety  to  those  who  are  seeking  it.  Daily  observation  shows  us  that 
young  women,  no  less  than  young  men,  need  to  be  fortified  against  the  assaults  of  a 
prevailing  and  most  pernicious  literature  and  of  so-called  science — science  "run  wild, 
like  a  planet  broken  loose  from  its  celestial  system."  "  The  punishment  of  licentious 
writers,"  says  the  Abbe  Roux,  "  is  that  no  one  will  read  them  or  confess  to  having  read 
them."    Alas!  that  is  no  longer  true. 

In  convent,  far  more  than  in  other  private  schools,  young  girls  of  widely  differing 
fortunes  find  themselves  classmates.  School  days  ended,  they  go  their  several  ways, 
but  whether  in  the  world  of  fashion  or  at  a  teacher's  desk,  in  domestic  or  professional 
life,  the  talk  of  and  love,  more  or  less  sincere,  of  education,  of  culture,  seem  part  of  the 
very  atmosphere  they  breathe.     All  sorts  of  theories  and  every  species  of  "  fad  "  have 


1 84  WORLD'S  C0LUMB1  UV  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

their  apostles.  Lecturers  in  hall  and  drawing-room— text-books  in  the  Bohoole— il  not 
aggressively  hostile  to  the  church,  are  effectively  so  by  their  persistent  ignoring  of  what 
it  has  done  and  is  doing  in  all  departments  of  education.     Young  Cathol  b  si  udy 

history  with,  and  receive  a  standard  of  beauty  and  truth  in  literature  From,  their  own 
qualified  teachers,  or  they  aregoing  to  take  both  from  the  lips  and  pens  of  i  he  incapable 
and  misleading.  If  they  think  they  cannot  find  at  home  the  pleasure  and  profit  they 
are  seeking,  they  will  go  abroad  for  them.  A  realization  of  these  facta  originated  and 
developed  our  reading-circle  movement. 

The  alumnae  association  is  a  reading  circle — and  something  more.  At  its  weekly 
fortnightly,  or  monthly  meetings  a  plan  of  study  is  followed.  Original  papers  are  pre- 
pared or  readings  given  bearing  upon  the  subject  under  bonsideral  ion.  I  looks  of  refer- 
ence are  indicated  on  a  printed  study  card,  and  are  almost  exclusively  by  Catholic 
authors,  for  the  reason  that  in  such  an  association  everything  is  to  be  studied  from  the 
Catholic  point  of  view.  The  other  side  is  sufficiently  in  evidence  always  ami  every 
where.  When  means  permit,  an  alumna?  association  provides  itself  with  B  code  of  post- 
graduate lectures,  or  detached  lectures  upon  various  subjects  determined  by  the  year's 
study  or  by  special  circumstances. 

When  the  convent  has  a  suitable  hall,  and  these  lectures  can  be  enjoyed  also  by  the 
community  and  advanced  classes,  another  phase  of  such  an  association's  usefulness  is 
presented.  Regular  meetings  are  held  always  at  the  convent.  Officers  are  elected 
annually;  but  of  one  which  I  have  in  mind  the  president,  happily,  is  never  changed 

Self-improvement,  as  it  may  bo  striven  for  in  an  alumna  association,  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  intellectual  culture.  There  is  something  for  the  heart  to  do,  and  it  is  natural 
to  suppose  that  a  society  whose  members  are  all  well  known  to  one  another  may  be  an 
excellent  medium  for  the  distribution  of  activities. 

For  example,  a  certain  one  furnished  the  nucleus  of  what  has  become  a  most 
flourishing  tabernacle  society.  It  has  also  committees  which  la!>or  for  the  diffusion  of 
good  literature,  and,  in  particular,  provide  wholesome  reading  for  penal  institutions 
within  reach.  Others  help  the  nuns  in  their  prison  and  hospital  work.  Others,  again, 
busy  themselves  in  behalf  of  the  mission  of  Mary  Immaculate  and  for  the  Indian 
Missions, here.  These worksdo  notcrippleor supplant,  but  supplement  parish  sodalities 
and  charitable  societies.  Thus,  it  wul  be  seen,  an  alumnaa  association  affords  several 
channels  through  which  its  members'  energies  are  directed,  according  to  their  indi- 
vidual sympathies  and  capacity. 

Its  second  object  as  an  educational  force  is  to  advance  t he  interests  of  theschool  of 
which  it  is  part.  This  can  be  done  in  many  ways.  It  is  not  common  to  find  0U*  con- 
vent schools  blessed  with  over-abundant  means.  As  in  most  Catholic  institutions, 
their  growth  to  that  much  of  prosperity  marked  outwardly  by  fine  buildings,  and  well- 
equipped  classrooms  has  been  slow  and  only  possible  -under  Providence — to  the  utter 
eelf-abnegation  and  marvelous  executive  ability  of  those  who  manage  them. 

If  I  tell  you  how  one  body  of  alumnae  has  contrived  to  measurably  hasten  that 
growth  in  the  case  of  its  own  alma  matter,  it  may  suggest  to  others  greater  possibilities 
in  similar  directions,  when  community  rules  permit,  and  t ho  good  nuns  think  it  expe- 
dient to  accept  such  assistance. 

The  association  mentioned  arranges  to  give  its  lectures  and  a  certain  number  of 
musical  recitals  every  year  in  the  convent  hall,  always  during  school  session  and  imme- 
diately after  class  hours.  Thus  teachers  and  pupils  are  free  to  profit  by  them.  Aside 
from  their  educational  advantage  to  all  immediately  concerned,  these  literary  and  artis- 
tic gatherings  serve  to  popularize  the  school,  raise  it  in  the  estimation  even  of  its 
patrons,  and  attract  many  who  otherwise  would  be  at  no  pains  to  enter  or  inquire  into 
the  workings  of  Catholic  institutions.  Lectures  have  been  delivered  before  this  school 
and  its  alumnae  association. by  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  Catholics  in 
America.  The  musicals  being  given  rather  for  instruction  than  diversion,  programmes 
are  kept  to  the  highest  standard,  and  are  usually  interpreted  by  professional  musicians. 
The  school  itself  is  forced  to  no  outlay  for  these,  as  all  expenses  are  borne  by  the 
association.  An  annual  membership  fee,  occasional  self-imposed  taxes,  voluntary  con- 
tributions, and  a  few  tickets  sold  to  outsiders,  friends  of  members,  are  the  sources  of 
revenue.  This  association  also  adds  a  number  of  books  every  year  to  the  school  library, 
offers  annually  two  prizes,  and  in  various  ways  seeks  to  improve,  if  may  be,  and  to 
multiply  the  resources  of  its  academy.  What  one  can,  many  may  do,  secure  that  in  so 
acting  they  minister  to  noblest  needs,  and  repay  a  small  part  of  the  devotion  which 
Catholic  educators  have  lavished  upon  the  youth  of  our  country.  An  alumna?  associa- 
tion should  be  a  corporate  act  of  gratitude.  Who  can  be  aware  of  this  century's  activi- 
ties—hearing what  in  the  name  of  education  is  claimed  for  women,  and  seeing  what  in 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  185 

the  name  of  enlightenment  is  often  done  by  women — and  not  thank  God  for  that  deep- 
laid,  broad-built,  tried  system  of  Catholic  training  which  crushes  no  individuality, 
represses  no  legitimate  aspiration,  and  sets  no  narrow  bounds  to  "  woman's  sphere,"  but 
holds  the  sex  ever  lovingly  attached  to  the  truth  that  its  most  respected,  best  rewarded, 
most  arduous,  most  womanly,  most  heavenly  work  is  in  the  home  !  What  Catholic 
daughter  having  any  experience  of  life  is  not  grateful  to  the  parental  wisdom  which 
gave  her  the  blessings  of  a  convent  education,  and  having  a  heart  is  not  anxious  to 
widen  the  circle  of  that  uplifting  influence? 

As  already  stated,  the  pupils  of  a  convent  school  are  more  variously  conditioned 
than  those  of  any  other,  this  holding  true  in  the  graduates'  society  as  in  the  class-room, 
though  as  years  roll  on  positions  may  be  reversed.  Whatever  their  domestic  environ- 
ment, at  school  all  have  had  about  the  same  advantages.  There  sit  side  by  side  in 
perfect  equality,  affection,  and  amiable  rivalry  the  heiress  of  a  millionaire  and  the 
young  girl  whose  parents  at  great  sacrifices  have  done  their  utmost  in  giving  her  a 
convent  education.  One  looks  forward  to  foreign  travel,  pleasure,  perhaps  a  brilliant 
marriage,  as  the  sequel  of  graduation;  the  other  says  with  Viola — 

I  am  all  the  daughters  of  my  father's  house 
And  all  the  brothers  too 

and  when  school  days  are  ended  must  take  upon  herself  the  duties  of  breadwinner. 
They  both  kneel  at  the  same  altar.  Shall  the  accident  of  wealth  keep  them  utter 
strangers  to  each  other  in  after-life? 

In  a  company  of  twelve  graduates  four  find  themselves,  by  virtue  of  inheritance,  in 
the  ranks  of  the  so-called  "  privileged  classes,"  four  are  at  home  in  that  happy  middle 
state  for  which  Ozaman  prayed,  and  four  go  out  into  the  busy,  selfish  world  to  earn 
their  bread  as  best  they  may.  Naturally,  their  respective  duties — which  we  assume 
they  perform  cheerfully  and  well,  whether  poor,  rich,  or  "comfortable" — forbid 
frequent  intercourse.  Who  sees  much  of  her  friends  in  this  crowded,  careworn  age? 
The  parish  sodality,  or  charitable  society,  does  not  always  bring  them  together,  even 
occasionally,  since  their  parishes  may  lie  at  the  extremes  of  a  great  city.  ...  Is 
there  not,  then,  some  ground  to  which  a  community  of  tastes  and  some  special  endeavor 
may  draw  them?  Can  they  not  enjoy  together  a  book,  a  lecture,  music,  art  as  when 
they  were  school  girls — and  be  the  better  for  it? 

Have  not  those  who  retain  their  love  of  all  beautiful  things,  with  little  means  to 
gratify  it,  something  to  say  to  their  fortune-blessed  associates?  And  have  these  not 
something  to  do  for  the  less  favored  ones?  Where  can  it  better  be  said  and  done  than 
in  the  well-ordered  work  of  an  alumnae  association.  There  can  arise  no  suspicion  of 
offensive  patronage  on  the  one  hand  or  fear  of  wounded  self-respect  on  the  other.  All 
are  friends;  all  contribute  alike  to  a  common  fund;  it  is  an  intellectual  mutual  benefit 
society;  all  know  they  are  aiding  the  cause  of  Christian  education;  all  are  under  the 
leadership  of  some  dear  nun  who  has  been  friend  and  teacher  to  them— and,  it  may  be  to 
their  mothers  for  long  years. 

The  rich  woman  here  has  her  opportunity  of  quietly  making  it  possible  for  the  asso- 
ciation to  hear  some  noted  lecturer  or  great  artist,  and  meet  men  and  women  whose 
names  and  work  are  world-famous.  We  are  all  hero  worshipers  and  like  to  come  face 
to  face  with  our  heroes. 

Why  should  not  the  ideal  conditions  of  an  alumnae  association  extend  themselves? 
Women  legislate  for  that  small  bit  of  society  which  is  called  par-excellence  society — that 
little  world  that  men  speak  of  as  "the  great  world."  Their  will  is  law  therein.  Shall 
we  not  see  the  mistress  of  a  magnificent  home,  the  leader  of  a  salon,  ruled  by  the  prin- 
ciples that  govern  our  entirely  possible  and  wholly  desirable  alumnae  association — and 
inviting  her  guests — not  for  what  they  have  or  wear,  nor  for  the  quarter  they  live  in, 
but  for  what  they  are?  Then  should  we  behold  an  ideal  aristocracy — an  aristocracy  of 
faith  and  brains!  Or,  rather,  let  us  say  a  democracy  of  faith  and  intellect.  And  "de- 
mocracy in  a  right  sense,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "is  Catholicity." 

Do  I  claim  that  our  alumnae  associations  in  convent  schools  are  going  to  change 
the  face  of  the  earth?  No,  but  they  can  be  a  powerful  factor  in  the  adjusting  of  many 
social  difficulties  which  now  exist. 

Walter  George  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  spoke  on  "Civil  Government 
and  the  Catholic  Citizen."     He  said: 

Although  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  in 
numbers,  in  wealth,  and  in  influence,  ha&  extended  a  knowledge  of  its  moral  and  politi- 
cal influence  far  wider  and  deeper  than  a  few  generations  ago  seemed  possible,  the 
thought  must  have  come  home  repeatedly  to  every  thinking  member  of  its  fold  that 


1 86  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

on  certain  vital  points  a  large  element  in  the  community  still  look  upon  it  as  an  organ- 
ization to  be  distrusted,  no  matter  how  pure  may  be  the  character,  how  useful  the  lives 
of  its  members.  How  often  does  the  Catholic  layman,  whose  dail)  life  is  pasted  among 
friends,  whose  training  from  childhood  has  been  such  as  to  keep  from  them  a  true 
knowledge  of  what  Catholicism  means,  finds  himself  called  upon  to  meet  and  perhaps 
struggle  with  a  feeling  expressed  in  language  or  in  manner  that  places  him  outside  of 
the  mass  of  the  community  that  looks  upon  him  as  governed  by  a  code  of  morality,  per- 
sonal and  political,  different  from  his  neighbor's,  and  irreconcilable  with  a  true  alle- 
giance to  the  State.  The  reason  of  this  phenomenon  is  not  hard  to  trace.  For  gener- 
ations the  English-speaking  world  has  been  taught,  directly  and  indirectly,  by  literature 
and  by  tradition,  by  precept  and  by  assumption,  that  the  theology  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  the  tendencies  resulting  from  it  are  contrary  to  the  political  and  social  ideals 
most  generally  accepted  among  civilized  people.  The  present  age  is  marked,  perhaps, 
by  a  greater  and  more  extended  refinement  than  any  that  has  preceded  it,  since  the 
records  of  history  have  been  preserved,  and  with  softening  of  manners  has  come  a 
softening  of  prejudices,  so  that  we  do  not  have  to  complain  often  of  unkind  or  bigoted 
utterances  in  opposition  of  our  faith.  Nay!  We  are  very  often  praised  for  the  general 
morality  that  prevails  among  our  co-religionists;  but  certain  it  is  that  in  the  minds  of 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  American  people  the  fact  that  a  man  is  a  Catholic  marks 
him  in  some  sense  as  peculiar,  while  if  he  were  known  as  a  member  of  any  one  of  the- 
non-Catholic  Christian  denominations,  his  religious  views  would  not  for  a  moment 
arrest  attention. 

The  consequence  of  such  a  condition  is  to  put  upon  every  Catholic  a  responsibility, 
proportioned  to  the  position  he  holds  in  the  community,  of  defining,  always  by  the- 
practical  habit  of  his  life,  and  sometimes  by  the  verbal  exposition  of  his  views,  the 
dogma  of  the  religious  mother  whose  son  he  is.  I  do  not  understand  that  it  is  a  Cath- 
olic's duty  always  and  under  all  circumstances  to  attempt  by  argument  to  win  pros- 
elytes to  his  faith,  but  that  he  should  shoAv  so  far  as  in  him  lies  the  guiding  influence 
of  his  life  to  be  in  accordance  with  true  reason,  and,  therefore,  not  opposed  to  what  the 
common  assent  of  all  men  shows  to  be  right,  would  seem  to  be  apparent. 

I  have  made  these  observations  preliminary  to  a  brief  study  of  the  duty  of  the 
Catholic  citizen  in  relation  to  the  State. 

It  is  on  this  point,  if  we  may  accept  their  expressions  as  sincere,  that  the  only  real 
alarm  is  felt  by  those  who  are  earnestly  struggling  against  the  extension  of  the  power 
of  the  church,  whether  in  Europe  or  America.  Could  they  be  satisfied  that  the  devel 
opment  of  Catholic  thought  would  have  no  effect  upon  political  government,  or  would 
have  no  effect  contrary  to  that  which  their  own  teaching  inculcates,  there  would  be  no 
attacks,  open  or  covert,  upon  the  venerable  church  of  St.  Peter  by  any  save  those  who 
find  in  the  unrestrained  gratification  of  every  tendency  of  human  nature,  the  ideal  to- 
wards which  human  progress  should  tend. 

Can  we  say,  then,  in  a  broad  sense,  that  the  Catholic  Church  does  not  desire  to 
have  any  influence  upon  the  State?  That  she  looks  upon  it  with  indifference,  careless 
as  to  its  methods,  and  blind  to  its  imperfections?  Should  we  answer  thus,  we  should 
be  forthwith  confronted  by  many  an  historical  incident  from  the  days  when  the  venera- 
ble pontiff  met  the  barbarian  conqueror  at  Mantua  and  by  his  intercession  saved  Italy 
from  invasion,  or  at  the  gates  of  Rome  mitigated  the  horrors  of  pillage  through  the 
centuries  to  our  own  times,  when  the  illustrious  occupant  of  the  Vatican  utters  his 
p  otest  against  the  spoliation  of  the  papal  dominions.  No,  the  church  does  desire 
to  influence  human  government;  it  does  watch  empires,  kingdoms,  republics,  or  what- 
ever be  the  form  such  corporations  may  take,  with  anxious  eyes,  but  the  nfluence  she 
seeks  to  exert  is  through  the  individual  members  of  the  government,  requiring  of  them 
to  administer  their  trusts  in  accordance  with  the  eternal  rules  of  right  and  justice  for 
the  benefit  of  the  community  whose  interests  they  are  called  upon  to  protect.  In  oppo- 
sition to  t  e  theory  of  modern  political  writers,  who  have  contended  that  government 
had  its  origin  in  sources  purely  human,  and  is  founded  on  compact  originally  entered  into 
between  the  governors  and  the  governed .  Catholic  theologians  have  held  that  such  com- 
pacts were  not  voluntarily  entered  into  by  the  people  themselves,  but  were  imposed  by  the 
law  of  nature,  which  means  that  they  came  from  God.  This  doctrine  bears  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  denying  State  absolution.  As  is  pointed  out  by  Brownson 
(American  Republic,  p.  79)  the  ancient  Republics  recognized  rights  of  the  State  and 
rights  of  the  citizen,  "  but  no  rights  of  man,  held  independently  of  society  and  not 
derived  from  God  through  the  State.  The  recognition  of  these  rights  by  modern 
society  is  due  to  Christianity;"  and  he  proceeds  to  illustrate  by  reference  to  the  fact 
that  the  Roman  Empire  was  converted  to  Christianity  in  defiance  of  State  authority.. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ^7 

and  this  event  "infused  into  modern  society  the  doctrine  that  every  individual,  even 
the  lowest  and  meanest,  has  rights  which  the  State  neither  confers  nor  can  abro- 
gate" (Ibid,  p.  80).  These  are  rights  which  the  Creator  has  given  to  all  endowed  with 
reason  and  free  will,  and  all  acts  of  the  State  which  contravene  them  are  violences  and 
not  laws,  as  St.  Augustin  has  pointed  out  (Ibid,  p.  89).  But  in  the  proper  sphere  of 
action  the  State,  whatever  be  its  form,  is  an  institution  derived  from  God,  through  the 
force  of  natural  law,  and  is  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  its  citizens,  through  whom  its 
power  is  conferred,  and  to  whom  it  is  accountable  for  any  abuse. 

"  The  church  and  the  State,  as  corporations  or  external  governing  bodies,  are 
indeed  separate  in  their  spheres,  and  the  church  does  not  absorb  the  State,  nor  does 
the  State  the*  church,  but  both  are  from  God,  and  both  work  to  the  same  ends,  and 
when  each  is  rightly  understood  there  is  no  antithesis  or  antagonism  between  them. 
Men  serve  God  in  serving  the  State  as  directly  as  in  serving  the  church.  He  who  dies 
on  the  battlefield  fighting  for  his  country  ranks  with  him  who  dies  at  the  stake  for  his 
faith.  Civic  virtues  are  themselves  religious  virtues,  or  at  least  virtues  without  which 
there  are  no  religious  virtues,  since  no  man  who  loves  not  his  brother  does  or  can  love 
God."  (Ibid.  pp.  127-128.) 

The  State,  then,  does  not  proceed  from  the  church,  nor  the  church  from  the 
State.  The  State  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  law  of  nature  imposed  by  God, 
requiring  for  their  very  existence  that  all  men  shall  live  in  communities  of  some  sort 
and  find  its  rights  to  be  in  "  the  just  consent  of  the  governed."  When  it  imposes 
regulations  contrary  to  the  natural  law  it  is  acting  outside  of  its  sphere,  but  within  its 
sphere  it  is  entitled  to  the  obedience  of  all  its  inhabitants.  The  church  has  proceeded 
directly  from  God,  was  founded  by  Himself;  it  takes  cognizance  of  and  approves  of  the 
existence  of  the  State  as  it  approves  of  all  institutions  founded  upon  the  will  of  its 
Divine  Head.  But  as  to  the  form  of  government  the  church  has  no  dogma.  In  the 
language  of  Balmes,  "  the  Roman  Pontiff  acknowledges  equally  as  his  son  the  Catholic 
seated  upon  the  bench  of  an  American  assembly  and  the  most  humble  subject  of  the 
most  powerful  monarch.  The  Catholic  religion  is  too  prudent  to  descend  upon  any 
such  ground.  Emanating  from  heaven  itself,  she  diffuses  herself,  like  the  light  of 
the  sun  over  all  things  and  enlightens  and  strengthens  all,  and  is  never  obscured 
or  tarnished.  Her  object  is  to  conduct  man  to  heaven  by  furnishing  him  in  his 
passage  with  great  assistance  and  consolation  on  earth.  She  ceases  not  to  point  out 
to  him  eternal  truths;  she  gives  him  in  all  his  affairs  salutary  counsels,  but  the  moment 
we  come  to  mere  details  she  has  no  obligations  to  impose,  no  duty  to  enjoin.  She 
impresses  upon  his  mind  her  sacred  maxims  of  morality,  admonishing  him  never  to 
depart  from  them.  Like  a  tender  mother  speaking  to  her  son,  she  says  to  him:  "Pro- 
vided you  depart  not  from  my  instructions,  do  what  you  consider  most  prudent  (Protest- 
antism and  Catholicity  Compound,  p.  357.) 

As  has  been  said  by  Cardinal  Gibbons:  "  Our  Holy  Father,  Leo.  XIII.,  in  his  lumi- 
nous encyclical  on  the  constitution  of  Christian  states  declares  that  the  church  is  not 
committed  to  any  particular  form  of  civil  government — she  adapts  herself  to  all.  She 
leaves  all  with  the  sacred  leaven  of  the  gospel  *  *  *  in  the  congenial  atmosphere 
of  liberty;  she  blossoms  as  the  rose."  (Quoted  by  P.  Hacker — "  The  Church  and  the 
Age,"  p.  101.) 

Such  being  the  doctrine  of  the  church  upon  civil  government,  why  should  there  be 
any  doubt  or  distrust  of  American  Catholics  in  the  minds  of  their  fellow-citizens?  So 
long  as  the  theory  of  our  republican  constitution  is  carried  into  practical  operation 
there  can  be  no  clashing  between  the  duties  owed  by  the  Catholic  citizen  to  his  Church 
and  to  his  State.  The  cry  that  he  is  bound  by  allegiance  to  a  foreign  government 
because  he  recognizes  the  Pope  as  the  visible  head  of  his  church  is  unfair  and  confus- 
ing. Whatever  be  the  practice  (and  the  records  of  American  Catholics  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  civic  life  will  at  least  bear  comparison  with  those  of  other  religionists),  his 
theory  in  no  wise  differs  from  that  of  men  who,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  have  felt  it 
right  to  recognize  that  there  exists  a  law  transcending  any  that  may  emanate  from 
human  government.  It  is  the  same  theory  which  (as  has  been  said)  gave  Christianity  to 
the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  assertion  of  which  did  much  to  awaken  the  conscience  of 
this  modern  Republic  to  the  evils  of  African  slavery.  And  when  it  is  understood,  this 
theory  will  be  opposed  by  none  save  those  philosophers  who  find  in  the  theories  which 
had  their  fruition  in  the  French  revolution,  and  have  been  developed  by  constant  logi- 
ca'  processes  into  the  wild  isms  of  certain  of  the  socialists  and  anarchists  of  to-day. 

If  I  am  right  in  this  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church  (and  it  needs  only  to 
examine  the  luminous  writings  of  its  ablest  champions  and  the  authoritative  definitions 
of  its  Pontiff  to  show  its  correctness  in  theory,  while  the  appeal  to  history,  if  requiring 


!S8  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

more  discrimination,  is  hardly  less  convincing),  no  Catholic  need  be  confused  in  his 
efforts  to  perform  his  duty  to  the  State.  The  present  age,  as  far  as  we  can  know,  pre- 
sents problems  for  solution  more  difficult  than  any  that  have  preceded  it,  more  difficult 
because  history  affords  no  precedents  by  which  men  may  act  upon  them.  Evils  of 
social  life  have  become  so  obvious  and  so  dangerous  that  the  best  thought  of  all  people 
is  concentrated  upon  their  consideration.  Men  of  undoubted  sincerity  and  of  heroic 
courage,  deceived  by  their  own  ardor  and  generous  impulses  and  without  guidance  from 
spiritual  authority,  have  not  hesitated  to  advocate  theories  of  relief  that  involve  the 
complete  revolution  of  that  order  which  has  been  accepted  as  second  only  to  revelation. 
While  the  church  teaches  and  has  taught  that  the  right  of  private  ownership  of  prop- 
erty, while  not  directly  of  divine  ordinance,  is  yet  essential  to  the  well-ordered  happiness 
of  mankind,  the  so-called  philosophers  of  the  revolution  advocate  its  unconditional 
abolition;  while  the  church  maintains  the  doctrines  of  personal  liberty  and  individual- 
ism, the  tendency  of  the  revolution  is  to  absorb  the  individual  in  the  State.  The  revv 
olution  bases  its  arguments  upon  the  assumption  of  a  social  contract  and  the  perfect 
ability,  if  not  the  perfection  of  human  nature  per  se;  the  church  looks  upon  govern- 
ment as  a  mediate  ordinance  of  God,  arising  from  the  constitution  of  man,  and  human 
nature  as  imperfect,  tainted  with  sin.  The  revolution  insists  that  the  popular  will,  and 
the  popular  alone,  is  the  supreme  fount  of  justice." 

The  church  maintains  "that  justice  is  anterior  to  all  experience,  wholly  independ- 
ent of  the  volition  of  any  man  or  number  of  men,  eternal,  immutable,  absolutely  binding 
upon  the  race,  as  upon  the  totality  of  existence."  (Lily,  p.  53).  A  century  of  revolution. 
How  widely  these  lines  diverge,  it  requires  no  imagination  to  picture.  The  doctrines 
of  the  revolution,  while  professing  to  advocate  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  have 
resulted,  wherever  they  have  obtained  sway,  in  tyranny,  in  class  legislation,  and  bitter 
strife;  and  developed  as  they  have  been  by  maqy,  have  led  and  are  leading  to  a  subver- 
sion of  social  order  that  directs  the  human  races  back  to  barbarism.  What  then  is  the 
duty  of  the  Catholic  citizen  in  all  countries,  but  especially  in  these  United  States,  where 
the  obligations  of  a  free  government  intensify  his  responsibility  ?  Is  he  to  shut  hiseyes 
to  the  admittedly  existing  evils  ?  Or  is  he  to  turn  them  doggedly  backward  to  the  ages 
of  faith,  and  warming  his  imagination  by  the  contemplation  of  the  glorious  relics  and 
traditions  of  days  long  gone,  when  the  church  was  recognized  by  all  civilized  peoples  as 
the  mother  of  progress  and  truth,  refuse  to  recognize  the  facts  of  every-day  existence. 
To  do  this  is  to  grant  the  truth  of  the  sneer  of  the  atheist  and  agnostic  that  the  church 
is  the  opponent  of  progress,  and  can  live  only  in  this  peculiar  athmosphere  of  medieval- 
ism. No,  there  must  be  a  sturdy  recognition  of  the  dangers  of  modern  society  —  dangers 
that  have  arisen  because  men  have  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  subjection  to  the  law  under 
which  they  were  born  ;  and  the  remedy  must  be  sought  in  unceasing  efforts  to  re-estab- 
lish among  men  the  true  standard  of  living.  Can  any  men  doubt  that  if  the  rich  felt 
universally  with  a  conviction,  deep  and  sincere,  the  teaching  of  the  church  that  they 
were  but  stewards  of  the  fortunes  God  has  given  them,  they  would  no  longer  be  looked 
upon  as  a  class  separated  by  a  wide  barrier  from  their  poorer  brethren  ?  Can  any 
man  doubt  that  if  there  pervaded  all  ranks  of  employers  the  feeling  that  their  work- 
men should  share  in  proportion  their  prosperity,  there  would  be  fewer  strikes  and  dis- 
agreements, and  the  spectre  of  conflict  unceasing  between  capitalist  and  laborer  would 
fade  from  our  horizon.  Did  the  laborer  in  his  sufferings  look  beyond  this  life  to  the 
glories  of  immortality,  could  he  cherish  in  his  heart  hatred  and  envy  of  this  employer? 

Here  is  the  disease  in  our  social  conditions.  The  teachings  of  Christian  morality  in 
large  portions  of  the  community  have  been  undermined,  and  in  their  stead  there  is 
naught  but  the  tendencies  of  our  fallen  nature  to  appeal  to  as  the  standard  of  right.  Of 
what  avail  are  theories  the  most  beautiful,  plans  of  political  or  economical  government 
the  most  ingenious,  based  upon  a  false  assumption  of  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  our 
natures.  The  pagan  civilization  was  saved  from  ruin  by  Christianity.  Christianity  has 
taught  mankind  that  in  lessons  of  self-control  and  unselfishness  of  the  individual  alone 
can  the  miseries  of  life  be  lightened,  and  to  Christianity  must  men  turn  in  these  mod- 
ern days  when  dangers  not  less  serious  than  those  that  encompassed  the  ancient  world 
press  upon  them.  The  church  in  all  ages  has  been  the  most  democratic  of  all  organiza- 
tions; the  church  alone  has  taught  the  true  theory  of  the  fraternity  and  equality  of  all 
men  before  God,  and  to  her  precepts  must  mankind  look  for  the  foundation  of  their  meas- 
ures of  relief  from  present  dangers.  Under  her  aegis  tyranny,  whether  of  the  individual 
or  of  the  class,  whether  of  the  plutocrat  or  of  the  proletariat;  can  not  exist.  As  in  days 
of  old  she  resisted  the  wrath  of  despotic  kings  or  checked  the  cruelty  of  powerful 
nobles,  so  in  these  modern  days  she  interposes  her  commands  between  the  antagonistic 
classes  into  which  society  has  been  so  rapidly  drifting.     She  teaches  that  all  men  are 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  189 

children  of  a  common  father,  and  that  the  command  to  love  one  another  must  be  the 
keynote  of  their  conduct  toward  each  other.  This  is  all.  Let  royalist,  aristocrat,  or 
democrat  plead  for  the  excellence  of  his  plan  of  human  government.  She  looks  not  at 
the  details,  but  at  the  principles  that  underlie  them,  and  she  tests  them  all  by  the 
standard  of  her  founder's  law. 

To  be  true  to  the  teaching  of  his  church  and  false  to  the  republic  is  impossible  for 
the  American  Catholic,  and  in  the  spread  of  the  morality,  political  and  economical,  of 
which  he  is  the  exponent,  lies  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  modern  life. 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Barry,  of  Dorchester, England,  wrote  upon  the  "Duties 
of  Capital"  as  follows: 

In  discussing  this  great  and  momentous  issue,  which  threatens  in  the  modern  world 
to  absorb  every  other,  a  Catholic  assembly  must  take  its  stand  upon  Catholic  and  Chris- 
tian principles.  Now  Pope  Leo  XIII.  (whom  God  preserve)  has  told  us  in  the  plainest 
language  that  it  is  labor  which  has  created  wealth,  and  hence  that  capital,  which  is 
merely  wealth  stored  up,  is  due  to  labor  for  its  production,  preservation,  and  increase. 
He  argues  again  and  again  that  the  fruits  of  toil  should  in  justice  belong  to  the  toiler; 
that  morality  and  not  mere  expediency  ought  to  be  the  rule  of  the  market,  and  that  men 
have  no  warrant  for  ceasing  to  be  Christians  because  they  are  handling  goods  on  the 
largest  scale  or  dealing  with  stocks  and  shares  even  in  Wall  Street. 

But  he  goes  on  to  say  that  when  he  looks  out  over  the  world,  he  sees  the  old  Mam- 
mon of  unrighteousness  flourishing  under  new  names.  Usury,  which  was  held  by  the 
church  of  the  middle  ages  to  be  a  crime  against  God  and  man,  is  by  no  means  extinct; 
on  the  contrary,  it  has  widened  its  borders  and  multiplied  its  victories.  The  system 
which  in  our  text  books  of  political  economy  is  termed  capitalism  has,  according  to  the 
Pope,  "thrown  into  the  hands  of  a  few  the  control  of  labor  and  of  the  world-commerce, 
so  that  a  small  number  of  opulent  and  amazingly  rich  individuals  have  laid  a  yoke 
almost  equal  to  that  of  slavery  upon  the  infinite  multitude  of  the  proletarians."  That  is 
to  say,  of  workmen  who  possess  no  capital. 

These  things  are  sadly  exemplified  in  the  monarchies  of  Europe,  but  experience 
proves  that  their  baleful  influence  has  made  itself  felt  in  the  United  States  also.  The 
disastrous  consequences  of  capitalism  without  check  or  limit  do  not  follow  upon  any 
one  form  of  government.  They  are  an  immense  evil  which  is  growing  while  we  speak. 
And  if  on  the  American  continent  man  is  destined  to  begin  a  happier  century  than  the 
nineteenth,  it  will  only  come  to  pass  when  for  the  injustice  and  misery  of  the  present 
confused  and  desolating  system  there  is  brought  in  a  code  of  business  morals  to  which 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can  give  His  blessing. 

The  end  or  purpose  of  wealth  is  not  simply  the  production  of  more  wealth  nor  is  it 
the  selfish  enjoyment  even  of  those  who  produce  it.  Man  is  a  moral  and  religious  being, 
and  the  industries  which  exhaust  so  large  a  part  of  his  time,  thought,  and  labor,  should 
be  carried  out  under  the  law  which  is  supreme  in  conscience.  To  make,  or  increase,  or 
distribute  wealth  is  a  social  function.  It  is  so  because  man  was  intended  to  live  in 
society,  because  society  does  in  fact  acknowledge  and  secure  his  individual  rights,  and 
because  no  one  of  his  single,  unaided  efforts  could  store  up  the  accumulated  resources 
to  which  these  "  few  rich  people  "  are  indebted  for  their  leisure  and  luxury.  It  is  not 
the  "  silver  king,"  who  has  dug  out  his  own  mine;  neither  is  it  the  "  railroad  king,"  by 
whose  hands  or  intellect  the  railroad  has  been  created.  When  we  allow  the  utmost  to 
any  one  man  as  worker,  manufacturer,  superintendent,  or  all  three  together,  it  should 
still  be  clear  to  us  that  the  social  element  in  what  he  produces  can  never  be  done  away. 
He  enters  into  the  labors  of  his  fellow-men,  and  they  have  accordingly  their  claims  upon 
him,  which  both  justice  and  charity  forbid  him  to  pass  over  without  recompense.  If, 
then,  capital,  by  which  I  mean  private  property  yielding  a  revenue,  is  to  exist  in  a 
Christian  commonwealth,  it  must  fulfill  its  duties  to  the  public.  For  it  is  a  trust  given 
to  the  individual  upon  condition  of  his  exercising  the  social  function  which  corre- 
sponds to  it  as  a  Christian  ought.  And  where  custom  has  failed  to  enforce  this  view  of 
things,  law  has  every  right  to  interfere.  Those  who  are  suffered  by  the  enactments  of 
the  State  to  control  the  means  of  production  and  distribution  must  be  looked  upon  as  in 
a  true  sense  ministers  of  the  State;  subject  to  its  oversight;  answerable  for  their 
dealings  with  what  they  never  did  and  never  could  create  by  their  own  exertion;  and 
not,  as  many  suppose,  irresponsible,  absolute,  and  utterly  independent  "owners "of  all 
the  land,  water,  mines,  minerals,  and  machinery  which  by  legal  process  they  may  have 
acquired. 

Leo  XIII.  defines  it  to  be  a  sin  against  justice  when  one  man  appropriates,  whether 
in  the  shape  of  profit,  or  of  tax,  or  of  interest,  the  fruits  of  another  man's  industry  with- 


190 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


out  rsndering  him  an  equal  return.  He  does  not  Bay  that  the  return  must  be  directly 
economical.  But  certainly  he  does  mean  that  there  ought  to  be  an  adequate  returi  of 
6ome  sort.  The  rich  man,  therefore,  whose  riches  are  nothing  else  than  the  surplus 
fruits  of  his  fellows'  toil,  is  bound,  first,  to  render  a  just  human  wage  to  the  toiler,  and 
second,  so  to  employ  this  "  wealth  "  which  has  been  put  into  his  hands  as.  on  the  whole, 
to  make  the  condition  of  those  who  toil  more  advantageous  to  them  than  if  private 
capital  did  not  exist. 

In  other  words,  private  capital  is  an  expedient,  like  constitutional  government  or 
manhood  suffrage,  by  which  the  great  ends  of  society  are  meant  to  be  furthered.  It  it 
does  this,  it  is  justified;  if  it  does  not,  how  can  it  endure?  The  resources  of  civiliza- 
tion are  earned  by  one  set  of  men,  and  disposed  of  by  another.  I  will  not  call  that  an 
iniquitous  arrangement.  But  it  stands  to  reason  that  those  who  distribute  are  bound 
to  do  so  for  the  good  of  the  social  organization  which  they  do,  in  fact,  govern.  The 
ministering  class  of  capitalists,  supposing  they  minister,  deserve  fair  wages.  But  those 
wages  are  most  unfair  which  can  not  be  paid  except  at  the  cost  of  a  permanent  nucleus 
of  misery  and  demoralization,  such  as  the  capitals  of  Europe  have  long  contained 
within  them,  and  some  of  the  American  cities  may  now  see  growing  up  in  their   midst 

Therefore,  as  "  the  end  of  all  commerce  "  is  not  "  individual  gain."  so  it  is  righteous- 
ness, and  not  anarchic  revolution,  which  insists  on  teaching  capitalists  their  duties 
toward  the  organism  which  supports  them.     Let  vis  reckon  up  some  of  these  duties. 

Negatively,  capitalists  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  workingmen's  right  to 
combine  in  trades  unions;  and  hence  they  cannot  fairly  require  their  workmen  to  give 
up  belonging  to  such  associations,  nor  can  they  make  it  the  condition  of  a  just  con- 
tract. 

Again  they  have  no  right  to  take  advantage  of  the  distress  of  human  beings  by 
beating  down  the  just  price  of  labor;  to  do  so  is  usury  and  has  been  condemned  times 
out  of  number  by  the  Catholic  authorities. 

Nor  must  they  lay  upon  their  workmen  inhuman  tasks,  whether  as  regards  the 
length,  quality  or  conditions  of  labor.  And  the  whole  legislation  of  factory  acts,  inspec- 
tion and  the  protection  of  women  and  children  is  in  its  idea  as  truly  economic  as  it  is 
Christian,  and  capitalists  ought  not  to  complain  of  it.  Further,  the  lowest  fair  wage  is 
one  which,  although  varying  according  to  country,  sex  and  time  of  life,  will  enable  the 
worker  to  fulfill  the  ordinary  duties  of  humanity,  to  keep  God's  law  and  to  provide 
against  sickness  and  old  age. 

It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  capitalists  to  allow  their  workpeople  the  Sunday  rest. 

Corporations  are  as  much  under  these  obligations  and  bound  to  fulfill  them  as 
individuals. 

Workpeople  can  not  justly  contract  themselves  out  of  these  and  similar  rights. 
And  every  agreement  to  disregard  them  is  so  far  null  and  void. 

Again,  it  is  elementary  good  sense,  as  well  as  law,  that  lying,  cheating,  misrepresen- 
tation, when  they  enter  into  the  substance  of  a  contract,  make  it  of  no  effect.  And  that 
a  thief  can  not  prescribe  or  plead  lapse  of  time  as  legalizing  his  theft.  And  that  he  who 
has  stolen,  whether  from  the  public  or  from  private  citizens,  is  bound  to  restore.  And 
that  the  greater  the  robbery  the  greater  the  sin.  And  that  even  a  State  is  capable  of 
robbing  its  citizens  collectively,  as  when  it  surrenders  without  a  proper  equivalent 
rights  of  way,  or  public  lands,  or  the  common  right  of  market — and,  in  general,  when  it 
creates  or  suffers  to  grow  up  unchecked  monopolies  which  take  an  undue  share  of  the 
products  of  labor,  and  which  violate  the  economic  freedom  of  others.  To  make  thieves 
restore  their  ill-gotten  goods,  to  put  down  "  rings  and  corners,"  to  keep  intact  the  right 
of  "eminent  domain,"  to  safeguard  the  health,  morals,  and  religious  freedom  of  its  citi- 
zens, are  duties  incumbent  on  the  State,  especially  when  the  majority  of  the  people 
seem  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  private  capitalists.  Nor  can  it  be  objected  that  these  things 
constitute  an  "  intolerable  interference  with  the  rights  of  property,"  for  property  never 
has  any  right  to  do  wrong.  And,  on  the  whole,  weighing  impartially  the  evidence 
which  has  accumulated  from  all  sides  regarding  modern  commerce  and  business.  I 
'w  uld  suggest  as  a  meditation  for  many  capitalists  these  words  of  St.  Paul:  "  Let  him 
that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor,  working  with  his  hands  the  thing 
which  is  good,  that  he  may  have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth  " 

All  this  means,  then,  the  imperative  necessity  of  a  constitution  for  capital.  Religion 
furnishes  the  ideal,_  morality  the  grounds,  and  law  and  custom  the  methods  upon  which 
this  mighty  task  is  to  be  achieved.  To  make  democracy  a  real  thing  is  all  one 
with  limiting,  defining,  and  Christianizing  the  powers  of  those  who  wield  at  present 
according  to  their  good  pleasure  the  material  resources  gathered  by  the  thought,  labor  and 
perseverance  of  millions  upon  millions.    Individual  ownership,  when  divorced  from  its 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


191 


social  functions,  is  the  parent  of  all  those  barbarians  who  have  now  become  a  menace 
to  civilization  from  within.  No  spasmodic  attempts  at  private  benevolence,  no  drib- 
lets of  "  ransom "  doled  out  from  superfluous  millions,  no  universities  called 
after  reigning  monopolists,  will  do  the  work  which  society  has  neglected.  The  organ- 
ization of  industry  means  the  supremacy  of  the  Christian  law  in  store,  factory,  market, 
and  exchange.  When  individuals  make  their  large  bequests  in  the  shape  of  libraries, 
picture-galleries,  parks,  or  music-halls,  they  confess  that  indefinite  accumulation  of 
wealth  in  private  hands  requires  some  public  apology. 

Now,  all  we  who  have  accepted  the  principle  of  democratic  institutions  believe 
that  an  absolute  monarch  is  in  politics  a  mistake,  an  anachronism,  a  lapse  into  a  less 
civilized  past  which  we  are  glad  we  have  left  behind.  In  like  manner,  and  by  reasoning 
no  less  demonstrative,  it  may  be  shown  that  an  absolute  monarch  in  economics  is 
nothing  less  than  the  survival  of  tyranny  under  a  new  form.  Democracy  and 
unlimited  capitalism  are  simply  irreconcilable;  they  will  ever  be  enemies,  one  of  the 
other.  When  the  American  continent  is  fully  peopled,  the  handful  who  are  enormously 
rich  will  of  necessity  create  and  perpetuate  a  multitude  of  proletarians  sunk  into 
degrading  and  shameful  poverty — serfs  with  manhood  suffrage — -with  an  acknowledged 
rignttovote  and  a  more  doubtful  right  to  eat.  If  capitalists  do  not  become  servants 
of  the  commonwealth  they  will  be  its  masters. 

What,  then,  should  the  people  do  in  this  day  of  their  political  supremacy  ?  Two 
things,  I  answer.  They  should  insist,  by  custom  and  legislation,  on  making  the  con- 
tract between  capitalist  and  workingman  a  just  human  bargain,  on  the  lines  so  plainly 
drawn  out  by  Leo  XIII.  in  his  encyclical. 

And  they  should  defend,  by  every  fair  means  at  their  disposal,  the  rights  of  public 
property,  which  is,  in  fact,  their  property,  not  permitting  it  to  be  sold,  or  squandered,  or 
stolen  away,  under  pretense  that  the  individual  who  is  going  to  get  rich  by  appro- 
priating it  has  acquired  a  legal  claim  upon  that  which  in  such  absolute  fashion  never 
could  legally  be  made  over  to  him. 

If  all  this  amounts  to  no  less  than  reforming  your  legislatures,  then,  in  God's  name, 
set  about  reforming  them,  root  and  branch.  And  if  a  mandate  to  your  executive  is 
required,  shall  it  never  be  forthcoming?  Is  not  the  responsibility  of  a  free  citizen 
something  which  he  neither  can  nor  ought  to  give  to  another?  Your  political  freedom 
should  bring  with  it  economic  justice.  There  is  little  meaning  else  in  that  declaration 
of  independence  which  is  written  upon  American  hearts. 

At  all  events,  let  not  those  who  uphold  democracy  imagine  that  capitalism  without 
religious  or  moral  obligations  to  society  at  large  is  but  the  proper  expression  of  its  prin- 
ciples, or  that  State  interference  with  it  is  against  the  constitution.  Just  because  all 
citizens  have  an  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  it  is 
undemocratic,  un-American  and  un-Christian,  that  a  few  should  be  millionaires  without 
duties,  and  that  the  millions  should  become  a  proletariat  deprived  of  decent  leisure, 
home  affections,  Sunday  rest,  and  the  possibility  of  serving  God  religiously;  or  be 
doomed,  in  spite  of  their  utmost  efforts,  to  see  old  age  coming  upon  them  with  no  refuge 
but  charity  or  the  workhouse. 

Our  hope  is  that  the  Christian  democracy  of  America  will,  by  peaceful  and  appro- 
priate legislation,  put  an  end  to  these  things  which  have  lasted  too  long.  It  seems  to 
me,  in  an  especial  way,  the  duty  of  Christian  teachers,  be  they  laymen  or  ecclesiastics,  to 
hasten  that  wished-for  consummation,  and  to  show  that  the  gospel  in  which  they 
believe  is  indeed  a  law  of  liberty,  the  condition  of  the  highest  form  of  government  and 
as  fraternal  as  it  is  just. 

Dr.  Charles  A.  Wingerter,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  read  an  interesting 
paper  on  "Public  and  Private  Charities."     He  said: 

It  is  fitting  that  a  Catholic  Congress  should  take  up  the  consideration  of  the 
great  problem  of  practical  charity,  for  charity  is  the  heart  of  the  new  dispensation 
whose  hold  upon  the  world  of  men  a  Catholic  Congress  is  designed  to  strengthen.  It  is 
especially  fitting  that  this  problem  should  be  of  interest  to  an  American  Catholic 
Congress,  for  poverty  tends  to  be  especially  dangerous  in  a  republic,  and  inequality  in 
social  condition,  in  the  possession  of  power,  in  the  distribution  of  wealth,  though, 
perhaps,  it  will  ever  exist,  is  most  out  of  place  in  a  land  like  ours,  whose  greatest  boast 
before  the  nations  is  that  it  would  have  all  men  equals.  It  is  meet  and  just,  then, 
that  we,  as  American  Catholics,  face  fairly  and  squarely  this  question  of  public  and 
private  charities,  and  how  they  shall  be  made  more  beneficial  and  effective. 

There  should  be  no  need  of  enforcing  upon  Catholics  the  duty  of  charity.  Time 
was  when  it  was  a  new  doctrine  that  we  are  bound  to  love  and  work  good  to  all  men, 
43 


,92  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

even  to  our  enemies.  That  time  is  past.  The  blessed  doctrine  of  the  Saviour  is  now  a 
platitude,  a  commonplace.  The  danger  is  that  familiarity  with  it  may  lead  us  to  indif- 
ference. It  is  therefore  wise  that  on  occasions  like  this  we  should  remind  ourselves  of 
the  doctrine  and  duty  of  charity;  that  we  should  put  ourselves  anew  into  right  adjust- 
ment with  it,  and  make  right  adjustment  between  it  and  the  tendency  surrounding  us. 

It  is  common  knowledge  that  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  century  is  a 
fine  impatience  to  be  doing  good.  Altruism  is  the  shibboleth  of  the  hour.  Philantro- 
phy  is  the  banner  of  the  times.  What  the  Germans  well  name  the  "Zeitgeist,"  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  may  be  described  as  a  two-fold  desire:  First,  the  desire  to  systemize  all 
things  which  is  embodied  in  the  modern  scientific  spirit;  and  secondly,  that  material  good 
things  shall  be  distributed  among  all  men.  Of  this  latter  desire  are  born  communism 
and  socialism,  under  whatever  mask  they  hide.  Add  to  these  two  desires  but  one  thing, 
the  spirit  of  the  church,  which  is  identical  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  her  spouse,  and  there 
will  be  evolved  therefrom  a  motive  power  and  a  means  of  surely  making  public  and  pri- 
vate charities  more  effective  and  beneficial. 

The  spirit  of  the  church  must  come  first,  however.  An  edifice  cannot  outstand  its 
foundations.  Charity  and  philanthropy,  if  they  are  to  be  lasting,  must  not  be  reared 
on  the  shifting  sands  of  a  false  philosophy.  Man  is  a  creature  of  motives.  His  con- 
duct will  not  outlive  the  motives  that  inspire  it.  Before  all  else,  then,  he  must  have  a 
great  and  lasting  motive  for  his  charity.  There  has  been  evolved  during  the  century  a 
philosophy,  called  by  its  followers  a  religion,  which  inspires  much  of  the  philanthropy  of 
the  day,  though  the  philanthropists  themselves  do  not  always  perceive  it.  This  philo- 
sophy, the  positivism  of  Comte,  teaches  the  worship  of  humanity  and  can  urge  charity 
to  the  poor  for  no  higher  motive  than  this,  that  poverty  is  directly  degrading  to  the 
poor  and  thus  indirectly  degrading  to  humanity.  Therefore  poverty  must  be  abo- 
lished. Positivism  is  a  husk  of  glamour  round  a  heart  of  weakness.  Humanity  in  the 
abstract  is  too  vague  a  deity  for  human  hearts  to  worship,  and  philanthropy  done  in  so 
unreal  a  spirit  and  for  so  untangible  an  end  is  surely  doomed  to  death.  A  new  life, 
which  is  the  old  life  of  the  ages  of  faith,  must  be  infused  into  modern  philanthropy  if  it 
is  to  be  saved  from  going  down  to  death  with  dying  positivism.  Therefore  the  necessity 
of  crying  aloud  from  the  housetops  to  all  the  passers-by  the  sweet  doctrines  of  Christian 
charity.  Therefore  the  fitness  that  from  this  Congress  should  go  forth  an  earnest 
reminder  of  those  doctrines  and  the  duties  flowing  from  them. 

The  poor  are  God's  chosen  ones — beati  pauperes.  Nay,  they  are  His  representa- 
tives. He  was  one  of  them  when  on  earth,  and  He  left  as  one  of  our  precious  legacies 
the  assurance  that  what  we  do  for  the  least  of  them  is  done  even  to  Himself.  Such  is 
the  first  great  truth  that  serves  as  a  part  of  the  corner-stone  of  Christian  charity.  The 
second  is  no  less  known  to  us,  for  the  New  Testament  but  rehearses  the  truth  of  the 
old  dispensation  when  it  bids  us  be  ever  mindful  that  we  are  only  stewards  set  over 
part  of  the  riches  of  this  world.  "  The  silver  is  Mine  and  the  gold  is  Mine,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts."  We  are  but  the  almoners  of  His  bounty,  and  shall  be  called  to  give 
an  account  of  our  stewardship.  Thus  far  all  is  clear  enough.  God  demands  from  us 
part  at  least  of  the  increase  of  the  substance  He  has  given  us.  He  has  left  us  His 
representatives  on  earth  to  receive  it — His  poor  and  the  Ministers  of  His  Gospel.  Now, 
how  can  we  make  this  duty  tangible?  Surely  we  have  not  been  left  without  a  standard 
to  gauge  our  faithfulness  to  the  duty  of  returning  to  God  His  portion. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  practical  charity  work  will  have  been 
overcome  when  we  have  all  learned  to  set  aside  a  definite  portion  of  our  income  for  the 
poor.  The  amount  given  in  charity  is  too  often  measured  by  the  transient  feelings  and 
circumstances  of  the  hour  when  call  is  made  upon  us;  and  we  too  often  allow  the  poor 
to  suffer  because  of  the  follies  and  extravagances  which  have  eaten  up  the  portion  that 
should  be  reserved  for  the  luxury  of  charity.  What  we  waste  foolishly  must  not  be 
made  amends  for  from  the  portion  of  God  and  His  poor,  but  from  our  own  portion. 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  how  much  does  God  demand  from  us?  At  least  one-tenth. 
Some  will  not  conceive  their  duty  so  narrowly  and  will  be  generous,  giving  more  than 
one-tenth,  but  the  sad  truth  is  that  many  give  less  and  some  nothing.  The  whole 
Christian  world  does  not  give  to  God  more  than  one-third  of  the  one-tenth  due.  If  any 
among  us  find  ourselves  startled,  as  some  of  us  may,  at  the  thought  of  parting  with 
one-tenth  of  our  incomes,  thinking  it  too  much,  be  assured  we  have  not  really  believed 
the  teaching  of  God's  church  during  the  vanished  centuries  and  to-day,  for  that  teaching 
is  plain  beyond  all  dispute.  We  must  not  allow  the  luxuries  which  we  love  to  win  us 
from  the  mindfulness  of  the  dangers  and  responsibilities  of  wealth;  to  seduce  us  from 
our  duty  on  the  specious  plea  that  "charity  begins  at  home."  Direct  duty  to  God  is 
before  all  else,  and  even  before  ourselves  and  families  may  profit  from  our  income  God  s 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ICl_ 

part  must  belaid  aside  and  kept  sacredly  for  Him.  And  if  there  be  any  here  who  are  so 
weak  in  faith  as  not  to  trust  God  in  this  matter  without  His  express  promise  that  they 
shall  not  lose  by  obeying  Him,  even  they  must  not  think  to  escape.  The  Omnipotent 
has  given  His  word  that  the  paradoxical  shall  become  truth.  "  Some  distribute  their 
own  goods  and  grow  richer;  others  take  away  what  is  not  their  own  and  are  always  in 
want."  Pro.  xi.,  24.  "  Honor  the  Lord  with  thy  substance  and  with  the  first  of  all  thy 
fruits,  and  thy  barns  shall  be  filled  with  abundance  and  thy  presses  shall  run  over  with 
wine."  Pro.  iii.,  9-10.  It  is  even  to  our  worldly,  material  interest  to  fulfil  the  law  in 
this  matter.  If  we  take  God  into  partnership  with  us  in  our  worldly  business  (I  speak 
in  all  respect  and  humanly)  He  has  promised  that  He  will  prosper  us.  "Try  Me  in  this," 
saith  the  Lord.  If  we  obey  His  ordinance  and  tithe  our  income  for  the  propagation  of 
the  faith  and  the  relief  of  His  poor,  He  will  open  for  us  the  flood-gates  of  heaven  and 
pour  us  forth  a  blessing  even  to  abundance.  Observe  how  expressly  He  promises  mate- 
rial blessings,  wealth,  and  honor,  and  power,  and  prosperity,  so  that  all  nations  shall 
call  us  blessed.  And  we  know  that  the  God  of  Truth  can  not  become  a  liar  and  a 
breaker  of  promises.  And  by  way  of  parenthesis,  I  should  say  that  I  believe  one  of 
the  secrets  of  the  proverbial  great  material  prosperity  of  the  Jewish  people  throughout 
the  world  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  nearly  all,  either  through  custom  or  conviction, 
tithe  their  incomes  for  the  benefit  of  their  poor  even  to  this  day. 

The  German  mind  is  eminently  a  scientific  mind,  and  to  the  Germans  we  owe  a  sys- 
tem of  charity  work  which  is  theoretically  perfect,  and  if  it  be  not  absolutely  without 
all  flaw  in  practice,  the  reason  is  that  the  faults  of  our  frail  human  nature  enter  into 
every  work  done  by  human  agents,  I  wish  to  call  your  earnest  attention  to  this  sys- 
tem, for  it  is  the  best  answer  of  which  I  know  to  the  question  that  forms  the  title  of 
this  paper.  How  shall  public  and  private  charities  be  made  more  effective  and  benefi- 
cial? Let  us  first,  however,  duly  emphasize  the  truth  that  there  should  be  method  in 
our  giving.  The  necessity  for  organized  charity  is  especially  evident  in  the  towns  and 
the  cities.  In  hamlets  and  villages,  where  every  man  and  hie  real  wants  and  deserts 
are  known  of  his  neighbors,  the  spirit  of  neighborly  helpfulness  suffices  to  bring  relief 
to  the  distress  of  the  worthy  poor.  There  is  here  little  danger  of  hurtful  giving.  But 
where,  as  in  larger  centers  of  population,  the  helped  are  always  to  some  extent 
strangers  to  the  helpers,  and  where  the  needy,  who  still  retain  some  part  of  their  self- 
dependence,  must  be  sought  out  if  they  are  to  be  helped,  gifts  are  often  bestowed  on 
the  unworthy,  while  deserving  unfortunates  are  left  in  distress.  The  newspapers  have 
too  often  recorded  the  story  of  a  starving  family  found  too  late.  And  perhaps  over  the 
way  the  thriftless  and  the  lazy,  who  do  not  shrink  from  making  full  parade  of  their 
wants,  and  by  long  practice  are  become  adepts  in  the  parading,  are  riotously  abusing 
the  charity  that  would  have  relieved  the  worthy  victims  of  poverty  and  saved  them  to 
life  and  to  life's  hopes  and  efforts. 

This  is  no  fancy  picture  I  am  snggesting.  Such  miscarriages  are  as  common  as 
they  are  shameful,  and  are  due  to  a  lack  of  organized  charity,  They  are  to  be  laid  at 
the  door  of  indiscriminate  giving.  Indiscriminate  giving  is  hurtful  whenever  it  puts  a 
premium  on  deception;  and  it  does  no  good  when  it  serves  as  a  cloak  to  hide  the  fact 
that  the  givers  give  less  than  their  share.    Most  often  these  results  are  its  only  fruit. 

As  I  have  already  said,  Germany  has  offered,  in  what  is  now  universally  known  as 
the  Elberfeld  system  of  charity  organization,  a  model  that  we  would  do  well  to  follow, 
for  it  seems  as  nearly  perfect  a  practical  system  as  human  brains  can  devise,  I  sincerely 
regret  that  a  hurried  outline  of  this  plan  is  all  that  I  can  venture  upon  here  if  I  would 
not  have  you  turn  from  me  as  from  a  guest  who  has  outstayed  his  welcome. 

First  of  all,  it  is  an  outdoor  system,  in  contra-distinction  to  the  poorhouse  system. 
Our  present  method  of  public  charity  is  an  inherited  tradition  that  finds  full  force  in 
the  Englisn  poor  law.  Our  public  charity  may  be  described  very  briefly;  we  pay  our 
taxes  and  support  a  poorhouse  and  then  rid  ourselves  of  any  further  responsibility  in 
the  matter.  The  self-acting  poorhouse  test  is  our  ultimatum.  If  a  person  is  not  willing 
to  go  to  the  city  or  county  poorhouse  we  assume  that  he  does  not  need  or  deserve  public 
help.  It  needs  no  second  thought  to  see  how  false  a  test  this  is,  as  we  apply  it.  Could 
we  not  more  truthfully  say:  A  man  who,  rather  than  vegetate  in  an  almshouse,  pre- 
fers to  stay  in  the  struggle  of  life  and  to  make  another  effort  to  overcome  defeat  is  the 
man  most  deserving  of  aid?  The  soul  of  the  German  system  is  a  desire  to  help  the 
laggards  in  the  march  of  life  to  a  more  effectual  struggle.  Where  the  English  system 
lets  him  who  has  fallen  by  the  wayside  lie  to  rot  in  soul  and  body,  the  German  system 
offers  him  a  helping  hand. 

One  of  our  most  earnest  strivers  in  the  cause  of  practical  scientific  charity  work 
has  described  so  well  the  difference  between  the  English  and  the  German  methods  that 
I   make  bold  to  quote  his  words.     Professor  F.  G.  Peabody  says: 


x94  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

"These  two  systems  start  from  opposite  points  of  view  and  proceed  on  opposite 
principles.    The  English  test  of  poverty  is  the  willingness  of  the  pauper  to  go   to  t  he 

poorhouse;  the  German  testis  thatof  personal  and  continual  investigation  of  each  i 
The  English  plan,  roughly  speaking,  is  for  the  town  to  do  as  little  for  the  poor  outsido 
of  its  institutions  as  is  safe  for  the  community;  the  German  plan  is  to  do  as  much  as  is 
safe.  English  citizens  are  accustomed  to  let  the  poor  law  ruin  itself;  German  citizens 
are  trained  to  be  its  agents.  Thus  the  one  plan,  completely  carried  out,  would  be 
wholly  official  and  mechanical;  the  other  would  be  wholly  personal  and  human.  The 
one  is  defensive  of  the  community;  the  other  is  educative  of  the  community.  The  one 
opposes  outdoor  relief;  the  other  consists  almost  wholly  of  outdoor  relief.  The  one 
frees  citizens  at  large  from  obligation  to  the  poor,  except  through  taxation;  the  other 
calls  on  citizens  at  large  to  serve  the  poor  as  a  part  of  their  duty  to  society.  We  stand 
for  the  present  between  these  two  principles.  On  one  hand  the* official  work  of  our 
cities  is  done  for  the  most  part  under  the  English  tradition.  On  the  other  hand,  our 
private  charity  is  guided  more  and  more  by  the  Elberfeld  model.  Which  way  are  we 
likely  to  move?    Which  tradition  is  likely  to  prevail V  " 

I  have  spoken  of  the  German  system  as  new,  meaning  that  it  is  new  to  America. 
His  not  new  in  the  sense  of  being  an  untried  theory.  It  was  introduced  in  Elberfeld  in 
1853,  since  which  time  it  has  won  its  way  by  sheer  force  of  worth  and  effective practica 
bility,  until  it  is  to-day  actively  in  operation  in  more  than  thirty-five  German  towns  and 
cities,  such  as  Barmen  (1862),  Bremen  (1878),  Dresden  1 1880),  Leipzig  (1881),  Frankfurt 
(1883),  Berlin  (1884),  Stuttgart  (1886),  Hamburg  (1891 ).  The  main  feat  ares  of  the  Elber- 
feld system  which  distinguish  it  from  private  charily  work  in  this  country  most 
approaching  it  in  spirit  and  method  are  two:  First,  the  distribution  of  work  by  spaces 
instead  of  cases;  and  secondly,  the  institution  of  a  thoroughly  maintained  charity  clear 
ing-house  or  central  office.  This  central  office  is,  moreover,  like  a  bridge  uniting  public 
and  private  work,  enabling  them  to  be  mutually  helpful,  saving  for  each  a  vast  deal  of 
labor  and  time  and  money. 

Now  to  explairra  little  in  detail.  An  ample  corps  of  the  best  members  of  the  com- 
munity are  selected  by  the  public  authorities  to  act  as  visitors.  In  ( rermany  the  munic- 
ipal system  is  universally  compulsory,  but  to  read  the  list  of  the  visitors  is  to  rind 
names  which  make  the  list  a  roll  of  honor.  The  whole  city  is  divided  into  small  squares, 
a  certain  number  of  which  aro  aggregated  into  a  ward  conference.  To  each  of  these 
squares  is  detailed  a  visitor,  generally  onolivi  ng  in  l  he  near  neighborhood.  It  is  his  duty 
to  know  if  there  are  any  families  within  his  district  absolutely  in  need  of  immediate 
relief,  and  he  is  empowered  to  furnish  such  temporary  relief  until  his  ward  confer- 
ence, which  meets  every  week,  shall  take  the  matter  up.  Whenever  more  than  live 
families  needing  help  are  found  in  any  square,  it  is  redivided  and  a  new  worker  put 
on.  These  visitors  report  to  the  ward  conference,  which  relieves  temporary  wants  and 
in  turn  refers  important  questions  to  the  central  committee.  This  central  committee 
represents  the  different  interests  involved  in  charity  work,  is  elected  for  short  terms 
and  is  responsible  to  the  people.  At  its  head  is  a  responsible,  directing  superintendent 
who,  like  the  president  of  a  bank  or  railroad,  holds  his  position  for  a  long  service — in 
fact  during  efficiency,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  work  effectively  and  skillfully  as  manager 
of  the  central  office  or  clearing-house,  where  the  records  of  all  cases  of  need  and  help 
are  kept.  An  instance  will  show  how  admirably  public  and  private  charities,  by  means 
of  this  central  office,  are  enabled  to  work  in  harmony  and  to  mutual  advantage,  and 
with  economy  of  work  and  means. 

A  case  of  temporary  nefed  arises  and  is  reported  to  a  private  society,  which  relieves 
temporarily  but  invariably  reports  to  the  central  office.  Here  the  history  of  the  case  is 
promptly  referred  to.  The  records  permit  immediate  answers  to  the  following  ques- 
tions: What  is  the  petitioner's  reputation  on  the  record?  Has  he  received  help  from 
the  city?  From  any  other  relief  society?  From  any  local  benefit  society?  From  any 
trades  union?  Are  there  any  convictions  or  bad  reports  against  him  in  the  police 
offices?  Has  he  answered  truthfully  the  questions  of  the  visitor?  The  answers  to  these 
and  such  like  questions  enable  the  private  society  to  decide  if  the  case  be  appropriate 
to  its  sphere.  If  so  the  case  is  accepted;  if  not  it  is  referred  back  to  the  central  office 
and  from  there  to  the  proper  channel  of  relief.  Thus  the  assignment  of  cases  to  the 
appropriate  charity  becomes  easy;  the  duplication  of  relief  to  designing  impostors  is 
made  practically  impossible  and  the  labor  of  investigation  is  done  once  for  all. 

Such  is  the  system  in  outline.  Now  let  us  rehearse  briefly  some  of  the  more  salient 
advantages  that  commend  it.  Best  of  all,  it  makes  thorough  work  possible.  We  all 
know  that  with  the  present  method  of  assigning  workers  to  cases  instead  of  to  small 
districts  it  often  happens  that  cases  just  as  necessitous  on  the  same  street  are  over- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


*95 


looked.  The  same  unfortunate  thing  occurs  where  visitors  have  a  large  district  to  over- 
see— a  whole  ward,  for  instance.  IS  or  is  this  surprising.  Thorough  work  is  practically 
impossible  with  our  present  methods.  We  must  have  a  new  method  if  we  are  to  work 
effectively.  There  might  be  suggested  to  your  minds  as  an  objection  to  the  German 
method  that  difficulty  in  finding  visitors  enough  would  render  it  impracticable.  This 
objection  disappears  with  a  second  thought.  The  present  difficulty  to  find  charity 
workers  arises  from  the  magnitude  and  indefinite  character  of  the  work.  Any  one  who 
has  had  any  experience  in  charity  work  will  confirm  me  on  this  point.  Men  will  say: 
"  See  here,  I  don't  care  to  undertake  the  work  you  propose  because  it  may  grow  to  such 
proportions  that  my  time  and  business  will  not  permit  me  to  attend  to  it  ]  roperly.  I 
am  willing  to  help,  but  what  I  do  must  be  definite.  I  will  give  a  specified  sum  of  money 
every  week  or  month,  because  I  know  then  to  what  I  am  binding  myself." 

Suppose,  however,  that  we  should  say  to  such  men:  "  Will  you,  under  printed 
instructions,  take  upon  yourself  to  supervise  Market  Street  from  Twenty -Fifth  to 
Twenty-Sixth  streets  on  condition  that  if  you  find  more  than  four  families  needing 
continuous  help  your  district  will  be  subdivided?  "  Few  would  be  found  to  refuse  and 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  finding  visitors  for  all  the  small  squares.  Many  men 
who  are  now  willing,  perhaps  anxious,  to  take  up  practical  poor  relief  are  deterred  by 
present  methods,  and  would  enlist  themselves  in  the  ranks  of  helpers  when  the  work  is 
specified  and  definitely  fixed  by  rule.' 

With  the  new  system,  as  has  been  said,  the  labor  of  investigation  is  done  once  for 
all.  This  point  is  important,  because  the  unworthy  poor,  knowing  that  they  are  sure 
of  temporary  relief  during  investigation,  shrewdly  use  this  knowledge  where  there  is  no 
clearing-house  such  as  I  am  describing.  They  apply  in  turn  to  all  the  charitable 
associations  and,  since  under  present  methods  the  investigation  in  each  case  is  to  be 
repeated,  they  are  encouraged  to  postpone  all  effort  at  self-help  until  they  have  made 
the  tour  of  all  the  relief  societies.  Where  the  Elbe-  Id  system  is  in  practice  no 
encouragement  is  given  to  those  who  make  a  profession  w  abusing  charity. 

In  this  system,  then,  we  have  not  only  organized  and  personal  work  but  uplifting 
and  educative  work,  inasmuch  as  it  encourages  self-help,  self-respect,  self-dependence. 
In  every  appeal  for  help  the  reputation  of  the  petitioner  and  the  condition  of  his 
home  must  be  described  by  the  visitor,  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  applicant  to 
be  described  as  moral,  upright,  neat,  and  thrifty.  He  is  not  tempted  to  make  his 
personal  condition  and  surrounding  filthy  and  degraded.  Rather  is  he  encouraged  to 
be  clean  in  character,  person,  and  home,  for  he  thus  increases  his  chances  of  sub- 
stantial help.  If  charity  is  to  be  truly  effective  it  must  restore,  where  need  be,  and  at 
all  events  preserve  physical,  moral,  and  mental  health  and  vigor  among  the  needy. 
To  take  to  them  money  or  food  or  fuel  is  not  enough.  We  must  take  to  them  knowl- 
edge and  a  stronger  will;  we  must  infuse  into  them  a  life  which  is  so  virile  and  robust 
as  to  throw  off  poverty  as  a  healthy  body  throws  off  disease;  nay,  rather  a  life  which 
impels  and  helps  them  to  raise  themselves  out  of  the  atmosphere  and  surroundings 
which  poverty  needs  to  thrive  in.  To  borrow  an  illustrative  example  from  the  science 
of  medicine,  the  wise  physician  would  not  be  content  to  administer  anti-malarial 
medicines  to  the  dwellers  in  a  swamp.  He  would  also  encourage  them  to  rise  up  from 
their  miasmatic  surroundings  and  find  higher  ground,  to  flee  from  the  cause  of  their 
distemper.  In  like  manner,  we  must  not  be  content  simply  to  tide  the  poor  over  a 
week  of  hunger  if  they  will  be  as  hungry  in  a  week  to  come.  To  be  satisfied  simply 
with  giving  relief  to  present  distress  is,  in  many  cases,  simply  to  make  assured  the 
recurrence  of  such  distress.  We  must  take  to  the  needy  strength  to  make  efforts  in 
their  own  behalf.    We  must  fortify  them  for  a  more  effectual  struggle. 

ButT  must  end,  though  I  have  been  able  to  give  only  the  roughest  outline  of  this 
admirable  German  system  and  its  main  developments.  I  would  like  especially  to  speak 
of  the  tramp-colonies  and  the  child-colonies.  The  aim  of  these  colonies  is  but  a  partic- 
ular application  of  the  general  principle  of  the  German  system — that  is,  thorough  char- 
ity work — the  carrying  of  individual  cases  to  recovery.  The  tramp-colonies  serve  as 
breathing  spots  for  the  struggling  traveler  on  life's  journey,  and  the  child-colonies  strive 
to  save  the  children.  When,  as  unfortunately  happens  sometimes,  men  and  women  have 
pursued  evil  courses  so  long  that  they  can  no  longer  be  roused  to  hate  the  causes  of 
poverty,  which  are  discouragement,  vice,  and  unfitting  surroundings,  the  one  thing 
urgent  is  to  save  the  children.  But,  these  features  are  refinements  of  the  system  and 
therefore  forbidden  a  place  in  such  a  limited  paper  as  this,  which  must  now  come  to  an 
end.  I  will  be  more  than  content  if,  by  calling  your  attention  to  the  system,  I  can 
bring  you  to  interest  yourselves  in  a  study  of  it.    Admiration  will  do  the  rest. 


196 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Now  to  rehearse  briefly  the  ideas  which  I  would  that  we  could  all  carry  home 
with  us  to  serve  as  seeds  of  earnest  practical  efforts  to  make  public  and  private  char- 
ities both  effective  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  beneficial  to  ourselves  as  well  as  to 
them. 

1.  All  charity  work  must  be  done  along  the  line  of  moral  considerations  if  it  is  to 
be  lasting,  and  therefore  we  must  strengthen  the  moral  forces.  We  have  a  duty  to 
the  poor  and  should  appreciate  it  fully.  We  have  not  appreciated  it  fully  if  we  have 
not  realized  the  grounds  on  which  that  duty  rests.  We  have  not  appreciated  it  fully 
unless  we  recognize  its  tangibleness,  unless  we  learn  to  remember  always  that  a  certain 
portion  of  our  income  is  owed  as  a  debt  of  honor  to  the  Master  and  to  the  poor,  His 
pensioners. 

2.  After  these  two  lessons  have  been  well  learned  and  put  into  practice,  there 
must  be  personal  sacrifice  of  time  and  service  to  the  cause  of  our  less  fortunate 
brethren. 

3.  Our  work  must  be  organized,  discriminating,  with  no  waste  of  time  or  labor  or 
money. 

4.  It  must  be  humane,  done  in  the  spirit  of  fraternal  sympathy.  A  Good  Samaritan 
is  wanted  and  not  a  charity  machine. 

5.  It  must  be  educative,  elevating  the  helpers  and  the  helped. 

6.  It  must  be  continuous.  Every  individual  case  must  be  carried  to  recovery. 
We  must  keep  fast  hold  of  our  stumbling  brother's  hand  until  we  have  helped  him  to 
the  ground  where  he  can  advance  alone.  In  a  word,  our  charity  must  be  thorough  and 
it  will  be  effective. 

I  have  almost  done.  My  spirit  sinks  within  me  when  I  think  how  jejune  and 
hurried  and  unsatisfactory  is  all  that  I  have  written,  and  how  overwhelmingly  vast, 
how  almost  inexhaustible  is  the  subject  that  inspires  the  treatise.  I  can  only  hope  that 
my  effort  has  not  been  altogether  vain.  My  pen  and  lips  are  young  and  inexperienced, 
but  my  heart  is  full.  If  I  can  but  persuade  you  to  take  with  you  as  my  charity  offering 
one  tithe  of  the  earnestness  with  wThich  I  put  these  few  thoughts  before  you,  your  own 
Christian  nobleness  of  heart  and  love  of  duty  will  enable  you  to  far  outstrip  in  deeds 
the  thoughts  suggested  in  this  paper,  Let  each  one  of  us  go  home  resolved  that  charity 
shall  no  longer  be  the  vague,  unknowable  angel  she  has  been  in  the  past.  Let  us 
realize  that  if  hitherto  she  has  walked  lame  and  halting  it  is  because  we  have  by  our 
indifference  thrown  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  she  has  so  eagerly  but  hopelessly  pur- 
sued; because  we  have  mockingly  bid  her  God-speed  on  her  bright  errand  of  mercy,  and 
yet  have  taken  her  hand  only  to  serve  as  a  drag-chain  to  hinder  her  advance,  if  indeed 
we  have  even  offered  to  her  that  semblance  of  help.  Henceforth  all  shall  be  different. 
Henceforth  we  shall  know  charity  for  what  she  is — the  fairest  handmaid  of  religion. 
When  we  leave  this  hall  let  every  man  go  resolved  to  do  something  tangible  and  prac- 
tical for  the  cause  of  charity  before  the  next  Congress  meets.  Consider  a  moment  how 
much  will  have  been  done  for  the  cause  of  rational  charity  work  if,  as  a  result  of  this 
meeting,  every  man  here  present  resolves  here  and  now  sacredly  to  put  apart  for  the 
betterment  of  the  poor  that  portion  of  his  income  which  belongs  to  them  by  right;  and 
if  in  only  one  out  of  every  ten  of  the  cities  represented  here  there  shall  have  been  estab- 
lished, by  the  time  of  the  next  Congress,  a  charity  clearing-house  or  a  system  of  work- 
ing that  will  cover  the  ground,  making  it  impossible  for  those  cities  to  be  shamed  by 
some  suddenly  discovered  case  of  harrowing  and  long-standing  distress.  And,  however 
humbly  a  man  may  have  done  his  part  in  feeding  the  hungry,  in  giving  drink  to  the 
thirsty,  in  clothing  the  naked,  in  healing  the  sick,  and  in  consoling  the  sorrowing,  if 
only  he  has  done  it  earnestly,  on  the  Book  of  Life  will  be  written  of  him  as  is  written  of 
his  Elder  Brother,  Christ,  pertransivit  benefaciendo — "  He  went  on  His  way  doing 
good."  And  when  time  and  life  have  worried  him  like  a  spent  hound,  and  he  is  laid  to 
rest,  he  Jiveth  still,  for  "  to  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind  is  not  to  die." 

Thomas  F.  Ring,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  his  paper  "Public  and  Private 
Charities;  How  Can  They  Be  Made  More  Effective  and  Beneficial— a  Cath- 
olic Layman's  Experience,"  said  in  substance: 

It  was  my  fortune  to  have  been  introduced  by  a  good  priest  to  the  Society  of  St, 
Vincent  de  Paul,  in  Boston,  in  1863.  I  have  remained  in  its  ranks  up  to  the  present  time, 
In  this  best  of  training  schools  for  a  layman,  I  have  seen  much  of  charity  as  dispensed 
by  Catholic  and  Protestant  organizations.  When  the  opportunity  of  taking  part  in 
public  charities  presented  itself  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a  citizen  to  do  my  share  for 
the  good  of  the  unfortunate  of  all  classes  in  the  community,  and  gave  nine  years  of 


WORLDS  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


197 


unpaid  service  to  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  as  the  contribution  of  one  whose  modest 
financial  means  have  never  permitted  him  to  do  much  good  except  through  personal 
services. 

An  excellent  opportunity  to  visit  and  closely  study  the  various  public  institutions  of 
the  city  of  Boston,  was  given  me  last  year.  In  this  series  of  visits,  I  had  in  mind  two 
objects,  first,  the  public  good,  and,  second,  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  inmates.  The 
immediate  cause  that  gave  this  chance  of  seeing  the  inside  workings  of  the  public  insti- 
tutions was  the  frequent  complaints  appearing  in  the  newspapers  regarding  the  manage- 
ment of  the  different  houses  by  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Institutions. 

Outbreaks  in  the  prisons,  magnified  into  riots;  reports  of  overcrowding  in  the 
lunatic  asylum,  and  lack  of  proper  care  or  sufficient  attendance;  neglect  and  disorder 
in  the  almshouse;  the  entire  lack  of  any  serious  attempt  to  improve  the  boys  sent  for 
reformation;  a  confusion  and  absence  of  any  valuable  results  from  the  method  of  car- 
rying on  the  truant  school.  A  well-qualified  lawyer,  two  physicians  of  high  local 
repute,  one  business  man,  a  lady  who  has  been  years  secretary  of  a  State  board,  another 
lady  member  of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  and  one  excellent  woman,  a  quiet  but  effi- 
cient worker  in  Catholic  charities,  made  up  the  committee  to  visit  the  institutes. 
When  the  final  report  of  the  committee  was  made  public  the  wThole  press  of  the  citj 
declared  the  document  to  be  one  of  lasting  value,  and,  coming  from  a  source  that 
could  not  be  accused  of  having  any  political  bias,  was  entitled  to  receive  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  The  calm,  temperate  tone  of  the  document,  the  plain  intent  to  be  per- 
fectly fair  while  being  perfectly  fearless,  giving  the  commissioners  full  credit  for  all 
the  good  points  revealed  by  the  inquiry,  still  pointing  the  way  to  many  improvements 
in  the  general  methods  in  management,  certainly  gave  great  weight  to  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  committee. 

What  was  the  immediate  result?  The  appropriation  of  $327,000  for  the  purchase  of 
land  and  the  ereqtion  of  a  first-class  modern  hospital  for  the  insane.  Four  hundred  new 
cells  for  the  House  of  Industry.  The  closing  of  the  truant  school  on  the  island  when 
the  new  parental  school,  authorized  to  be  built,  shall  be  completed.  Within  a  few 
months  an  incident  led  to  the  passing  of  a  city  ordinance  authorizing  the  mayor  to 
appoint  a  visiting  committee  of  five,  two  of  whom  to  be  women,  to  inspect  the  public 
institutions  and  to  report  at  the  end  of  the  year,  or  at  any  time,  to  the  mayor  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  institutions  and  their  recommendations  in  relation  to  the  same.  The 
committee,  during  their  term  last  year,  visited  many  of  the  lunatic  asylums,  prisons, 
and  almshouses  in  the  State,  and  consulted  with  officials  and  individuals  who  had 
knowledge  of  the  broad  question  of  the  care  of  the  defective,  delinquent,  and  dependent 
classes,  as  they  are  termed.  In  the  course  of  this  widened  search  careful  note  was 
taken  of  the  number  of  Catholic  inmates  by  the  two  Catholic  members  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

Beginning  with  the  city  institutions,  we  found  that  three-quarters  of  all  the  poor 
and  the  prisoners  were  of  the  Catholic  faith.  In  the  Reformatory  for  Boys  and  the 
Boys'  Truant  School  the  proportion  holds  practically  the  same.  In  the  State  institu- 
tions one-half  of  the  children  are  Catholics.  The  city  institutions  are  attended  by  priests 
and  every  reasonable  opportunity  is  given  by  the  commissioners  to  the  inmates  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  religious  ministrations.  The  policy  of  the  city  and  State  is  to  retain 
children  within  the  institutions  for  only  the  shortest  term,  then  to  place  them  at  board 
in  families  at  the  public  cost,  or  to  bind  them  out  to  learn  some  trade  or  calling  until 
eighteen  years  of  age,  without  payment  of  board.  Here,  then,  in  our  commonwealth 
were  2,000  Catholic  children,  nearly  all  in  Protestant  families,  or  likely  to  be  in  them 
within  a  year.  The  Catholics  usually  have  so  many  of  their  own  to  care  for  that  one 
must  generally  look  elsewhere  for  the  childless  home  waiting  for  the  homeless  child. 
Here  is  a  fearful  annual  loss  to  the  church.  Is  it  only  in  Massachusetts  such  a  loss  can 
be  found? 

The  policy  of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society  in  Boston,  in  the  domain  of  private 
charities,  has  been  to  join  hands  at  once  with  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens  in  any  work 
where  it  felt  it  could  be  of  any  use  to  Catholic  poor  children.  "Don't  meddle  with  the 
faith  of  the  Catholic  child  and  we  will  go  any  length  with  you  "  is  what  we  have  said 
from  the  start.  We  have  found  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens,  as  a  rule,  well  disposed, 
and,  without  surrendering  our  Catholic  faith,  we  can  work  side  by  side  with  them  for 
the  good  of  the  community  of  which  we  are  a  part.  Our  danger  does  not  lie  so  much  in 
the  antagonism  of  our  Protestant  neighbors  as  in  the  apathy  of  our  Catholic  selves. 
Now,  I  will  venture  to  say,  no  Catholic  child  in  Boston  need  drift  out  of  Catholic  hands 
if  the  facts  can  be  placed  in  our  possession  in  time.  Protestant  societies  inform  us  of 
Catholic  children  ;  we  turn  over  all  Protestant  children  to  Protestant  societies.  We  are 
in  the  field  to  protect  our  own  and  have  our  hands  full. 


I9£>,  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

If  I  were  asked  to  say  in  one  word  how  the  public  and  private  charities  of  the 
country  can  be  made  more  beneficial  and  useful,  I  should  select  the  word  "co-opera- 
tion." Co-operation,  frankly  and  cordially,  with  all  our  fellow-citizens  (or  the  common 
good  of  the  community.  A  Catholic  citizen  is  bound,  under  command  of  God,  to  yield 
faithful  obedience  to  lawfully  constituted  civil  authority.  When  the  Stale  arrogates  to 
itself  the  power  that  belongs  toTieaven  and  attempts  to  seat  itself  in  the  throne  of  God, 
He  is  justified  in  repudiating  the  usurped  authority.  The  care  of  the  sick,  the  demented, 
the  destitute  child,  and  feeble  age,  is  part  of  the  duty  of  the  whole  community,  and  every 
citizen  who  can  help  should  not  at  need,  refuse  or  withhold  his  aid.  In  addition  to 
his  duty  as  a  good  citizen  he  has  another  duty  as  a  Catholic:  To  watch  with  tender 
care  over  the  poor  who  are  of  the  household  of  the  faith;  to  work  hand  in  hand  with  all 
who  labor  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  good  of  the  little  ones  of  Christ;  to  give  him- 
self, which  is  worth  more  than  mere  giving  of  money.  Let  him  hold  constantly  in 
his  mind  the  warning  of  St.  James,  "Faith  without  works  is  dead."  Let  his  faith  be  a 
living  faith,  full  of  good  works  for  his  country,  full  of  good  works  for  God. 

SIXTH  DAY. 

On  Saturday,  September  9th, the  proceedings  of  this  memorable  gathering 
came  to  an  end,  with  the  most  fervid  enthusiasm,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast 
concourse  of  the  clergy  and  laity.     Following  are  the  adopted 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 

The  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in  Chicago,  in 
the  year  of  grace,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-three,  with  feelings  of  pro- 
found gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the  manifold  blessings  which  have  been  vouch- 
safed to  the  Church  in  the  United  States  and  to  the  whole  American  people,  and  which 
blessings  in  the  material  order  have  found  their  compendious  expression  in  the  marvel- 
ous Exposition  of  the  World's  Fair  held  to  commemorate  the  four  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  discovery  of  this  continent  by  the  great  Catholic  navigator,  Christopher 
Columbus,  conforming  to  the  custom  of  such  occasions  adopt  the  following  resolutions: 

1.  We  reaffirm  the  resolutions  of  the  Catholic  Congress  held  in  Baltimore,  Nov.  11 
and  12,  A.  D.  1889. 

2.  We  declare  our  devoted  loyalty  and  unaltered  attachment  to  our  Holy  Father, 
Pope  Leo  XIII.,  and  we  thank  him  for  sending  us  a  special  representative,  and  we 
enthusiastically  hail  his  Apostolic  Delegate  as  the  hostage  of  his  love  for  America  and  a 
pledge  of  his  paternal  solicitude  for  our  country  and  its  institutions.  It  is  the  sense  of 
this  Congress  that  the  Vicar  of  Christ  must  enjoy  absolute  independence  and  autonomy 
in  the  exercise  of  that  sublime  mission,  to  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  he  has  been 
called  as  the  head  of  the  Church  for  the  welfare  of  religion  and  humanity. 

3.  We  congratulate  our  Hierarchy  on  the  wondrous  growth  and  development  of 
the  Church  throughout  the  United  States,  the  results,  under  God,  of  the  united  wisdom 
and  unselfish  devotion  of  those  true  shepherds  of  the  Christian  flock,  and  we  pledge  to 
our  bishops  and  priests  our  unfaltering  devotion  and  fidelity. 

4.  While  the  signs  of  the  times  are  hopeful  and  encouraging,  and  material  prosper- 
ity is  more  widely  diffused  than  in  any  previous  age,  we  should  be  willfully  blind  should 
we  fail  to  recognize  the  existence  of  dangers  to  the  Church  and  to  society  requiring  a 
most  earnest  consideration.  Among  the  most  obvious  of  these  dangers  is  the  growing 
discontent  among  those  who  earn  their  living  by  manual  labor.  A  spirit  of  antagonism 
has  been  steadily  growing  between  the  employer  and  the  employed  that  has  led  in  many 
instances  to  deplorable  results. 

The  remedies  suggested  vary  from  the  extreme  of  anarchical  revolution  to  different 
types  of  state  socialism.  These  remedies,  by  whatever  names  they  may  be  called,  with 
whatever  zeal  and  sincerity  they  are  urged,  must  fail  wherever  they  clash  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  truth  and  justice.  We  accept  as  the  sense  of  this  Congress,  and  urge  upon  the 
consideration  of  all  men,  whatever  be  their  religious  views  or  worldly  occupations,  the 
Encyclical  of  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII.,  on  the  "  Condition  of  Labor,"  dated  May  15, 
A.  D.  1891.  In  the  spirit  of  his  luminous  exposition  of  this  subject,  we  declare  that  no 
remedies  can  meet  with  our  approval  save  those  which  recognize  the  right  of  private 
ownership  of  property  and  human  liberty.    Capital  can  not  do  without  labor,  nor  labor 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  199 

without  capital.  Through  the  recognition  of  this  interdependence  and  under  the  Chris- 
tian law  of  love  and  by  mutual  forbearance  and  agreement  must  come  the  relief,  for 
which  all  good  men  should  earnestly  strive. 

5.  We  strongly  indorse  the  principles  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  as  an  appro- 
priate remedy  for  the  settlement  of  disagreements  between  employer  and  employed,  to 
the  end  that  strikes  and  lockouts  may  be  avoided;  and  we  recommend  the  appointment 
by  this  Congress  of  a  committee  to  consider  and  devise  some  suitable  method  of  carry- 
ing into  operation  a  system  of  arbitration. 

6.  We  suggest  to  our  clergy  and  laity  as  a  means  of  applying  the  true  principles  of 
Christian  morality  to  the  sociaf problems  that  have  now  attained  such  importance  the 
formation  of  societies,  or  the  use  of  already  existing  societies  of  Catholic  men,  for  the 
diffusion  of  sound  literature  and  the  education  of  their  minds  on  economic  subjects, 
thus  counteracting  the  pernicious  efforts  of  erroneous  teachings;  and  we  especially 
recommend  the  letters  of  our  Holy  Father,  particularly  those  on  "  Political  Power," 
"  Human  Liberty,"  and  "  The  Christian  Constitution  of  the  State."  The  condition  of 
great  numbers  of  our  Catholic  working  girls  and  women  in  large  towns  and  cities  is 
such  as  to  expose  them  to  serious  temptations  and  dangers,  and  we  urge,  as  a  meritori- 
ous work  of  charity  as  well  as  of  justice,  the  formation  of  Catholic  societies  for  their 
assistance,  encouragement,  and  protection.  We  advocate  also  the  continued  extension 
of  Catholic  life  insurance,  beneficial,  and  fraternal  societies.  The  work  that  such  asso- 
ciations have  already  accomplished  warrants  the  belief  that  they  are  founded  upon  true 
principles. 

7.  One  of  the  great  causes  of  misery  and  immorality  is  the  indiscriminate  massing 
of  people  in  cities  and  large  towns  and  their  consequent  crowding  into  tenement  houses, 
where  the  children  are,  from  their  infancy,  exposed  to  every  bad  example  and  corrupt- 
ing influence.  This  evil  has  drawn  the  attention  of  legislators  in  foreign  countries. 
We  believe  it  wise  charity  to  help  the  poor  to  help  themselves,  and  therefore  advise  the 
adoption  of  appropriate  measures  to  encourage  and  assist  families  to  settle  in  agricult- 
ural districts.  As  indicated  by  the  Holy  Father,  the  true  policy  is  to  induce  as  many 
as  possible  to  become  owners  of  the  land. 

8.  In  discharging  the  great  duty  of  Christian  charity  the  Catholic  laity  can  and 
should  do  much  by  personal  service  to  supplement  the  admirable  work  of  the  religious 
orders  devoted  to  charity,  and  we  urge  them  to  join  or  otherwise  encourage  the  confer- 
ences of  the  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  and  kindred  organizations  for  rendering  systematic 
aid  to  the  needy.  And  we  would  recall  to  the  minds  of  all  people  the  time-honored 
Catholic  practice  of  setting  apart  from  their  incomes  a  proportionate  sum  for  charity. 

9.  An  obvious  evil  to  which  may  be  traced  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  sorrows 
that  afflict  the  people  is  the  vice  of  intemperance.  While  we  believe  that  the  individual 
should  be  guided  in  this  matter  by  the  dictates  of  right  conscience,  we  cannot  too 
strongly  commend  every  legitimate  effort  to  impress  upon  our  fellowmen  the  dangers 
arising  not  only  from  the  abuse,  but  too  often  from  the  use.  of  intoxicating  drink.  To 
thi&  end  we  approve  and  most  heartily  commend  the  temperance  and  total  abstinence 
societies  already  formed  in  many  parishes,  and  we  advise  their  multiplication  and  exten- 
sion. We  favor  the  enactment  of  appropriate  legislation  to  restrict  and  regulate  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  emphasizing  the  admonition  of  the  last  Plenary  Council 
of  Baltimore,  we  urge  Catholics  everywhere  to  get  out  and  keep  out  of  the  saloon 
business. 

10.  To  the  members  of  our  secular  clergy,  religious  orders,  and  laity  who  are  devoting 
their  lives  to  the  noble  work  of  educating  the  Indian  and  negro  races,  we  extend  our 
hearty  sympathy  and  offer  our  co-operation.  We  congratulate  them  on  the  consoling 
success  thus  far  attending  their  labors,  and  wish  them  Godspeed. 

11.  As  the  preservation  of  our  national  existence,  the  constitution  under  which  we 
live,  and  all  our  rights  and  liberties  as  citizens  depend  upon  the  intelligence,  virtue,  and 
morality  of  our  people,  we  must  continue  to  use  our  best  efforts  to  increase  and  strengthen 
our  parochial  schools  and  Catholic  colleges,  and  to  bring  all  our  educational  institutions 
to  the  highest  standard  of  excellence.  It  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress,  therefore,  that 
Catholic  education  should  be  steadfastly  upheld,  according  to  the  decrees  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Baltimore  and  the  decisions  of  the  Holy  See  thereon.  In  the  elevating  and 
directing  influence  of  Christian  higher  education  in  particular  we  recognize  the  most 
potent  agency  for  the  wise  solution  of  the  great  social  problems  now  facing  mankind. 
We  recognize  the  signal  wisdom  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII.,  and  of  the  American 
hierarchy  in  founding  an  institution  of.  highest  Christian  learning  in  our  national  capi- 
tal. And  with  confidence  in  their  wisdom  so  to  direct  it  that  it  shall  be  fully  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  our  age  and  our  country,  we  cordially  pledge  to  them  our  active 


200 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


co-operation  in  making  it  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic.    We  appeal  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  all  religious  denominations  to  teach 

the  risino-  veneration  to  love,  honor,  am  1  fea  r  i  >ur  <•<  immon  Creator,  and  to  instill  into  their 
hearts  sound  principles  of  morality,  without  which  our  glorious  political  liberty  can  not 
continue.  Profoundly  appreciating  the  love  for  education  shown  by  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff and  our  bishops,  we  repeat  what  has  been  said  in  this  Congress— that  "  it  is  only  the 
school  bell  and  the  church  bell  which  can  prolong  the  echo  of  the  liberty  bell." 

12.  We  desire  to  encourage  the  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America,  recently 
established  on  Lake  Chainplain, as  a  means  of  promoting  education  on  university  exten- 
sion lines,  and  we  also  commend  the  forming  of  Catholic  reading  circles  as  an  aid  to 
the  summer  school,  and  an  adjunct  to  higher  education  in  general. 

13.  We  recognize  in  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  one  of  the  results  of 
the  first  American  Catholic  Congress  of  Baltimore,  and.  believing  it  to  be  admirably 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  times,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  the  Catholic  laity  as 
offering  them  an  excellent  means  of  co-operating  with  Holy  Church  in  her  glorious  work 
of  disseminating  Catholic  truth. 

14.  As  immoral  literature  is  one  of  the  chief  agencies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe 
for  the  ruin  of  faith  and  morality,  we  recommend  a  union  of  Catholics  and  non-Catho 
lies  for  the  suppression  of  this'  evil,  whether  in  the  form  of  bad  books,  sensational 
newspapers,  or  obscene  pictorial  representations. 

15.  We  have  no  sympathy  with  any  effort  made  to  secularize  the  Sunday.  We 
urge  upon  our  fellow-citizens  to  join  in  every  effort  to  preserve  that  day  as  sacred,  in 
accordance  with  the  precepts  and  traditions  of  the  Church. 

16.  We  heartily  approve  of  the  principle  of  arbitration  in  the  settlement  of  the 
international  disputes.  We  rejoice  in  the  happy  results  that  have  already  attended  the 
application  of  this  ancient  principle  of  our  holy  mother,  the  Church,  and  we  earnestly 
hope  that  it  may  be  extended  and  that  thereby  the  evils  of  war  between  nations  may  be 
gradually  lessened  and  finally  prevented. 

Finally,  as  true  and  loyal  citizens,  we  declare  our  love  and  veneration  for  our  glori- 
ous Republic,  and  we  emphatically  deny  that  any  antagonism  can  exist  between  our 
duty  to  our  Church  and  our  duty  to  the  state.  In  the  language  of  the  Apostolic  Dele- 
gate, let  our  watchword  be,  "Forward!  in  one  hand  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  in  the 
other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  Let  us  keep  on  in  the  path  of  virtue  and 
religion,  that  the  blessings  of  our  national  liberties,  born  of  the  stern  energy  and  moral- 
ity of  our  forefathers,  may  be  preserved  for  all  time  as  a  sacred  heritage. 

On  rising  to  deliver  the  closing  address,  Cardinal  Gibbons  was  received 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  He  saluted  the  chairman,  archbishops,  and  pre- 
lates on  the  platform,  and  said: 

THE    CARDINAL'S    CLOSING    ADDRESS. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  Owing  to  the  condition  of  my  health,  which  is  not  very 
strong  to-day,  and  the  brief  notice  that  I  received  to  address  you  this  morning,  my 
remarks  will  be  necessarily  very  short,  but  I  assure  you  they  will  come  from  the  depth 
of  my  heart.  When  I  had  the  honor  to  address  you  on  last  Monday  morning,  at  the 
opening  of  this  Catholic  Congress,  I  expressed  the  fond  anticijKition  that  the  prayer  of 
hope  that  was  offered  up  then  would  be  crowned  to-day  by  a  thanksgiving  full  of  grati- 
tude to  God  and  of  joy  and  jubilation.  My  fondest  anticipations  have  been  more  than 
realized.  This  Congress  has  been  a  great  success.  The  eyes  of  the  civilized  world,  as 
you  all  know,  have  been  directed  during  those  days  toward  what  is  called  the  White 
City  of  Chicago,  and  I  may  also  add  that  the  ears  of  the  Catholic  world  have  been 
attentive  to  the  voice  that  has  proceeded  from  this  hall  of  Congress;  and  the  voice  that 
came  forth  from  this  hall  has  uttered  no  uncertain  sound.  There  has  been  no  confusion, 
no  conflict,  no  dissension;  but  there  has  been  peace  and  concord  and  unanimity  from 
beginning  to  end. 

The  voice  of  the  Congress  has  succeeded  in  dissipating  prejudices  and  in  removing 
many  misunderstandings  in  regard  to  the  teachings  and  practices  of  the  Church  of 
God.  First  of  all,  as  was  right  to  do,  the  voice  issuing  from  this  hall  has  proclaimed 
the  necessity  of  honoring  and  glorifying  God.  It  has  been  a  voice  in  behalf  of  God  and 
of  religion.  Next  to  religion  our  love  for  our  country  should  be  predominant,  and  there- 
fore we  have  recently  heard  a  resolution  offered  and  adopted  attesting  the  love  and 
affection  which  we  have  for  our  country  and  for  our  political  institutions.  ThiB  Con- 
gress  has  also  proclaimed  the  necessity  of  good  government,  and  it  has  told  us  that  there 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  201 

can  oe  no  good  government  without  law  and  order,  that  there  can  be  no  law  without 
authority,  there  can  be  no  authority  without  justice,  there  can  be  no  justice  without 
religion,  there  can  be  no  religion  without  God. 

I  need  not  say  that  the  voice  of  this  Congress  has  also  gone  forth  in  vindication  of 
the  rights  of  labor  and  also  of  its  obligations.  We  have  spoken  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  the  cause  of  the  toiling  masses,  and  we  have  been  told  that  every  honest  labor  in 
this  country  is  honorable.  Ever  since  Jesus  Christ,  our  Savior,  worked  in  a  carpenter 
shop  at  Nazareth  he  has  shed  a  halo  around  the  workshop,  and  he  has  made  labor 
honorable. 

This  Congress  has  also  spoken  both  during  its  sessions  and  by  its  resolutions  in  the 
cause  of  Christian  education.  It  has  spoken  of  the  importance  and  the  great  necessity 
of  Catholic  education.  At  the  same  time  let  it  not  be  understood  that  whilst  we  are 
advocating  Catholic  education  we  are  oppposed  to  secular  education.  The  whole  history 
of  the  Church  speaks  the  contrary.  There  can  be  no  conflict  between  secular  ami 
religious  knowledge.  Religious  and  secular  knowledge,  like  Mary  and  Martha,  are 
sisters,  because  they  are  the  children  of  the  same  God.  Secular  knowledge,  like  Martha. 
is  busy  about  the  things  of  this  world,  while  religious  knowledge,  like  Mary,  is  found 
kneeling  at  the  feet  of  her  Lord. 

But  above  all,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  voice  of  this  Congress  has  spoken  out 
clearly  and  fully  in  vindication  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church;  it  has  removed  many 
prejudices  and  misunderstandings.  This  Congress  helped  to  tear  off  the  mask  that  the 
enemies  of  the  Church  would  put  upon  her  fair  visage.  This  Congress  has  torn  those 
repulsive  garments  with  which  her  enemies  would  clothe  her,  and  has  presented  her  to 
us  in  all  her  heavenly  beauty,  bright  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the  moon,  with  the  beauty  of 
heaven  shining  upon  her  countenance.  This  Congress  has  well  shown  that  the  Catholic 
Church,  properly  understood,  is  the  light  of  the  world  and  the  refuge  of  suffering 
humanity.  You  have  a  white  city  here.  The  white  city  of  Chicago  has  seen  passing 
through  it  men  from  various  countries,  many  of  whom  are  assembled  here  now.  But 
may  I  not  say  the  Catholic  Church  is  pre-eminently  the  White  City?  She  has  within 
her  streets  men  of  all  nations  and  tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,  and  we  who  are 
assembled  here  together  to-day  may  exclaim  in  the  language  of  Holy  Writ:  "Thou  hast 
redeemed  us,  O  Lord  God,  to  go  out  to  every  tribe  and  nation  and  people  and  tongue.*' 
Yes,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  Congress  will  result  in  bringing  more  love  and  admira- 
tion to  the  Church.  Men  will  look  at  her  now  and  admire  her,  and  admiring  her  they 
will  love  her,  and  loving  her  they  will  embrace  her.  With  the  blessing  of  God,  many 
who  were  before  strangers  to  our  Faith  will  come  forward  and  embrace  her  in  the  view 
of  the  light  that  has  been  shed  upon  her  here.  In  the  language  of  Augustine,  they  will 
say:  "Too  late  have  I  known  thee,  O  beauty,  ever  ancient  and  ever  new,  too  late  have  I 
loved  thee." 

And  now,  though  I  have  been  somewhat  anticipated,  I  deem  it  a  sacred  duty  to 
invite  you  to  join  with  me  in  offering  the  thanks  of  this  congress  and  of  this  vast  assembly 
to  all  who  have  participated  in  making  it  so  grand  a  success.  First  of  all  let  us  give  our 
thanks,  after  God,  to  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII,  who,  in  his  letter  addressed  to  me 
recently,  manifested,  as  he  has  on  many  previous  occasions,  his  love  for  our  religious 
institutions  and  his  admiration  and  love  for  the  political  institutions  of  America.  I  beg 
also  to  ask  you  to  return  thanks  to  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  who  has 
done  so  much  to  make  this  Congress  successful  and  who  was  always  ready,  when  called 
upon,  to  give  his  counsel  and  advice  to  the  secretary  of  the  Congress.  I  beg  also  in  a 
special  manner  to  return  thanks  in  your  name  to  the  distinguished  chairman,  Judge 
O'Brien.  He  has  shown  you  in  the  Congress  his  judicial  wisdom — I  will  not  say  his 
judicial  firmness,  because  firmness  was  hardly  required  here.  The  conspicuous  position 
which  he  occupies  in  the  great  City  of  New  York,  and  the  reputation  which  he  has  well 
merited  for  judicial  wisdom  and  knowledge  have  been  more  than  sustained  by  his  conduct 
in  the  City  of  Chicago.  May  I  also  beg  leave  to  return  thanks  to  the  gentlemen  and  to 
the  ladies  who  have  prepared  with  so  much  care  and  ability  the  papers  that  were  read 
before  the  Congress.  Those  papers  have  not  only  reflected  credit  on  themselves,  but 
honor  to  the  Church  of  God.    They  deserve  our  thanks. 

And  last,  though  not  least,  I  beg  leave  to  thank  one  man  in  particular,  without 
whose  labors  this  Congress  would  not  have  been  a  success.  I  refer  to  one  who  has 
labored  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  organizing  the  Congress,  who  has  done,  I  might 
say,  the  greatest  share  in  bringing  it  to  a  successful  issue.  I  refer  to  W.J.  Onahan, 
secretary  of  the  committee  on  organization.  In  conclusion  I  humbly  propose  that,  ai  ter 
thanking  from  our  hearts  our  Holy  Father  for  the  encouragement  he  has  given  us, 
this  vast  audience  manifest  its  appreciation  of  what  has  been  done  by  pouring  forth  its 


202  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

thanks  to  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  to  the  distinguished  chairman 
and  secretary,  and  that  you  will  express  your  appreciation  by  a  rising  vote. 

In  addition  to  the  general  resolutions  given  above,  the  Congress  adopted 
the  following  special  Peace  Memorial,  which  was  sent  to  the  rulers  of  all 
nations.  The  memorial  was  printed  in  twenty-five  different  languages,  and 
was  an  invitation  to  the  rulers  of  all  lands  to  settle  the  controversies  between 
nations  by  means  of  arbitration.  The  transcript  in  English  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States  reads  as  follows  : 

The  Catholic  Church  Wishes  You  Grace,  Mercy,  and  Peace  !  We,  in  co-opera- 
tion with  other  Christian  bodies,  humbly  memorialize  you,  as  the  guardian  of  your 
people,  in  behalf  of  peaceful  arbitration  as  a  means  of  settling  questions  that  arise 
between  nations.  The  spectacle  that  is  presented  of  Christian  nations  facing  each 
other  with  heavy  armaments,  ready  upon  provocation  to  go  to  war  and  settle  their  differ- 
ences by  bloodshed  or  conquests,  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  blot  upon  the  fair  name  of  Chris- 
tians. We  can  not  contemplate  without  the  deepest  sorrow  the  horrors  of  war,  involving 
the  reckless  sacrifice  of  human  life  that  should  be  held  sacred  ;  bitter  distress  in  many 
households,  the  destruction  of  valuable  property,  the  hindering  of  education  and  religion 
and  a  general  demoralizing  of  the  people. 

Moreover,  the  maintaining  of  a  heavy  war  force,  though  war  be  averted,  withdraws 
multitudes  from  their  homes  and  the  useful  pursuits  of  peace  and  imposes  a  heavy  tax 
upon  the  people  for  its  support.  And,  further,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  wars  do  not 
settle  causes  of  disputes  between  nations  on  principles  of  right  and  justice,  but  upon 
the  barbaric  principle  of  the  triumph  of  the  strongest. 

We  are  encouraged  to  urge  this  cause  upon  your  consideration  by  the  fact  that 
much  has  already  been  accomplished:  as,  for  example,  by  the  Arbitration  of  Geneva,  in 
the  Alabama  case  and  by  the  deliberations  of  the  American  conference  at  Washington 
not  to  mention  other  important  cases.  It  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  world  when  all 
international  disputes  find  peaceful  solutions,  and  this  we  earnestly  seek. 

As  to  the  method  of  accomplishing  this  end  we  make  no  suggestions,  but  leave  that 
to  your  superior  intelligence  and  wisdom  in  matters  of  state  policy. 

We  invoke  upon  ruler  and  people  the  richest  blessings  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Similar  messages  were  sent  to  Queen  Victoria,  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  the  Czar  of  Russia,  King  of  Belgium, 
Humbert  of  Italy,  Queen  of  the  Netherlands,  King  Christian  of 
Denmark,  King  Oscar  of  Norway;  the  regent  of  Spain,  Maria  Christina; 
Don  Carlos  I.  of  Portugal,  and  to  the  rulers  of  all  the  South  American 
and  Central  American  republics.  The  beautiful  incident  may  well  close 
these  volumes  of  "  The  Columbian  Jubilee."  It  is  typical  of  the  spirit  of  peace 
and  charity  toward  all  mankind  which  has  pervaded  the  Catholic  Chuich 
in   America  from  the  beginning. 


9  2  21       ]  j 


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